I'd never heard of Hadestown or the Arsonists, but the effect you created by drawing on the tones of both of them like this was startling. The very last seconds with the traveling salesman character before the song hits is so disturbing, and I'm still trying to put together why exactly I felt that way. I hope I can make something like this one day.
who's that higher pitched male voice singing from arond 3:08? Is that you too, Ollie? Because I've got to say, that's a very lovely voice! And I think it fits you better than the deeper ranges
The best thing about this song is that it was written by an American long before Donald Trump's appearance on the political stage. It was "just" a metaphor then. Prescient.
Indeed, it was prescient. Then again, you don't need a crystal ball to know that the United States has an unsettling number of would-be fascists champing at the bit to be unleashed.
The fact that the original version of this song was written basically 10 years ago and Anaïs had no intention for it to become literal is the most bat-shit crazy thing as well. Thank you for introducing more people to the wonder that is Hadestown!
It's just how it goes with how by-the-book white-nationalist Trump is. There's a certain video game that has a character who is meant to be a tongue-in-cheek parody of American corporatized-patriotism-fascism, it's MEANT to be a joke with him revealing he's not just a pen-pusher but can fight you one-on-one because he played "college ball" in Texas, a huge rant about celebrity culture and the media and bureaucracy (while benefiting from all of the above), and at one point he shouts, word for word, "I'll make America great again!" ... The game was released in 2013. Well before Trump ran. He's just so typical that a fucking video game pastiche of nationalism could predict him.
@@imptwins Plus that game was made in Japan. I don't know if that adds anything but I just wanted to show how cool I am for understanding which game you are talking about
It probably does say more, yeah, Japan are known for their EXTRA-cartoonish caricatures so it's EXTRA-ridiculous that they'd depict something so awkwardly similar.
It feels crazy, but for a generation that grew up watching the Berlin Wall come down (she's a little older than I am so probably was right around old enough for it to be formative) and becoming increasingly aware of the metaphorical walls between people, it's not so far-fetched. It is chilling, though.
Apparently, this song was written several years before Trump for a play based on ancient Greek mythology in which it is sung by Hades. Now whenever the writer performs it they say "any resemblance between the current president and Hades, Lord of the Underworld is purely coincidental."
Yeah the original Hadestown was from 2006 so it's really a product of Bush era woes which shows how startlingly relevant they still are. The "my children" thing was also inspired by Hosni Mubarak.
Yeah; she has to. The comparison is pretty insulting to Hades. He's a shitty monarch and husband, but he's a lot less relatable when you associate him with trump which kinda ruins the story .
I was in the workshop production of Hades town in 2008. We had.a good idea what the wall was a metaphor for, but the message was not obviously political like the words “build a wall” is now.
I don't know how many people will see this comment on a year old video but a lot of people actually get quite offended when this song is sung in the musical Hadestown, which the song is originally from. Patrick Page, who plays Hades (who sings this song to end act 1) said he sees people leaving out of anger when he's singing this song and he wants so desperately to tell them that the song isn't about them, despite the obvious parallel of the wall and the call and response style of catchy phrases (build a wall, lock her up etc.). I saw Anaïs Mitchell (the writer of Hadestown who composed the original concept album and worked on the show when it was off-Broadway) live when she came here to Ireland to perform some songs from her other albums and a few from Hadestown, and she said she's also seen a lot of people assume the song is about a certain politician leading a certain country. Before starting the song she just quipped "Well turns out not everything's about you" and the crowd (of a relatively small theatre) went nuts, it was awesome! Great job on this cover Olly, I don't know how I only found this now but it's so amazing! The song builds up perfectly and you really sell the firebrand style of Hades and his grip on the workers of Hadestown. My favourite Breadtuber and my favourite musical come together and it's perfect. :)
Thing is... even though the song isn't about a certain person, it absolutely IS about him. One of the great things about art is that its meaning changes and updates based on context.
@@PhilosophyTube WE BUILD THE WALL TO KEEP US FREE THE WALL KEEPS OUT THE ENEMY THE ENEMY IS POVERTY BECAUSE THEY WANT WHAT WE HAVE GOT WE BUILD THE WALL TO KEEP US FREE repeat ad infinitum as you slide the bricks into place *shivers*
@@charliea2181 I particularly love how the way the song is structured keeps cycling back to the start and at the same time keeps adding elements until suddenly near the end the "we have a wall to work upon" line drops and you suddenly realise you're right back where you started. It's like you're listening to a fractal.
@@PhilosophyTube What is terrifying is how quickly people fall into it and then fail to recognize it because they have created a part of their persona with it as a cornerstone.
True story: I didn't catch the "anti-fire" pun the first time I watched the Steve Bannon video. The moment the end card showed itself was the moment I realized Abigail had removed all pretense. I knew she was quite the leftist already, but this? This was when I recognized that she had become an unambiguous anti-fascist. And I *LOVED IT.*
She uses fire as a pun for facism because antifa = antifire. The characters say the arson attacks (facism) are bad but the leftist anti fire response (antifa) is worse. It's really clever in my opinion.
i actually got goosebumps hearing this for the first time, it’s so terrifying yet perfect at the end of the steve bannon video. iconic moment in youtube leftist history.
I was on livestream when it went down and the chat was RIDICULOUS. just like a thousand people going "WALL WALL WALL WALL" all at once. there was so much energy
@@realxized I sent a superchat just because of that but it went through after the livestream officially ended so I don't think it's visible in the replay
"We have a wall to work upon" is such an incredible line that completely changes the context of everything that came before it. I have absolutely loved Hadestown since like 2012 but showing this song to people after 2015, explaining it predates Trump, and waiting for them to reach that line is always a mind-blowing experience. What do we have that they should want? We have busywork for idle hands. There is no enemy, there's no one to keep out, the wall exists to perpetuate the existence of the wall. It's almost disappointing to imagine that any of the success of this *incredible* story comes down to the way this song's lyrics have come to hit differently after the trump campaign.
It's actual Realsatire that Trump would be describe very accurately by this song predating his major political campaign. When I first heard this I was 100% certain it was made just because of Trump. Then I found out if came years before him. That was one of the weirdest feelings I have ever experienced.
personally i love the "what we have got and they don't is a wall". Coming full circle, full circular argument showing the absurdity, hypocrisy, pointlessness and pettyness of all this
They start with an absurd premise ("the wall keeps us free") and then make arguments that, individually seem sorta logical? (a wall _could_ keep out an enemy; you _could_ try to fight poverty, if not like this; poor people do try to go to the places where there is work) But like a ship of Theseus argument, solid-ish steps do not an airtight point make, and the logic is entirely circular. I heard the concept album version first, wherein the chorus singer eventually take over saying "my children", like they're spreading the wall-gospel to a next generation of minds. That hit me the hardest, the first time I listened to the song.
I know almost every line of lyrics has been quoted in the comments by now, but IMO "And our owrk is never done, [...] And the war is never won" is one of the best. Really underlines how fascism is never satisfied with the "purity" of its nation and how there will always be threats to fight and ennemies to exterminate until there's no one left.
Toxic Neon Gas The wall is more metaphorical. They’re building a mental and social walls. A separation between us and them. The barrier being race, genetics and religion and beliefs. Also literal wall building in the beginning of a fascist state doesn’t surprise me. Just look at American conservatives want to build a wall.
@Toxic Neon Gas you need to isolate your targeted audience to such a degree that you can then conquer "the others" you must have a metaphorical wall so you know whos the bad side
@Toxic Neon Gas you aren't understanding the metaphor and the premise. Fascism is about breaking the enemy, yes, but building a wall does that just as much as an invasion. A wall is a defense against the world, it creates a physical divide in the world. This mentally assaults populations that the wall "targets." A wall also is incredibly useful to provide "racial purity," it allows the populace to see a physical divide between them and the "other," which encourages them to believe in the racist myths and to support the fascist state for "protecting" them. A wall keeps a population confined, controlable. It allows a nation to commit internal genocide with less fear of retribution. It stirs up fascistic nationalism. And after all, a wall is always helpful in a war of genocide.
