CHANGING HIS TUNE
Jack Johnson, who plays CityFolk, takes a political stand, writes Aedan Helmer.
The ‘goofy, sappy’ Jack Johnson gets political
Jack Johnson has not been known to ruffle political feathers.
Yes, he’s quietly operated charities and environmental causes and been involved in turn-outthe-vote movements. But over 15 years and six previous albums, the surfer/songwriter has largely been content with creating easygoing, mellow singalong rock tunes with inspiration drawn from the wild Hawaiian landscape and rolling sea that surrounds him.
But with his seventh album All the Light Above It Too, Johnson’s turned a corner.
“I don’t care for your paranoid, us-against-them walls,” Johnson sings on the album’s sharptongued lead-off single My Mind is for Sale, which the album’s Toronto-based producer Robbie Lackritz dubs the “happiest little protest song in the world.”
The video for the song, which Johnson wrote in one sitting last summer in reaction to a defining episode of the heated U.S. presidential race, shows the lyrics written on tumbling walls of wooden blocks.
The 42-year-old Johnson isn’t entirely certain how he’ll be received this time out on tour, which, following a CityFolk headlining date on his first-ever visit to Ottawa, winds its way through some fairly red states.
“It’s hard not to know what I’m talking about,” said Johnson, who wasn’t sure the song would still be relevant, depending on the election results, by the time the album was released.
“There’s was all this talk of ‘We’re gonna build a wall and Mexico’s gonna pay for it.’ I wondered if that would all just go away.
“I’m not trying to tell anybody what to believe,” Johnson says. “(My objection) was more about the language that was used and the way of going about it – that ‘Me first, gimme-gimme appetite’ as I say in the song.
“And walls in general, though you could interpret it as being specific to this wall (that Trump) speaks of, it’s also the metaphor of walls that divide when we should be bringing people together.”
(During his 20-minute phone interview, Johnson deftly avoided mentioning the U.S. president by name.)
“I felt it was an important time to put it out there where I stand. It’s been interesting because it’s got a lot of support from old friends I haven’t heard from in years, saying they’re glad I sang it and (they) feel the same way.
“And then if I go digging a little bit, there’s a lot of people who aren’t real happy about it as well. I knew that would be the case, and I guess the song wouldn’t really be worth much if everybody agreed on it.
“Speaking about it all really gets a lot of attention, but if you really listen to it, it’s not anti any person, it’s really just against those ideas (Trump) speaks of.”
Still, Johnson doesn’t expect a backlash once his tour rolls through North Carolina, Virginia, Georgia and Florida. He’s hoping for the opposite.
“When you look at how we divide up the red and blue states – it’s all purple, really. It’s not like everybody goes one direction in each one of those states, it’s different shades of purple. So, in some of those places, people might enjoy the song because it’s how they feel. Those are the places where they might feel a little more isolated and feel, ‘Finally, I get to come out and sing along about this.’
“So we’ll just have to see. I don’t predict any problems, but it’ll be interesting to see how it goes over. I’ve played this song in pretty liberal towns so far, and it’s been wellreceived and people sing along and it’s been kinda fun.”
Johnson said while he’s often asked whether he feels a responsibility as an artist to take a stand on social issues, “the only responsibility an artist has is to stay true to what you’ve always done.”
“So if somebody just puts out dance music, and they put out music just to make people move and dance and celebrate, then it’s OK if they keep on doing that. You’re not expected to suddenly make social or political commentary.
“But for me, I’ve always felt a balance between the two – I write goofy, sappy love songs, and then even on the first record (2001’s Brushfire Fairytales) I had songs making social commentary.
“Now is a hard time to avoid it and it’s an important time to be clear about the way you feel. When you have someone who’s the face of our country and things are going in a direction that feels opposite from the way you want, it’s important to speak out and make sure to represent our country in a different way.
“It’s just a song, and I’m just one guy, so I try not to place too much importance on it, but even just for my kids, I feel it’s right to make a stand and put it out into the world.”