Speaking from experience, having someone to discuss your feelings with is tremendously beneficial to your mental health. Everyone can benefit from this, but I worry that there’s a stigma among young men, and they age into angry men who can’t understand what they they are feeling and become more likely to lash out. I worry this confusion surfaces as a desire to be perceived as “masculine,” which causes further suppression of emotions until something explodes.

Since it was a weekend day, I had some extra time to devote to the recording, with more layers than I typically have time for. It’s built on top of the dread I-V-vi-IV progression (a.k.a. the “Axis Progression”), but I hope there’s enough variation to keep things interesting. The instruments are just guitar, bass, and drums from the Blasting Room sample library.

Lyrics

You don’t have to be so hostile
You don’t have to be eaten up inside
I know they have taken so much now
Minimized your future and spat on all your pride

They’ve given you people to blame now
They want you hopeless to make you feel alone
Dividing us is their intention
‘Cause we’re easier to limit when we think we’re on our own

Talk to someone, talk to someone
Talk to someone and tell ‘em how you feel
Talk to someone, talk to someone
Your emotions are important, you are valid, they are real
Sharing our feelings is how we start to heal

They’ll tell you to be a man now
To stop your whining they’ll say to act your age
The only things they want you feeling
Are despair, fear, antipathy, self-loathing and pure rage

Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it
Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it
Everyone on this planet deserves a chance to win
Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it
See people who’ve survived this
I want you to be happy and to feel whole again