@@PragmaticOptimist The song as far as I can tell is more or less 'How to make a cult in 4 minutes'. We build a wall to keep us free, the wall keeps us free by keeping out the enemy, the enemy which is poverty, and poverty is the enemy because they want what we have got, and what we have got...is a wall to work upon. The idea being at first, the wall 'keeps you free', but by the end, the wall is trapping you, secluding you, preventing your freedom. The wall is necessary only because you believe the wall is necessary. If you follow each step in the logic, it progresses fairly normally, getting worse and worse, until the last step connects to the first step, justifying the first step, repeating the cycle. Making a circular logic that never ends.
@@PragmaticOptimist Also, adding to Melody Grace's very accurate interpretation, this song is originally from a musical/album called Hadestown, which reimagines the Orpheus myth as set in a mish-mash of depression-era America and the various locales of Greek mythology (the river styx, the underworld etc.). The setting contrasts the origins of where Orpheus and Eurydice are from, lush green valleys and gardens where they were self-sufficient, to their lives as they go to "Hadestown", a giant, gloomy crime-ridden metropolis where people are isolated from each and live only to work. The town is run by Hades (the male voice in this song), a sort of industrialist who monopolises mining and reaping the Earth for resources for these sorts of building projects. Hades, in this interpretation, is a critique of capitalism, or at least of monopolisation, as he owns the people's souls, not just through work, but by turning their work into an identity that they use to isolate themselves from other human beings through fostering paranoia about losing their jobs and their identities as workers. Everyone in the town is beholden to Hades and indebted to him, which he uses for his own ends. He convinces them to build a massive wall to keep people out of their city through propaganda, not realising that they are shutting themselves in and creating their own alienation. He turns the poor against the poor. Oddly enough, this came out about 12 years before Donald Trump started his chants for building the wall. So, despite what a lot of people think, this was not a reference to Trump, but it does accurately describe the thinking of his base. Anais Mitchell, the original writer of the song/musical, said that Trump was trying to tap into the same archetype/thought structure that she was critiquing and the wall just happens to be such a potent symbol that it resonates with people for all the wrong reasons. Sorry for the long thread. I'm just a huge fan of this album and I nerd out about it whenever I can.
@@rawalshadab3812 ahh, I LOVE THIS! So the musical is inspired by Marxist theories and critiques on caoitalism! I will def check it out, I love political economy. Thank you so much for bothering to write such a long text, you were very thorough!
beardedartisan my first thought when that happened was a joke from back when my grandpa was in the navy. “Do you have match?” “Yeah, my fist and your face!” (Alternatively: “not since Superman”)
Me: PhilosophyTube introduced me to this song called Why We Build The Wall and it’s super good My gf: From Hadestown? The musical? Me: There’s a whole musical of this??!
The funny thing is, if you go to see the show on Broadway there are people who walk out of the theater during and immediately after this song-I remember seeing a whole group of middle-aged white folks in the row in front of us shaking their heads through *the whole thing* and marching out of the theater in a huff. Whatever they're doing onstage, it's enough that Trump supporters in the audience aren't liking it.
He mentioned on some side video that he makes some videos based on plays that he wants to be in but no one is putting on, so its possible the video was made around the song/play.
I’m part of a lesbian choir and we’re singing a version of this song this season. I honestly didn’t like it until I watched your Bannon video, so thanks for that. I’d love to hear in a Q&A/livestream more about how the song and the play tied in with your ideas and framing of that video.
It’s open to all women (or people who fall broadly on the womanish side of the spectrum) who are willing to sing under the banner of a lesbian choir. I’m Bi myself and there are some straight women as well. But part of the goal of the choir is to be a “visible expression of lesbian pride” as it says on the website.
I clicked on a contra video about incels and it started a chain of RUclips history that changed me from a protofascist to almost a goddamn Marxist and if that ain't a glow up
Then youre probably weak minded and too easily swayed by emotional arguments on both sides as opposed to looking at data yourself separate of manipulation.
I've had this stuck in my head for days, and I've been singing it basically on repeat. Like, under my breath. And every time I notice I'm doing it I get super concerned that somebody might get the wrong idea about repetition of the phrase "We build the wall to keep us free". No I swear the song isn't like that, I swear, it's from a far left video pointing out the bad things about people like Steve Bannon.
I've been singing it under my breath for days, too! I think I've finally accepted that I'm a Leftist now. This channel was some of the first media that broke through my mental wall of Conservative self-hatred 😸
If you go to the popular versions of this song on RUclips, the comment section is infested with Trump supporters missing the point entirely and fully agreeing with the lyrics. There really is no cure for stupid
@@couldntthinkofacoolname9608 No I got the point. The way to end poverty is to create a united people who sacrifice their labor for each other. You are non pragmatic; multiculturalism divides the community. I want a people united by blood and culture. Any corporation that fails to serve this interest should be brought in line.
Let's be serious for a moment. Between the two of them, they could probably fill out the entire cast by themselves. They certainly have enough costumes :P
Absolutely superb - this version actually does something I prefer to the Anaïs Mitchell version, and that's where at 3:14 Hades comes back in and seems to be driving the chorus forward with a demogogue-like fervour rather than simply seeming to echo the chorus, as in the original.
The Broadway version of the song I find actually does have that kind of sense that Hades is just letting loose and relentlessly feeding the fervour and passion of the workers in the wall. Olly DOES do a great job here though.
@@KingBobXVI Its more like fighting fire with fire. Just wait until everyone realises that the flames have died down because there is nothing left to burn.
this song fucking slaps but i wish it would be exactly like in the og video with the flames sound effect when it starts getting loud bc i always get goosebumps when that part starts. also the graphics of the patreon pledgers changing to just say WALL WALL WALL WALL added so much
looked up the album yesterday and now I'm listening to it for the 3rd time over. This is coming from a guy with no music taste and barely ever actually listens to music.
Apart from the amazing music and lyrics, what I love about this song is that the dead workers are literally building the wall with their bodies (by decomposing in the ground) to separate the wealth of the earth (owned by Hades from where we get the term plutocrat) from the living, and that Hades expects gratitude for "giving" the workers jobs which are just the natural continuation of their existence.
I believe a bunch of people were complaining to Anais Mitchell for writing this 'attack on trump'. Because she basically made a statement saying "it's not my fault you voted in someone with the same policies as the king of the underworld"
The shivers this song gives me is just... wow. Your delivery, particularly at the end is simply phenomenal. This song was such an amazing choice for the Bannon video.
Ok, get this, when I search "Why we build the wall" on RUclips I get this video, then the original Hadestown version and then I get a bunch of random LeftTube stuff before I get anything related to Hadestown... OLLY YOU BROKE MY ALGORITHM AGAIN...
from an artistic and intellectual perspective having a moment of silence at the end is great for letting the feelings and ideas expressed sink in a little before the real end but damn Abi, i just want to put the song on loop and vibe out
i came here expecting theatre kids knowing this song in the comments yet it appears no one in this comments knows this is from hadestown ? so yeah this is from like the most phenomenal musical ever
Is not the suppression of dissent through shutting down public debate, violence and denying services to those of differing opinions fascist or authoritarian in and of itself? Those who stare into the abyss must beware the abyss not stare back - and antifa has not been wary.
@@Anon-fd8ui antifa isn't a singular thing- it's more an activity than a group- i antifa and you can too, you know? at any rate, you're downplaying the fact that the "difference of opinion" you cite is the difference between "wanting genocide" and "not wanting genocide"- when those are the positions there can be no debate or compromise, because there's no middle ground between genocide and not genocide.
@@mcFreaki Additionaly, lets not forget that the rethoric used by facists is inherently violent, and will transfer in physical violence as soon as they reach a certain amount of acceptance/power. Best example would be America, where right wing extremism is claiming the most amount of lives of any political group. And a physical force has to be met with physical force, you cant think away fascism (even so that would be a preffered way)
Hearing this in another, more futuristic style than the original, I think it helps reinforce the message that it's not about a person. It isn't about one time or one event or one movement. It's about the way demagogues in general stoke and manipulate the fears of the populace so they can take power. By getting people to imprison themselves and call it freedom.
I heard the opening chords of this at the end of the Bannon vid with prior knowledge of the musical and I thought "OH SHIT. We're going there." But where else could we possibly go? A good cover (among other things) can recontextualize the original work for a different purpose or connotation. This was a good cover.
