Album: Et Tu, Brute? (2013)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This song tells the story of a young man struggling with his chosen last day on this earth. Lead singer and songwriter Ronnie Winter told New Release Tuesday the background story of the song: "The thing about our band is my brother is also in the band, and all the crew guys grew up with us and went to high school with us," he explained. "Basically, we took our home with us on the road and we know everybody. Knowing that, one of our best friends tried to kill himself right before our tour started. It was a situation where we were there when it happened and everybody came together as a support group. We rallied to our friend's side and he was able to see that he made a mistake, and he's fine now. He's totally okay today. He worked out his problems. There was that weird feeling where we were about to leave for six weeks for the tour and we wanted to stay and be around him. That was fresh on our minds when we were writing this song. Another similar situation happened to one of our touring crew members. Twice in a month we were directly dealing with someone who had made an attempt on their own life. It was on my mind and I had to write about those situations."
  • Winter sings, "Don't try so hard to be happy..." in the bridge from a personal perspective. He explained to New Release Tuesday: "My brother and I had a really rough life growing up. We were raised in Awana. We went to church Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night. We were raised in an awesome Baptist family in Tucson, Arizona. Then everything went crazy in our family and things got kind of hopeless. We came into this weird time in our lives when we were 12 and 14 years old and realized things weren't how they should be. We had what most people would consider 'bad luck.' It was a strange feeling because we were Christians and we grew up believing with an unbridled faith that bad things wouldn't happen to us. Eventually bad things do happen, and you need to learn how to deal with it. That's what I'm saying in the bridge. Once you realize that the world's corrupt and fallen and there's nothing you can do about it, you have to let go."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Allen Toussaint - "Southern Nights"

Allen Toussaint - "Southern Nights"They're Playing My Song

A song he wrote and recorded from "sheer spiritual inspiration," Allen's didn't think "Southern Nights" had hit potential until Glen Campbell took it to #1 two years later.

Richard Marx

Richard MarxSongwriter Interviews

Richard explains how Joe Walsh kickstarted his career, and why he chose Hazard, Nebraska for a hit.

Commercials

CommercialsFact or Fiction

Was "Ring Of Fire" really used to sell hemorrhoid cream?

John Doe of X

John Doe of XSongwriter Interviews

With his X-wife Exene, John fronts the band X and writes their songs.

Yoko Ono

Yoko OnoSongwriter Interviews

At 80 years old, Yoko has 10 #1 Dance hits. She discusses some of her songs and explains what inspired John Lennon's return to music in 1980.

Loreena McKennitt

Loreena McKennittSongwriter Interviews

The Celtic music maker Loreena McKennitt on finding musical inspiration, the "New Age" label, and working on the movie Tinker Bell.