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Outsiders
We're students of
The other school.
And it seems we got left out
By your point of view.
Never did care much
for your 'magic rule',
Your condescending,
Your bad attitude.
Won't you tell me what's an arm worth
If your hands are tied?
Tell me what life means
If your dreams have died?
Just because we got left out
By 'you know who',
Don't you ever believe
It means we're through.
We're the Outsiders;
You'll never divide us.
We're the Outsiders;
The "born, lived, and died"ers.
We're the Outsiders;
Don't care what you say -
We're the Outsiders.
I'd try to see things your way
If I thought you knew,
If I though you really cared
What's right or true.
I know that all you care about
Is who's paid their dues.
Really doesn't matter
It's really nothing new,
'Cause sooner or later
You'll see things like I do.
We're the Outsiders;
You'll never divide us.
We're the Outsiders;
The "born, lived, and died"ers.
We're the Outsiders;
Don't care what you say -
We're the Outsiders.
[Instrumental Strife]
We're the Outsiders -ahh -ohh -ohh
We're the Outsiders -ahh -ohh -ohh
We're the Outsiders -ahh -ohh -ohh
We're the Outsiders -ahh -ohh -ohh
[Fade Out]
Dax continues to feel a bit more at ease after his experience with 'the moon in the sea'. Still he continues to visit the 'rebel' gathering on some moonlit evenings. The seemingly harmless rebels still keep wandering in and out of the valley wearing their long overcoats and other odd garb. Their attitudes and demeanor betray any notion that they have any trust for Dax. They listen to the loud rantings and ravings of their usurpful leaders - put to the tune of forbidden rock music. But the amassed crowd seems somehow distracted and Dax is curious to see if they have any additional surprises. So he intends to visit whenever he feels safe in doing so.
On one such night, he leaves his 'humble abode' (and this description is given generously) and he makes his way down the city streets toward the outskirts of the metropolis. There he can find the hidden trail to the rebel base. But on the way he feels as if he is being watched, perhaps even followed. Could it be an Enforcer of SOL? He has heard grim tales of what they do to their captives during interrogation. Have they now started to crack down on the activities of the vocally discontent? Have they tracked him as someone who has visited the rebel outpost? He spontaneously darts down a side street. One eye over his shoulder and he still sees the potential tracker. Down another, and down yet another alley - each one darker than the one before. In this maze of broken alley-ways, he sees some unsavory looking characters. Then he panics, darting down another ever darker alley-way.
[Scene: A tangled maze of back alleys of the futuropolis. All of the streetlights have been busted, leaving only glimpses of moonlight to light the crumbling city-scape.]
Realizing he is lost, and with his mind awhirl with paranoia, he haplessly stumbles upon a band of outcasts - maybe even a gang of criminals. In appearance, they are perhaps even more offbeat than the rebels. By some standards a bit kooky. The rebels seem to wear cloths so mundane, so designed to be unnoticed, that they in fact stand out. This crew in the city streets was different - with a bit of angst adorning their attire. These inner city rejects seemed to have more of an edge and an intentional outward projection of dangerousness.
Their leaders, Malba and Noren, begin to tell Dax of their tough life on the streets. They sing of why they are dropouts from society, with no goals of changing it - just living and thriving on its fringes. While their message is similar to that of the rebels, it contains more of an edginess and implies that there is only futility in believing in external change. Be oneself - and of course that almost universally implies being at odds with the scripted society. Thereby such an individual will be on the run and living for oneself - and always at odds with the oppressor.
[Insert song lyrics at this point]
While Dax does not fully embrace this philosophy, he understands where they are coming from. In a moment of panic, Dax attempts to appear to be like them; 'an outsider'. To try to 'fit in', he tells them about his experiences with the rebels. On hearing this, some of the Outsiders say that everyone knows about the 'hidden rebel outpost'. Rumor is that the enforcers would stamp them out if they were not seen as harmless lunatics and fools. Although somewhat frightened, Dax manages to speak his mind. His story and naivety convince them he is not working for the enforcers.
They are impressed by his courage for speaking up. So, Dax manages to convince some of the Outsiders to consider visiting with, and perhaps siding with the rebels. He leaves physically intact, if not 100% emotionally intact. In the coming months, he decides to see the Outsiders only 'outside' of their own turf and at the 'Shroud of the Silent'.
But first, he must still find his way home through the fractured moonlit alley-ways...
Words and Music by David Denton
Female Vocals by Cat Denton
Male Vocals by David Denton
All Instruments performed by David Denton
Recorded and Produced by David Denton
I guess I had a rebellious streak in my younger days, ya think?
Outsiders is a really straightforward song, and I think each of us could relate to the rebellious feelings it relates - at least on one point in our lives or another.
Outside of the obvious gist of the song and where it fits in within the storyline, I recall that the song had a couple of other meanings when I wrote it:
I recall having some anger with the rigidness of the educational system, and how the educators seem somewhat condescending as they 'bestow' information to students. But if, and only if, they conform. It seems that the information they 'bestow' is somewhat freely available anyway, and what they are really bestowing is a progressively higher level of 'socialization' to which we must adhere to 'advance'.
On another level, I think I was somewhat angry at media and specifically the music industry. Now we have the internet and other means of expressing our music, but in those days (and to some extent today) there are institutions within media that act as self appointed 'gatekeepers'. They decide not only how to present new music (or TV, or movies, nor news) to the world, but they also decide to a large extent who and what we will hear.
These are just a few side notes that I can think of in reflecting on this song - but this do not really affect the song as it ties in to the overall storyline of 'All Systems Go'.
Technical Notes:
Again, great job to Cat Denton for her vocals in this song which was recorded on a 4 track cassette multi-track recorder. It was recorded mostly in a basement makeshift 'home studio' and the instruments and vocals were progressively bounced down to make room for additional tracks.
The clean up and digitization in 2017/2018 was little more than noise reduction and equalization or the original fragile master.