You know, as part of the Bannon video this song was very, very fitting, but as a standalone it just makes me incredibly depressed. It's still great, but the reality of how many walls we build, how tribalistic our society is in general just hit me quite hard. I'm sure my view of the past is as rose-tinted as everyone else's, but I do think in the time when I was growing up the world was moving towards a better future. Or at least the West was. International cooperation seemed to be growing, barriers seemed to be falling, and I'm sure we'd have gotten around to fixing carbon emissions at some point - maybe not faster than now, but definitely not any slower either. I doubt we were moving away from capitalism, though. Things weren't perfect, but they seemed to be getting better, at least in my memory. And now the right is on the rise again, and the world looks a lot more dangerous and sinister to me. Barriers are going up, relationships are breaking down and some very powerful people are actively working to keep fossil fuels going. Also, it can't be just me that makes the link (heh, not intended) between Bannon and Ganon, can it?
I think I know what you mean. It's complicated, on the one hand the world probably is actually becoming more dangerous and we actually are heading towards a huge crisis (or more likely it's already started) but on the other hand all that has also brought to light all the violence and injustice and other problems that we've been collectively trying to ignore for the last thirty or forty decades (or longer). I feel like... okay this is going to sound corny but it's like we're at the crossroads of hope and terror, after a long straight road of political stagnation. Right now there's a chance to finally change the direction for the better but unfortunately there's an at least equally likely chance to just drive off a cliff and we might have to fight the cliff enthusiasts for the wheel. So yeah, for my part I feel both more invigorated and hopeful than I have ever been in my adult life and at the same time more terrified than I've ever been, period. Even more than as a child and I was a very anxious kid... Still, there's a sense of relief about it, even the terror, after living so long with the vague threatening sense that the world is fucked up but everybody's pretending it isn't.
In the late 70's the first proposal for universal basic income was put up and then shot down by the sides you wouldn't expect today. We were starting to angle but were on a slower, gentler trajectory towards destroying capitalism.
So, I watched the video some time ago. Liked this song. Listened to it. Read comments. Didn't exactly understand how they were coming to their conclusions. I came back to the song. Listened to it more. And now I get it. It finally clicked. The only thing that separates the people from the enemy is the wall they build. Remove the wall, and they are no different from the enemy. So these people view themselves different than others. They find people who think like them. They build a wall to separate them and their "enemy", and only allow in those who think like them or those that can be made to think like them (indoctrinated). Now that there is a clear divide, and that the enemy is viewed as lesser in whatever way, they are now justified in their mind to act against them as cruelly as they wish. To quote some holy text, "Do unto your neighbors as you would yourself." Enemies aren't a neighbor; they're a blight, vermin. They only deserve to be eradicated. They are justified. But once they're eradicated, they no longer have a wall. Or, rather, no longer have a wall that means anything. So, what now? "What do we have that they have not? / WE HAVE A WALL TO WORK UPON." They build upon the wall they had erected. It no longer has meaning, but meaning it shall once again have meaning. It shall be renewed, reinforced, and reach higher than before. It succeeded before, so it shall succeed again. Or so they hope. There are people who now question this new shift, and dissent must be quelled, lest the enemies come from within and ruin the wall they have built. Rinse and repeat this process enough times, and that's a fascist nation. I might have just been daft, but it makes sense now. It took awhile, but I did it. I hope people who search the comments enough from not exactly understanding everyone else find this, and hopefully get a better grasp at the techniques in play. I know it would've helped me.
I just discovered your channel today, and am absolutely loving it. Anais has been one of my favorite songwriters for a decade and a half, and the fact that you covered her is thrilling. I first heard her around a campfire in Oregon when I was a teenager and she was almost unknown, and was able to see Hadestown on Broadway in 2019. She is amazing, as are you.
Broadway guards footage of their shows really tightly, so clips rarely make it on RUclips. Hopefully it will reopen. It was the most amazing theater production I’ve ever seen.
I'm so excited this is introducing more people to Hadestown! I've been a fan of Anaïs Mitchell's work for years, and seeing her musical finally really picking up traction is wonderful to see, especially with this particular community!!
I also like how the song plays on the circular logic behind the wall, where they build the wall to keep out people who want work and that work is building a wall. In a way it’s almost religious like in how they present the wall.
So I went and saw Hadestown just before Christmas as my first ever live theater experience. I'll be honest, I was obliterated by it. I'd listened to the music beforehand and that was in no way preparation. There's just something about a live performance and the physical weight of the instruments and the voices that hits you in such a..... physical way, that's hard to describe, and can never be communicated any other way. It was an amazing experience, no doubt.
I’m a sucker for lyrics and poetry that build like this. But this song, is catchy and horrifying in equal measure. I can feel goosebumps each time. I can’t look away, but what I see is just...
Ayy great now I don't have to keep skipping to the end of the Steve Bannon video (and then remembering how good it is and accidentally watching the whole thing again)
Fascinating. This song actually conforms to the inverse golden ratio. ~0.618 * 235 seconds long = 145 seconds (2 minutes 25 seconds). This is exactly the time when the song ramps up for the bridge section, the instrumental bit before it slows down again. I'm not sure if the structure of the original is the same as here, but whether it is or not, it's kind of cool that this song is so...mathematically perfect. I'm sure it wasn't done intentionally, but when humans write music, this Fibonacci pattern is frequently found therein, because that kind of balance is pleasing to the ear (having the climax of a song be offset past the very center, but not too close to the end either). It's not a completely perfect match here...the climax starts 2-3 seconds late according to 1/φ, but I bet if you took 100 rock, pop, even metal songs and analysed what happens 61.8% of the way through them, you'd see the climax within 10 seconds of that specified time in the vast majority of cases.
This is going to become the most watched video on your channel and all the people who find it by searching for "Philosophy" will sort your videos by popular, see this, and be massively confused. It'll be awesome.
Now i want a Hadestown montage with you as Hades, Natalie from Contrapoints as Perséfone, Kyle Kalgreen as Orpheos, Jourdain Seales as Eurídice, Owain Citizen/Hbomberguy as Hermes and Lindsay, Nella and Elisa as the Fates!
Been an Anais Mitchell fan for a while, so I was super stoked when I heard this on the original video, and happy again to see your cover get one of its own.
This popped up on my playlists and I was like, "Yess, this still exists." Then I realized it's pre-transition Abigail and it just adds a while new level. Ty for your content :)
I sang this song in 2008 back in an unofficial workshop in Montpelier…. I played Persephone and was NOT WORTHY of the honor. So much has changed in the score but all the astoundingly brilliant bits remain almost identical in the Tony winning masterpiece we know/love….. I knew this show and Anais were gonna explode out of our little Vermont artist circles and make it on the “great white way” over ten years ago and honestly…. When Anais Mitchell said she wrote “Why We Build The Wall” faster than anything else she wrote for the show thus far….. I declared her a genius. It took a while…but I didnt think of what would happen when my favorite video essayist, and my microscopic part in the long road Hadestown took before today actually create new content?!?!? I get excited and say I’ll love this forever/thank you/wow My niche interests had a beautiful baby socialist who can sing? Yep..
@@danatronics9039 waiting, To deport illegals. Waiting, To beat up the anti fash. Waiting, For the commies and the berniebros and illegals and the scum. Waiting, To follow the Trump...
Anais Mitchell - Why We Build The Wall Lyrics Artist: Anais Mitchell Album: Hadestown HADES Why do we build the wall? My children, my children Why do we build the wall? CERBERUS Why do we build the wall? We build the wall to keep us free That?s why we build the wall We build the wall to keep us free HADES How does the wall keep us free? My children, my children How does the wall keep us free? CERBERUS How does the wall keep us free? The wall keeps out the enemy And we build the wall to keep us free That?s why we build the wall We build the wall to keep us free HADES Who do we call the enemy? My children, my children Who do we call the enemy? CERBERUS Who do we call the enemy? The enemy is poverty And the wall keeps out the enemy And we build the wall to keep us free That?s why we build the wall We build the wall to keep us free HADES Because we have and they have not! My children, my children Because they want what we have got! CERBERUS Because we have and they have not! Because they want what we have got! The enemy is poverty And the wall keeps out the enemy And we build the wall to keep us free That?s why we build the wall We build the wall to keep us free HADES What do we have that they should want? My children, my children What do we have that they should want? CERBERUS What do we have that they should want? We have a wall to work upon! We have work and they have none And our work is never done My children, my children And the war is never won The enemy is poverty And the wall keeps out the enemy And we build the wall to keep us free That?s why we build the wall We build the wall to keep us free We build the wall to keep us free
i've been listening to this on repeat for the last two days and forced my friends to listen to it, it's incredible!! you guys are all awesome, as was the steve bannon video, thanks for posting this separately!
www.patreon.com/philosophytube would be a great site to visit if you want to support me making more awesome projects like this one!
