As you know, almost all of the songs we write tell stories. We want to share those stories with you.  Just as we did for our first two records (see the stories behind the songs on our first CD 13 and the songs on our second CD Again, we’ll post the story behind each song on our new CD now more than ever here for you to read. The plan is to feature one song each week for the next 11 weeks.

Here is the story behind People Gonna Rise Up as related by Allen Kitselman.

The song “People Gonna Rise Up”

The original working title for this song way back a couple of years ago was “Mange les Riches.” That might explain where the ideas and sentiments behind the song sprang from, philosophically speaking. People Gonna Rise Up is my therapeutic exercise to catalog some of the [tom foolery] perpetrated on me and my business partners during The Great Recession.

As an architect trying to operate a small business in the mid 2000’s, it became abundantly clear that small fish like us were at the bottom of the food chain, and thus fit to be eaten. The Great Recession taught us many painful yet important lessons. The most important being, when the shit hits the fan, the wealthy make the rules.

From national banks buying up loans and calling them in to pay for their ill-fated risky bets that impacted the bottom line…to wealthy clients who “Trump” people at the end of projects, refusing to pay simply because they can…to the powerful and rich who are able to access power and buy influence more effectively than ever…it all speaks to the fact that American society is facing a gigantic crisis of inequality.

A majority of us are clinging to our “middle class” status (thus far we remain clinging, anyway), but think of the millions of Americans who are not as fortunate as we are. We need change. And frankly the People need to and I believe are ultimately Gonna Rise Up.

Anyway, this is a happy little song written by one bitter-ass liberal (who also happens to be a Bitter Liberal). The most important thing folks should take away from this rant of a song is VOTE!

Allen Kitselman

[editor’s note:

We had a blast performing this song at our CD debut concert in Berryville 9.29.18. Using some footage from that show, we made this public service announcement.

Pass this on so everyone can see it!

Thanks to Amy Barley for video from the performance. Our good friend Laurie Wiggins, who produces promos, trailers, and sizzle reels for public television, created the video.]

Please support our music by buying a copy of our new record.

Read the lyrics to People Gonna Rise Up.
Learn the story behind all of the songs on our first CD 13
Learn the story behind all of the songs on our second CD Again
Learn the story behind Monkey in the Middle