Rise Up

Album: Speed Of Darkness (2011)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This is the last track from Speed Of Darkness, the fifth studio album by the Irish-American Celtic punk band Flogging Molly. Vocalist Dave King explained to Alternative Press magazine why the band chose this song to close the set: "That had to be the closer. The album's all about life and its good and its bad. It's a positive end to the way I see life. It's rising up and getting your head above the bulls--t - even if it's one person at a time, it's still a positive motion. I want that wheel to keep in motion. If it's me today, it'll be somebody else tomorrow. I want that for humanity. I want us to f---in' rise up above this s--t. That was the way I heard the album end."
  • The song finds King championing defiant hope. He explained to Alternative Press: "I remember watching a wonderful show in Ireland on the television, it's called Reeling In The Years. It has Irish history and everything involved in whatever year they're talking about. When Ireland was going through its really bad trouble in the North [in the 1970s], there was a meeting in a hall. And it was about the Catholic people who were looking for a one-man-one-vote campaign where they could actually vote. And all the men, women, children sitting in this hall, they were singing 'We Shall Overcome,' and it really hit me, and it reminded me of the Martin Luther King days. And I just had to put that lyric in the chorus."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Kristian Bush of Sugarland

Kristian Bush of SugarlandSongwriter Interviews

Kristian talks songwriting technique, like how the chorus should redefine the story, and how to write a song backwards.

Christmas Songs

Christmas SongsFact or Fiction

Rudolf, Bob Dylan and the Singing Dogs all show up in this Fact or Fiction for seasonal favorites.

Alan Merrill of The Arrows

Alan Merrill of The ArrowsSongwriter Interviews

In her days with The Runaways, Joan Jett saw The Arrows perform "I Love Rock And Roll," which Alan Merrill co-wrote - that story and much more from this glam rock pioneer.

Gary Numan

Gary NumanSongwriter Interviews

An Electronic music pioneer with Asperger's Syndrome. This could be interesting.

The Fratellis

The FratellisSongwriter Interviews

Jon Fratelli talks about the band's third album, and the five-year break leading up to it.

Director Wes Edwards ("Drunk on a Plane")

Director Wes Edwards ("Drunk on a Plane")Song Writing

Wes Edwards takes us behind the scenes of videos he shot for Jason Aldean, Dierks Bentley and Chase Bryant. The train was real - the airplane was not.