Is it you singing?
Can you please upload your 'Sleepwalker' cover too? :)
@@titanuranus3095 Yes he is singing this it is in the description.
I'd never heard of Hadestown or the Arsonists, but the effect you created by drawing on the tones of both of them like this was startling. The very last seconds with the traveling salesman character before the song hits is so disturbing, and I'm still trying to put together why exactly I felt that way. I hope I can make something like this one day.
who's that higher pitched male voice singing from arond 3:08? Is that you too, Ollie? Because I've got to say, that's a very lovely voice! And I think it fits you better than the deeper ranges
The best thing about this song is that it was written by an American long before Donald Trump's appearance on the political stage. It was "just" a metaphor then. Prescient.
+
Indeed, it was prescient.
Then again, you don't need a crystal ball to know that the United States has an unsettling number of would-be fascists champing at the bit to be unleashed.
Well, the sentiment behind this song is almost as old as humanity itself. Trump just happens to be the current head of an ancient Hydra.
well to be fair, trump is hardly the first politician to champion this awful idea
everything old is new again. Like a man said in a silly comic book movie "There are always men like you"
The fact that the original version of this song was written basically 10 years ago and Anaïs had no intention for it to become literal is the most bat-shit crazy thing as well. Thank you for introducing more people to the wonder that is Hadestown!
It's just how it goes with how by-the-book white-nationalist Trump is. There's a certain video game that has a character who is meant to be a tongue-in-cheek parody of American corporatized-patriotism-fascism, it's MEANT to be a joke with him revealing he's not just a pen-pusher but can fight you one-on-one because he played "college ball" in Texas, a huge rant about celebrity culture and the media and bureaucracy (while benefiting from all of the above), and at one point he shouts, word for word, "I'll make America great again!"
... The game was released in 2013. Well before Trump ran. He's just so typical that a fucking video game pastiche of nationalism could predict him.
@@imptwins Plus that game was made in Japan. I don't know if that adds anything but I just wanted to show how cool I am for understanding which game you are talking about
It probably does say more, yeah, Japan are known for their EXTRA-cartoonish caricatures so it's EXTRA-ridiculous that they'd depict something so awkwardly similar.
@@imptwins The final boss of Metal Gear Rising, for anyone curious
It feels crazy, but for a generation that grew up watching the Berlin Wall come down (she's a little older than I am so probably was right around old enough for it to be formative) and becoming increasingly aware of the metaphorical walls between people, it's not so far-fetched. It is chilling, though.
Apparently, this song was written several years before Trump for a play based on ancient Greek mythology in which it is sung by Hades. Now whenever the writer performs it they say "any resemblance between the current president and Hades, Lord of the Underworld is purely coincidental."
Yeah the original Hadestown was from 2006 so it's really a product of Bush era woes which shows how startlingly relevant they still are. The "my children" thing was also inspired by Hosni Mubarak.
Yeah; she has to. The comparison is pretty insulting to Hades. He's a shitty monarch and husband, but he's a lot less relatable when you associate him with trump which kinda ruins the story .
Coincidentally we went to see Anais play in Nottingham on the night Trump won the election. Of course, she HAD to play the song then..
I was in the workshop production of Hades town in 2008. We had.a good idea what the wall was a metaphor for, but the message was not obviously political like the words “build a wall” is now.
@@iusethisnameformygoogleacc1013 Hades isn’t a metaphor for Trump he’s a metaphor for capitalism
YES I DONT NEED TO SKIP TO 41:11 ANYMORE
Glad i waznt the only one...
Same
hahahah i felt this one
I was just watching the episode on a loop... This will save me hours!
#Relatable
I don't know how many people will see this comment on a year old video but a lot of people actually get quite offended when this song is sung in the musical Hadestown, which the song is originally from. Patrick Page, who plays Hades (who sings this song to end act 1) said he sees people leaving out of anger when he's singing this song and he wants so desperately to tell them that the song isn't about them, despite the obvious parallel of the wall and the call and response style of catchy phrases (build a wall, lock her up etc.).
I saw Anaïs Mitchell (the writer of Hadestown who composed the original concept album and worked on the show when it was off-Broadway) live when she came here to Ireland to perform some songs from her other albums and a few from Hadestown, and she said she's also seen a lot of people assume the song is about a certain politician leading a certain country. Before starting the song she just quipped "Well turns out not everything's about you" and the crowd (of a relatively small theatre) went nuts, it was awesome!
Great job on this cover Olly, I don't know how I only found this now but it's so amazing! The song builds up perfectly and you really sell the firebrand style of Hades and his grip on the workers of Hadestown. My favourite Breadtuber and my favourite musical come together and it's perfect. :)
Thing is... even though the song isn't about a certain person, it absolutely IS about him. One of the great things about art is that its meaning changes and updates based on context.
@@iamthedave3 Very very true. Life imitates art more than art imitates life as they say
i mean, it IS "about" them. or at least about a tyrant pretending there's an enemy other than him.
The circular logic is terrifying
RIGHT???
@@PhilosophyTube
WE BUILD THE WALL TO KEEP US FREE
THE WALL KEEPS OUT THE ENEMY
THE ENEMY IS POVERTY
BECAUSE THEY WANT WHAT WE HAVE GOT
WE BUILD THE WALL TO KEEP US FREE
repeat ad infinitum as you slide the bricks into place
*shivers*
@@charliea2181 I particularly love how the way the song is structured keeps cycling back to the start and at the same time keeps adding elements until suddenly near the end the "we have a wall to work upon" line drops and you suddenly realise you're right back where you started. It's like you're listening to a fractal.
@@PhilosophyTube What is terrifying is how quickly people fall into it and then fail to recognize it because they have created a part of their persona with it as a cornerstone.
@@Feonixpreator seriously look at the comments on the original
True story: I didn't catch the "anti-fire" pun the first time I watched the Steve Bannon video. The moment the end card showed itself was the moment I realized Abigail had removed all pretense. I knew she was quite the leftist already, but this? This was when I recognized that she had become an unambiguous anti-fascist.
And I *LOVED IT.*
I'm impressed that you went back and edited your comment for her gender retroactively.
@@elli6220 I'm just that kinda guy
@@anone.mousse674 That is to say, an absolutely epic kind?
You may have missed a few videos then, 1 year prior to the Steven Bannon video she had already made a 1+ hour piece on antifascism haha
She uses fire as a pun for facism because antifa = antifire. The characters say the arson attacks (facism) are bad but the leftist anti fire response (antifa) is worse. It's really clever in my opinion.
i actually got goosebumps hearing this for the first time, it’s so terrifying yet perfect at the end of the steve bannon video. iconic moment in youtube leftist history.
Yeah buddy. I didn't know that was Olly singing. He'll go far one day very soon. Dude's gonna be a star :)
I was on livestream when it went down and the chat was RIDICULOUS. just like a thousand people going "WALL WALL WALL WALL" all at once. there was so much energy
it was great, seriously amazing work
When the final part comes and the antifa symbol appears and then just
DON'T
PLAY WITH
MATCHES
I immediatly started clapping all teary eyed
@@realxized I sent a superchat just because of that but it went through after the livestream officially ended so I don't think it's visible in the replay
"We have a wall to work upon" is such an incredible line that completely changes the context of everything that came before it. I have absolutely loved Hadestown since like 2012 but showing this song to people after 2015, explaining it predates Trump, and waiting for them to reach that line is always a mind-blowing experience. What do we have that they should want? We have busywork for idle hands. There is no enemy, there's no one to keep out, the wall exists to perpetuate the existence of the wall. It's almost disappointing to imagine that any of the success of this *incredible* story comes down to the way this song's lyrics have come to hit differently after the trump campaign.
