Temporary Sanity

Album: The Individualist (1995)
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Songfacts®:

  • This song pictures the world as fundamentally insane, with bouts of temporary sanity. Rundgren wrote it in response to the Balkan War, which took place in what was Yugoslavia after the territories of Slovenia and Croatia declared independence. Conflict engulfed the Balkan state of Bosnia, where ethnic tensions led to a war that turned into a genocide.

    In a Songfacts interview, Rundgren said: "When you start assassinating children, when whatever it is that you're arguing about reaches that level, then your argument, whatever it is, no longer has any relevance - you're just a murderer at that point. I was somehow in my own mind trying to make sense of this situation where, essentially, what started out as a civil war turned into mutual acts of terrorism where they were killing each other's children. It just made no sense to me."
  • This is part of Rundgren's album The Individualist, which was released under his TR-i moniker, meaning "Todd Rundgren Interactive." It was issued in a format called "Enhanced CD," which could play on certain computers with lyric videos and artwork to accompany the songs.

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