2020 enemies

what a dismal odyssey

held by only apathy

is there any remedy?



cause we bicker over listerine

with twitter as our liturgy

what a crumby legacy

2020 enemies



if i were you

and you were me

would we still be doomed

to disagree



cause you’d be me

if i were you

and you'd never see

my point of view



if i were you

if i were you



hey romeo it’s juliet

are you montague or capulet

or some denigrating epithetic

Insult that we both forget



cause fake is on the internet

and fear is on the tv set

outrage is the habitat

for 2020 novelettes



if i were you

and you were me

would be still be doomed

to disagree



cause you’d be me

if i were you

and you'd never see

my point of view



if i were you



hey babe we’re the dinosaurs

i get the feeling we’ve been here before

ain’t it clear what were aiming for

hey babe we’re the dinosaurs



yeah but what if me and you

were in each other's shoes

could we break through

to somewhere different, somewhere new

cause if you're stuck with me

i guess i’m stuck with you

could we rise above the scars

that we both put each other through?



if i were you i think i’m ready to try us

and you were me i think i'm ready to try

would we still be doomed to put the past us

to disagree ` to put the past behind



cause you’d be me cause it’s already behind us

if i were you i’m stick of falling behind

and all i'd see i think i’m ready to try us

is what you put me through maybe i'd be ready to try



if i were you



if you were me i would be you

and then we'd both be through

i wonder what we'd do



if you were me i would be you

would one plus one be two

i wonder what we'd do

if i were you



Behind the Song:

if i were you: story behind the song - by Jon Foreman

“Man grows used to everything, the scoundrel!” - Fyodor Dostoevsky

“If I were you,
Then you’d be me”

Advice doesn’t come with a gift receipt. Often the giver of this generous gift is more excited to give than you are to receive.

We are each different souls, with different experiences, and different understandings of the world. So much of this album was born from a disagreement, the friction, the tension that arises from our differences. We want to find a way to peace. And so, we look to the ones who agree with our perspective. But is unity homogeneity? Or can differences by tolerated? Even needed? 

How can any of us ever see a different perspective if we all think exactly alike? Maybe there’s a love that transcends differences, that reaches across division and disagreement to find that which we hold in common. 

This song with tracked as a three-piece, just like we tracked our first record when my brother was still in high school. It was an unintentional throwback to a simpler time of life - one of the few days at Sound City where all five of us weren’t there. I played Tony the song idea and he said, “Let’s track it!”

This entire song is built on a premise that is fairly tongue-in-cheek, even a bit humorous. I love how the sun begins to reach towards a transcendent truth, only to fall again into a parody of humanity’s pride.

“What if me and you 
Were in each other’s shoes?

Could we rise above the scars
That we both put each other through?

I think I’m ready to try us
To put the past behind us

Maybe I’d be ready to try
If I were you.”