It's actual Realsatire that Trump would be describe very accurately by this song predating his major political campaign. When I first heard this I was 100% certain it was made just because of Trump. Then I found out if came years before him. That was one of the weirdest feelings I have ever experienced.
personally i love the "what we have got and they don't is a wall". Coming full circle, full circular argument showing the absurdity, hypocrisy, pointlessness and pettyness of all this
also "we have a wall to work upon, we have work and they have not."
They start with an absurd premise ("the wall keeps us free") and then make arguments that, individually seem sorta logical? (a wall _could_ keep out an enemy; you _could_ try to fight poverty, if not like this; poor people do try to go to the places where there is work) But like a ship of Theseus argument, solid-ish steps do not an airtight point make, and the logic is entirely circular.
I heard the concept album version first, wherein the chorus singer eventually take over saying "my children", like they're spreading the wall-gospel to a next generation of minds. That hit me the hardest, the first time I listened to the song.
Build the wall, problem?
@@jonashorad7407 yeah. It solves nothing and makes things worse
@@jonashorad7407 building a wall isn’t going to stop immigration, it’s just gonna create more concentration camps
I know almost every line of lyrics has been quoted in the comments by now, but IMO "And our owrk is never done, [...] And the war is never won" is one of the best. Really underlines how fascism is never satisfied with the "purity" of its nation and how there will always be threats to fight and ennemies to exterminate until there's no one left.
And how it needs to fabricate the reasons to continue wars and racial conflict to justify the existence of the ideology
😀😀😀
Toxic Neon Gas The wall is more metaphorical. They’re building a mental and social walls. A separation between us and them. The barrier being race, genetics and religion and beliefs. Also literal wall building in the beginning of a fascist state doesn’t surprise me. Just look at American conservatives want to build a wall.
@Toxic Neon Gas you need to isolate your targeted audience to such a degree that you can then conquer "the others"
you must have a metaphorical wall so you know whos the bad side
@Toxic Neon Gas you aren't understanding the metaphor and the premise. Fascism is about breaking the enemy, yes, but building a wall does that just as much as an invasion. A wall is a defense against the world, it creates a physical divide in the world. This mentally assaults populations that the wall "targets."
A wall also is incredibly useful to provide "racial purity," it allows the populace to see a physical divide between them and the "other," which encourages them to believe in the racist myths and to support the fascist state for "protecting" them. A wall keeps a population confined, controlable. It allows a nation to commit internal genocide with less fear of retribution. It stirs up fascistic nationalism.
And after all, a wall is always helpful in a war of genocide.
“The enemy is poverty, and the wall keeps out the enemy...”
Absolute chills.
I dont get it can you explain? So I can get chills too? Lol im not being ironic, I dont get the meaning to this
@@PragmaticOptimist The song as far as I can tell is more or less 'How to make a cult in 4 minutes'. We build a wall to keep us free, the wall keeps us free by keeping out the enemy, the enemy which is poverty, and poverty is the enemy because they want what we have got, and what we have got...is a wall to work upon.
The idea being at first, the wall 'keeps you free', but by the end, the wall is trapping you, secluding you, preventing your freedom. The wall is necessary only because you believe the wall is necessary.
If you follow each step in the logic, it progresses fairly normally, getting worse and worse, until the last step connects to the first step, justifying the first step, repeating the cycle. Making a circular logic that never ends.
@@KalaPixie thanks so much for clarifying! This was enlightening :)
@@PragmaticOptimist Also, adding to Melody Grace's very accurate interpretation, this song is originally from a musical/album called Hadestown, which reimagines the Orpheus myth as set in a mish-mash of depression-era America and the various locales of Greek mythology (the river styx, the underworld etc.). The setting contrasts the origins of where Orpheus and Eurydice are from, lush green valleys and gardens where they were self-sufficient, to their lives as they go to "Hadestown", a giant, gloomy crime-ridden metropolis where people are isolated from each and live only to work. The town is run by Hades (the male voice in this song), a sort of industrialist who monopolises mining and reaping the Earth for resources for these sorts of building projects.
Hades, in this interpretation, is a critique of capitalism, or at least of monopolisation, as he owns the people's souls, not just through work, but by turning their work into an identity that they use to isolate themselves from other human beings through fostering paranoia about losing their jobs and their identities as workers. Everyone in the town is beholden to Hades and indebted to him, which he uses for his own ends. He convinces them to build a massive wall to keep people out of their city through propaganda, not realising that they are shutting themselves in and creating their own alienation. He turns the poor against the poor.
Oddly enough, this came out about 12 years before Donald Trump started his chants for building the wall. So, despite what a lot of people think, this was not a reference to Trump, but it does accurately describe the thinking of his base. Anais Mitchell, the original writer of the song/musical, said that Trump was trying to tap into the same archetype/thought structure that she was critiquing and the wall just happens to be such a potent symbol that it resonates with people for all the wrong reasons.
Sorry for the long thread. I'm just a huge fan of this album and I nerd out about it whenever I can.
@@rawalshadab3812 ahh, I LOVE THIS! So the musical is inspired by Marxist theories and critiques on caoitalism! I will def check it out, I love political economy. Thank you so much for bothering to write such a long text, you were very thorough!
Listening to this while playing tetris.
Why do we leave gaps in the wall, my children? My children?
It would make such an innocent game so sinister. Love it
Very realistic game, matches burn down the wall
Tetris 99 I presume?
What's the point of it all when you're building a wall and in front of your eyes it disappears.
"I say ... you wouldn't happen to have ...
*... a match?"*
_(Shivers)_
A bit of gasoline?
You can just put that over with the others.
I've got a match. Just stand right here, away from me. Yes, that's it. Now, then.
We didn't start the fire. It was always burning, since the world's been turning.
beardedartisan my first thought when that happened was a joke from back when my grandpa was in the navy.
“Do you have match?”
“Yeah, my fist and your face!”
(Alternatively: “not since Superman”)
DON'T PLAY WITH MATCHES is such a good anti-fascist slogan
When early 20th century Anarchists were known for bombings? I have to disagree.
I'm partial to "Only you can prevent fascism" tbh
SMRT FAŠIZMU, SLOBODA NARODU!
DEATH TO FASCISM, FREEDOM TO THE PEOPLE! is my personal fave
Need it on a window sticker STAT!
Only you can prevent fires +comrad Garett
The Disney villain song of leftist politics
The actor who originally sang this played a disney villain (frollo) as well, lol
@@benjisaac Weird! So you've seen Hadestown?
Carolyn Talbot I haven’t but I’ve listened to it a million times and hypothetically maybe watched a *cough* slime tutorial
@@benjisaac A slime tutorial?
@@Cute___E bootleg
This horrified me when you used it in your video, and it horrifies me now. Such a chilling rendition. Well done, mate.
And this past week seems to have made it even more so unfortunately
@@stephenmiller8196 Coming from NZ a month or so later?
Yeah, you don't say
Stephen Miller forever relevant
Me: PhilosophyTube introduced me to this song called Why We Build The Wall and it’s super good
My gf: From Hadestown? The musical?
Me: There’s a whole musical of this??!
THERE'S A WHOLE MUSICAL OF THIS??!
Me also : There’s a whole musical of this??!
this is the best song tho
@@DarynLuna Our Lady of the Underground is pretty fantastic too!
@Dylan Chouinard and Waydown to Hadestown! and Wait For Me
I'm certain that if you played this for actual Trump Cultists they would think it was an awesome song about patriotism and border security.
Yep! Look at the comment section for the song from the offical CD version of the songs
The funny thing is, if you go to see the show on Broadway there are people who walk out of the theater during and immediately after this song-I remember seeing a whole group of middle-aged white folks in the row in front of us shaking their heads through *the whole thing* and marching out of the theater in a huff. Whatever they're doing onstage, it's enough that Trump supporters in the audience aren't liking it.
@@kilimenjiro3753 Its interesting because this song was written years before the trump campaign. Which makes it that much more appropriate.
Lmao deadass there are some comments like that on the originals
When i first heard the clip of this in Olly's Bannon video my first thought was that it was some cultish trump song
“Those who build walls are their own prisoners.” - Shevek (Ursula K. Le Guin)
That's why the Mexicans will pay for it
@@jonashorad7407 go back to the KKK rally you racist xenophobic piece of shit
@@jonashorad7407 to any American that isn’t a Bastard kick this bastard out of our country 👆
@@jonashorad7407 que yo sepa no pagamos ni mierda, pendejo
Amazing book
This is unironically complete fire my dude.
You can have a problem with that, my friend... You know, here we are "anti-fire".
Philosophy Tube, pin this thread.
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
ARSONIST! ARSONIST!
it seems like you can't even call a track fire these days without being called an arsonist
"Don't play with matches" has become my go-to phrase for summarizing why I'm anti-fascist. It just keeps getting more and more relevant
Imagine having to explain why you are anti-fascist. In what twisted democracies do we live in?
hadestown is so underrated and this cover is so GOOD!!!!!! the themes of this song and ur video mesh wonderfully im still shook
Hadestown is gonna smash it on Broadway, though, so soon everyone will know how awesome it is :)
He mentioned on some side video that he makes some videos based on plays that he wants to be in but no one is putting on, so its possible the video was made around the song/play.
I’m going to see it in May!!!! I’m so hype!!!
@@beardedartisan I'm so THRILLED that Hadestown is going to Broadway!! (ofc there's no way I'll get to see it... legally... but I'm still thrilled!!)
It won 8 tonys!!
I’m part of a lesbian choir and we’re singing a version of this song this season. I honestly didn’t like it until I watched your Bannon video, so thanks for that.
I’d love to hear in a Q&A/livestream more about how the song and the play tied in with your ideas and framing of that video.
Are only lesbians allowed in the choir?
@@leonlx564 😂 an only lesbian choir, i wonder how they prove they are lesbians
Dat SpanishGuy ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
I'm sure I'll talk about it more in the post-mortem livestream :)
It’s open to all women (or people who fall broadly on the womanish side of the spectrum) who are willing to sing under the banner of a lesbian choir.
I’m Bi myself and there are some straight women as well. But part of the goal of the choir is to be a “visible expression of lesbian pride” as it says on the website.
Hey! Somebody checked their analytics!
Sorry for my contribution to the skewing of the watched part of your last video... But thanks for this!!!
I clicked on a contra video about incels and it started a chain of RUclips history that changed me from a protofascist to almost a goddamn Marxist and if that ain't a glow up
Then youre probably weak minded and too easily swayed by emotional arguments on both sides as opposed to looking at data yourself separate of manipulation.
Dude, tortoise, piss off. No one needs your attitude here
You are welcome comrade ;)
Check out The Majority Report. It'll give substantive arguments for leftist policies (former Libertarian here).
Have you received your copy of the gay agenda yet?
I've had this stuck in my head for days, and I've been singing it basically on repeat.
Like, under my breath.
And every time I notice I'm doing it I get super concerned that somebody might get the wrong idea about repetition of the phrase "We build the wall to keep us free".
No I swear the song isn't like that, I swear, it's from a far left video pointing out the bad things about people like Steve Bannon.
fun fact, it's originally from a musical called hadestown! it's an anticapitalist rendition of the myth of orpheus and eurydice.
@@timmythetechpriest5177 you could delete that mean, useless, unwarranted and out of place comment, FYI.
@@eleSDSU I will admit I both forgot about that comment and was an asshole when I made it
I've been singing it under my breath for days, too! I think I've finally accepted that I'm a Leftist now. This channel was some of the first media that broke through my mental wall of Conservative self-hatred 😸
@@ChristianCatboy Well you're welcome with us! We appreciate you. The more the stronger we stand!
If you go to the popular versions of this song on RUclips, the comment section is infested with Trump supporters missing the point entirely and fully agreeing with the lyrics. There really is no cure for stupid
Can you link it?
I don't think it's the most popular version cause on the 2019 version I kept on reading do you have match messages referencing the Bannon vid
There is, its throwing leftists out of helicopters into the fucking ocean
@@jonashorad7407 well arent you a ray of piss
@@jonashorad7407 We found the stinky fascie, fuck outa here boi
This song is one of the most perfect examples of facist thought it I’ve ever heard. It’s also very powerful and terrifying
God this is the most sinister song I've heard in a while...Olly, luv ya man, but your voice is beautiful and scary.
I mean in the context of the song, Olly is hades and the back up vocals are souls in the underworld... So...
interior mouthfeel going one step beyond
@@medes5597 oh shi- seriously? Well he embodies it well then. XD
Make sure to hear the original version of this song from Hadestown, too! The singer in that....phew. He sounds like the actual devil.
It's the British aristocracy blood coming out.
The contemporary leftist music we have all been waiting for. The contemporary leftist music we deserve.
Btw check out eric taxxon if you want more leftist music.
I mean... there's a lot of music that could fit that description.
@@narratormusic3164 Thank you! @Crispman, that's how you be helpful.
Oh and also, the death of neoliberalism by Lowkey is such a tune.
Y'all haven't discovered the entire genre of folk-punk yet, huh
I wonder if any right wingers are going to dramatically miss the point and unironically love this
Sadly they already have. Go look at any of the older vids of this song on RUclips >.>
I kinda like it. The enemy is actually multiculturalism though.
@@paulrogers1737 Then someone drastically missed the point
@@couldntthinkofacoolname9608 No I got the point. The way to end poverty is to create a united people who sacrifice their labor for each other. You are non pragmatic; multiculturalism divides the community. I want a people united by blood and culture. Any corporation that fails to serve this interest should be brought in line.
Paul Rogers again, you still missed the point of the song you idiot. Lol
Hadestown with Olly as Hades and Natalie as Persephone pls
Our lady of ways, our lady of means!
I feel like she would be better as one of the Fates. Persephone needs a certain smokiness to her voice (no pun intended)
Yesterday if at all possible
Let's be serious for a moment. Between the two of them, they could probably fill out the entire cast by themselves. They certainly have enough costumes :P
Can Hbomberguy sing? They're gonna need an Orpheus...
Absolutely superb - this version actually does something I prefer to the Anaïs Mitchell version, and that's where at 3:14 Hades comes back in and seems to be driving the chorus forward with a demogogue-like fervour rather than simply seeming to echo the chorus, as in the original.
The Broadway version of the song I find actually does have that kind of sense that Hades is just letting loose and relentlessly feeding the fervour and passion of the workers in the wall.
Olly DOES do a great job here though.
The "that's WHY" moment is such a good affect. Just wanted to commend Philosophy Tube on his performance of that.
I'm going to listen to this 1,000 times. 1,000,000 if it gets on Spotify
Hey look, it's Tristan.
@@EriqireM yup
How can we get this in spotify
@@uncleubi9008 It is on Spotify.
@@Mikkamel how do i find it
I now attempt to drop "You know, I am typically anti-fire." in conversation whenever it is mildly relevant.
I love the whole fire vs Firefighters idea..
It's an amazing metaphor
But the firefighters are the real fire
@@danatronics9039 - Anti-fire is obviously the real fire
@@KingBobXVI Its more like fighting fire with fire.
Just wait until everyone realises that the flames have died down because there is nothing left to burn.
@Ethan Danan Hmmm why we gotta opress the genocide advocators
Loving the fascist-apologists and their false equivalencies in this thread. The boys who died taking back Normandy would be very proud.
this song fucking slaps but i wish it would be exactly like in the og video with the flames sound effect when it starts getting loud bc i always get goosebumps when that part starts. also the graphics of the patreon pledgers changing to just say WALL WALL WALL WALL added so much
Exactly. Lol
I listened to the Steven banon video at least 2 years ago and this song has stuck in my head ever since- Abigail.. she’s just built different ❤
By any chance you have a match?
Sorry, I’m anti-fire.
Me, a rational: "Oh, here you go."
ARSONIST, ARSONIST!
Frage max why would you call me that? I just *Need* a match!
have a flamethrower
It makes me so happy you also love hadestown
looked up the album yesterday and now I'm listening to it for the 3rd time over.
This is coming from a guy with no music taste and barely ever actually listens to music.
@@slowburgundyy574 yo that's awesome. Glad you like it too!
Thank you so much for introducing me to Hadestown. Probably going to see it on Broadway this summer because of you.
Please, I beg you, we want an album of all the ending songs at some point.
Apart from the amazing music and lyrics, what I love about this song is that the dead workers are literally building the wall with their bodies (by decomposing in the ground) to separate the wealth of the earth (owned by Hades from where we get the term plutocrat) from the living, and that Hades expects gratitude for "giving" the workers jobs which are just the natural continuation of their existence.
The fact that you chose this song for Steve Bannon is now way funnier that he’s been arrested for his position in the ‘we build the wall’ fraud
When I first heard this I thought it was referring to Trump's wall. Turns out it was written like 10 years ago.
I believe a bunch of people were complaining to Anais Mitchell for writing this 'attack on trump'.
Because she basically made a statement saying "it's not my fault you voted in someone with the same policies as the king of the underworld"
@@ashtynjones9914 Hahaha, that's amazing! Sometimes fiction is just too real.
@@ashtynjones9914 must be quite a bizarre experience to see your distopian allegory become literal reality.
Her: looks at reality😶
Looks at script from ten years ago 😐
Also her: OH NOOO! I USED MY MAGIC REALITY ALTERING PAPER😲
when i first heard this i wanted to see hadestown with abi as hades, when i listen to it now i want to see hadestown with abi as persephone
Por qué no los dos?
The shivers this song gives me is just... wow. Your delivery, particularly at the end is simply phenomenal.
This song was such an amazing choice for the Bannon video.
Ok, get this, when I search "Why we build the wall" on RUclips I get this video, then the original Hadestown version and then I get a bunch of random LeftTube stuff before I get anything related to Hadestown...
OLLY YOU BROKE MY ALGORITHM AGAIN...
is it really breaking it if it keeps out the reactionaries?
OWO ItsADeadMeme
“MUH REACTUNAREE CUNSEVATIVS IS BAD!!!”
@@heinzke8512 yeah, fascism is bad. What's your point, mate.
Ironically, it seems that "we build the wall" did not, in fact, keep Steve Bannon free. :3c
from an artistic and intellectual perspective having a moment of silence at the end is great for letting the feelings and ideas expressed sink in a little before the real end
but damn Abi, i just want to put the song on loop and vibe out
i came here expecting theatre kids knowing this song in the comments yet it appears no one in this comments knows this is from hadestown ? so yeah this is from like the most phenomenal musical ever
This guy is the reason I'm an antifascist now, I used to think all the stuff everyone else thought about em, thx fam
Is not the suppression of dissent through shutting down public debate, violence and denying services to those of differing opinions fascist or authoritarian in and of itself?
Those who stare into the abyss must beware the abyss not stare back - and antifa has not been wary.
@@Anon-fd8ui antifa isn't a singular thing- it's more an activity than a group- i antifa and you can too, you know?
at any rate, you're downplaying the fact that the "difference of opinion" you cite is the difference between "wanting genocide" and "not wanting genocide"- when those are the positions there can be no debate or compromise, because there's no middle ground between genocide and not genocide.
@@mcFreaki Additionaly, lets not forget that the rethoric used by facists is inherently violent, and will transfer in physical violence as soon as they reach a certain amount of acceptance/power. Best example would be America, where right wing extremism is claiming the most amount of lives of any political group. And a physical force has to be met with physical force, you cant think away fascism (even so that would be a preffered way)
Are you a violent antifascist or a peaceful one?
@@OddBunsen depends on your opinion of fascists, from my point of view I'm just squashing bugs
Bro the 1st time I heard this song and saw the "don't play with matches" pop up at the end I was absolutely SHOOK
Hearing this in another, more futuristic style than the original, I think it helps reinforce the message that it's not about a person. It isn't about one time or one event or one movement. It's about the way demagogues in general stoke and manipulate the fears of the populace so they can take power. By getting people to imprison themselves and call it freedom.
I just saw Hadestown on Broadway today and finally learned where this song was from lol. Great cover of a great song from a great musical
Ok but I have only now realized that this song, playing at the end of your vid, is YOUR cover (ik I’m a tad slow sometimes) and omg! It’s so good!
Here comes another week of having this song stuck in my head. Thank you Olly.
OH YES. I LIVE FOR THIS.
Thank you Olly for giving us your amazing voice and showing me these amazing artists
Zoe Blade does a lot of music for Contra and Hbomberguy too
I said it before and I'll say it again, you need to get touring with that Steve Bannon piece. The presentation, execution and impact are unbelievable.
I heard the opening chords of this at the end of the Bannon vid with prior knowledge of the musical and I thought "OH SHIT. We're going there." But where else could we possibly go? A good cover (among other things) can recontextualize the original work for a different purpose or connotation. This was a good cover.
Normalize anti fascism
You know, as part of the Bannon video this song was very, very fitting, but as a standalone it just makes me incredibly depressed. It's still great, but the reality of how many walls we build, how tribalistic our society is in general just hit me quite hard.
I'm sure my view of the past is as rose-tinted as everyone else's, but I do think in the time when I was growing up the world was moving towards a better future. Or at least the West was. International cooperation seemed to be growing, barriers seemed to be falling, and I'm sure we'd have gotten around to fixing carbon emissions at some point - maybe not faster than now, but definitely not any slower either. I doubt we were moving away from capitalism, though. Things weren't perfect, but they seemed to be getting better, at least in my memory.
And now the right is on the rise again, and the world looks a lot more dangerous and sinister to me. Barriers are going up, relationships are breaking down and some very powerful people are actively working to keep fossil fuels going.
Also, it can't be just me that makes the link (heh, not intended) between Bannon and Ganon, can it?
I think I know what you mean. It's complicated, on the one hand the world probably is actually becoming more dangerous and we actually are heading towards a huge crisis (or more likely it's already started) but on the other hand all that has also brought to light all the violence and injustice and other problems that we've been collectively trying to ignore for the last thirty or forty decades (or longer). I feel like... okay this is going to sound corny but it's like we're at the crossroads of hope and terror, after a long straight road of political stagnation. Right now there's a chance to finally change the direction for the better but unfortunately there's an at least equally likely chance to just drive off a cliff and we might have to fight the cliff enthusiasts for the wheel.
So yeah, for my part I feel both more invigorated and hopeful than I have ever been in my adult life and at the same time more terrified than I've ever been, period. Even more than as a child and I was a very anxious kid... Still, there's a sense of relief about it, even the terror, after living so long with the vague threatening sense that the world is fucked up but everybody's pretending it isn't.
Knowing what I know about climate change, the cliff is in the rearview mirror already.
GANNON-BANNED
In the late 70's the first proposal for universal basic income was put up and then shot down by the sides you wouldn't expect today. We were starting to angle but were on a slower, gentler trajectory towards destroying capitalism.
Steve Ganon
So, I watched the video some time ago. Liked this song. Listened to it. Read comments. Didn't exactly understand how they were coming to their conclusions.
I came back to the song. Listened to it more. And now I get it. It finally clicked.
The only thing that separates the people from the enemy is the wall they build. Remove the wall, and they are no different from the enemy.
So these people view themselves different than others. They find people who think like them. They build a wall to separate them and their "enemy", and only allow in those who think like them or those that can be made to think like them (indoctrinated).
Now that there is a clear divide, and that the enemy is viewed as lesser in whatever way, they are now justified in their mind to act against them as cruelly as they wish.
To quote some holy text, "Do unto your neighbors as you would yourself." Enemies aren't a neighbor; they're a blight, vermin. They only deserve to be eradicated. They are justified.
But once they're eradicated, they no longer have a wall. Or, rather, no longer have a wall that means anything. So, what now?
"What do we have that they have not? / WE HAVE A WALL TO WORK UPON."
They build upon the wall they had erected. It no longer has meaning, but meaning it shall once again have meaning. It shall be renewed, reinforced, and reach higher than before. It succeeded before, so it shall succeed again.
Or so they hope. There are people who now question this new shift, and dissent must be quelled, lest the enemies come from within and ruin the wall they have built.
Rinse and repeat this process enough times, and that's a fascist nation.
I might have just been daft, but it makes sense now. It took awhile, but I did it.
I hope people who search the comments enough from not exactly understanding everyone else find this, and hopefully get a better grasp at the techniques in play. I know it would've helped me.
That's why you don't play with matches
I did not think about how there is nothing special but the wall before. There might be more here, but this is a central feature you captured well.
I just discovered your channel today, and am absolutely loving it. Anais has been one of my favorite songwriters for a decade and a half, and the fact that you covered her is thrilling. I first heard her around a campfire in Oregon when I was a teenager and she was almost unknown, and was able to see Hadestown on Broadway in 2019. She is amazing, as are you.
I'm so jealous :(
I wanna see hadestown but I can't find any official videos.
Broadway guards footage of their shows really tightly, so clips rarely make it on RUclips. Hopefully it will reopen. It was the most amazing theater production I’ve ever seen.
I'm so excited this is introducing more people to Hadestown! I've been a fan of Anaïs Mitchell's work for years, and seeing her musical finally really picking up traction is wonderful to see, especially with this particular community!!
I kinda want a new version of this in your actual voice now.
idk, I think the authoritative man voice really fits the "fascist leader" implied by the song
I also like how the song plays on the circular logic behind the wall, where they build the wall to keep out people who want work and that work is building a wall. In a way it’s almost religious like in how they present the wall.
Oh look a new musical I’m gonna be obsessed with for the next 3 months that’s nice
So I went and saw Hadestown just before Christmas as my first ever live theater experience. I'll be honest, I was obliterated by it. I'd listened to the music beforehand and that was in no way preparation. There's just something about a live performance and the physical weight of the instruments and the voices that hits you in such a..... physical way, that's hard to describe, and can never be communicated any other way. It was an amazing experience, no doubt.
The original is already great, but you version gives me chills every time I listen to it. I love it!
I’m a sucker for lyrics and poetry that build like this. But this song, is catchy and horrifying in equal measure. I can feel goosebumps each time. I can’t look away, but what I see is just...
Ayy great now I don't have to keep skipping to the end of the Steve Bannon video (and then remembering how good it is and accidentally watching the whole thing again)
It really is fucking good. Olly's best, I think.
Fascinating. This song actually conforms to the inverse golden ratio. ~0.618 * 235 seconds long = 145 seconds (2 minutes 25 seconds). This is exactly the time when the song ramps up for the bridge section, the instrumental bit before it slows down again. I'm not sure if the structure of the original is the same as here, but whether it is or not, it's kind of cool that this song is so...mathematically perfect. I'm sure it wasn't done intentionally, but when humans write music, this Fibonacci pattern is frequently found therein, because that kind of balance is pleasing to the ear (having the climax of a song be offset past the very center, but not too close to the end either). It's not a completely perfect match here...the climax starts 2-3 seconds late according to 1/φ, but I bet if you took 100 rock, pop, even metal songs and analysed what happens 61.8% of the way through them, you'd see the climax within 10 seconds of that specified time in the vast majority of cases.
Thank you, sir, for teaching me something new today.
This is going to become the most watched video on your channel and all the people who find it by searching for "Philosophy" will sort your videos by popular, see this, and be massively confused.
It'll be awesome.
Chaos.
This is a wonderful valentine's gift, Daddy.
I don't mean to disrespect the original version, but why is this one so much better?
It's that neon feeling
This is great to listen to on repeat paired with "Build That Wall" from Bastion.
I've been mentally connecting the two because of the similar lyrics and I'm glad someone else did too!!!!
Now i want a Hadestown montage with you as Hades, Natalie from Contrapoints as Perséfone, Kyle Kalgreen as Orpheos, Jourdain Seales as Eurídice, Owain Citizen/Hbomberguy as Hermes and Lindsay, Nella and Elisa as the Fates!
Been an Anais Mitchell fan for a while, so I was super stoked when I heard this on the original video, and happy again to see your cover get one of its own.
I sang this all last week. Sends shivers down my spine when I hear you sing this song.
This popped up on my playlists and I was like, "Yess, this still exists." Then I realized it's pre-transition Abigail and it just adds a while new level. Ty for your content :)
I sang this song in 2008 back in an unofficial workshop in Montpelier…. I played Persephone and was NOT WORTHY of the honor. So much has changed in the score but all the astoundingly brilliant bits remain almost identical in the Tony winning masterpiece we know/love….. I knew this show and Anais were gonna explode out of our little Vermont artist circles and make it on the “great white way” over ten years ago and honestly….
When Anais Mitchell said she wrote “Why We Build The Wall” faster than anything else she wrote for the show thus far….. I declared her a genius. It took a while…but I didnt think of what would happen when my favorite video essayist, and my microscopic part in the long road Hadestown took before today actually create new content?!?!? I get excited and say I’ll love this forever/thank you/wow
My niche interests had a beautiful baby socialist who can sing? Yep..
Your video introduced me to this song, and I am eternally grateful for that.
One of the most effective villain songs period
My desktop background is this image. It's absolutely amazing. The phrase "don't play with matches" is so iconic.
This is such a great song choice from Ollie as it conveys a viewpoint which "gets the first part right" like Bannon.
Anyone else get Pink Floyd vibes from this cover?
Same! It reminds me of Waiting for the Worms.
@@danatronics9039 waiting,
To deport illegals.
Waiting,
To beat up the anti fash.
Waiting,
For the commies and the berniebros and illegals and the scum.
Waiting,
To follow the Trump...
@@user-or7mh5we2k you clearly missed the message of the song, huh?
@@miku4977 what is the message in your opinion?
I could see that, but it reminds me more of Nick Cave. Look up Do You Love Me by Nick Cave
My favorite musical AND my favorite RUclipsr in the same place at once? I'm delighted
I need this so badly right now
How am I just now coming back to this cover after 3 years, realizing that it was by one of my favorite video essay channels?
Seems like a good day to listen to this again for no particular reason at all none whatsoever
Anais Mitchell - Why We Build The Wall Lyrics
Artist: Anais Mitchell
Album: Hadestown
HADES
Why do we build the wall?
My children, my children
Why do we build the wall?
CERBERUS
Why do we build the wall?
We build the wall to keep us free
That?s why we build the wall
We build the wall to keep us free
HADES
How does the wall keep us free?
My children, my children
How does the wall keep us free?
CERBERUS
How does the wall keep us free?
The wall keeps out the enemy
And we build the wall to keep us free
That?s why we build the wall
We build the wall to keep us free
HADES
Who do we call the enemy?
My children, my children
Who do we call the enemy?
CERBERUS
Who do we call the enemy?
The enemy is poverty
And the wall keeps out the enemy
And we build the wall to keep us free
That?s why we build the wall
We build the wall to keep us free
HADES
Because we have and they have not!
My children, my children
Because they want what we have got!
CERBERUS
Because we have and they have not!
Because they want what we have got!
The enemy is poverty
And the wall keeps out the enemy
And we build the wall to keep us free
That?s why we build the wall
We build the wall to keep us free
HADES
What do we have that they should want?
My children, my children
What do we have that they should want?
CERBERUS
What do we have that they should want?
We have a wall to work upon!
We have work and they have none
And our work is never done
My children, my children
And the war is never won
The enemy is poverty
And the wall keeps out the enemy
And we build the wall to keep us free
That?s why we build the wall
We build the wall to keep us free
We build the wall to keep us free
Thank you and bless you!
Ah, I was SO excited to hear how your vocals would sound at the part at 3:16 and after! Freaking stunning job there and the whole song!
i've been listening to this on repeat for the last two days and forced my friends to listen to it, it's incredible!! you guys are all awesome, as was the steve bannon video, thanks for posting this separately!
i may have made flappy hands listening to this
:DD it's so good
it's such a stimmy song!!!!! I'm kind of obsessed with analysing the rise of fascism so that added layer just makes me so excited!!!!!!!!!
@@riannaf927 yes!!! :DDD
This gives me a modern Pink Floyd vibe. Feels like a 70s version of this could have been on "The Wall". Well done
How does the wall keep us free, daddy, daddy?
Daddy Hades
NO!
AAAA