You were wrong.

March 13, 2005 7:43 AM

In Built to Spill's song "You Were Right" (from 1999's Keep it Like a Secret) Doug Martsch samples the lyrics of many Classic rock tunes. He steals from Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, the Stones, Bob Seger, the Beatles, Kansas and so on. I pretty much know all the references, save one. From which classic rock gem is the line "do you ever think about it" from? This has been bugging me for many years, as I should know it.

Secondly, when he says, "everything is going to be all right", I assume this is a reference to "you know it's gonna be all right" from the Beatles' "Revolution", but I could be wrong. Any takers on that one?

posted by psmealey to media & arts (16 comments total)

"everything is going to be all right"

No Woman No Cry by Bob Marley.
posted by shawnj at 7:51 AM on March 13, 2005

Never Gonna Be The Same Again by Bob Dylan
posted by mischief at 8:17 AM on March 13, 2005

Just for fun:

You were wrong when you said,
Everything's gonna be alright. --> Bob Marley
Yeah, you were wrong when you said,
Everything's gonna be alright. --> Marley

You were right when you said,
All that glitters isn't gold. --> Led Zeppelin
You were right when you said,
All we are is dust in the wind. --> Kansas
You were right when you said,
We are all just bricks in the wall, --> Pink Floyd
And when you said manic depression's a frustrating mess. --> Jimi Hendrix

You were wrong when you said,
Everything's gonna be alright. --> Marley
Yeah, you were wrong when you said,
Everything's gonna be alright. --> Marley
You were wrong when you said,
Everything's gonna be alright. --> Marley

You were right when you said,
You can't always get what you want. --> Rolling Stones
You were right when you said,
It's a hard rain's gonna fall. --> George Harrison
You were right when you said,
We're still running against the wind, --> Bob Seger
And life goes on after the thrill of living is gone. --> John Cougar
You were right when you said,
This is the end. --> the Doors

Do you ever think about it?
Do you ever think about it?
Do you ever think about it?
Do you ever think about it?
posted by psmealey at 8:19 AM on March 13, 2005

Thanks, mischief. I thought it was something more hippy-dippy than Dylan, but you could be right.
posted by psmealey at 8:21 AM on March 13, 2005

Belinda Carlisle, Love Doesn't Live Here Anymore
posted by Eideteker at 8:23 AM on March 13, 2005

oops. Hard Rain's Gonna Gall is Dylan, not Harrison.
posted by psmealey at 8:24 AM on March 13, 2005

It's a hard rain's gonna fall. --> George Harrison

Actually, that would be Dylan, dude. Although Leon Russell did perform a version of the number at Harrison's Concert For Bangladesh.

(One kid I worked with said that he considered the Live Album of that show to be the best album of all time. I had to educate the lad.)
posted by jonmc at 8:24 AM on March 13, 2005

damn.
posted by jonmc at 8:25 AM on March 13, 2005

Looks like this is pretty well answered, but I just wanted to add that I work with Doug's mom.
posted by Hlewagast at 8:40 AM on March 13, 2005

Will you tell her to tell Doug that I love his band? Thanks.
posted by jennyb at 10:47 AM on March 13, 2005

"Everything's gonna be alright" strikes me as kind of a generic throwaway line that you hear a lot in blues music. For some reason Muddy Waters comes to mind. Not that the BTS guy couldn't have been thinking specifically of Marley, but he could have also been thinking of a ton of folks.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 5:41 PM on March 13, 2005

Will you tell her to tell Doug that I'm going to freak out if his band doesn't release their new album soon? ^_^
posted by themadjuggler at 5:47 PM on March 13, 2005

I'll pass along your messages, and I'll email you if I can get any new album information out of her :)
posted by Hlewagast at 6:23 PM on March 13, 2005

I've always assumed that the 'do you ever think about it?' line is Martsch's own. He's asking if we even think about these songs, which some of us have grown up hearing so much that they've become little more than background noise.
posted by picea at 7:45 AM on March 14, 2005

Ah, picea, I always thought it was his line too, but that he was (rhetorically) asking the various authors of the lines he quoted earlier if they ever thought about what they told us/the pronouncements they've made in their songs (keeping the same you as in: you were right/you were wrong, do you ever think about it). I like your interpretation where he's asking us, too. Interesting how many interpretations there could be as well as how many songs it could still be a quote from.
posted by safetyfork at 10:25 AM on March 14, 2005

as how many songs it could still be a quote from.

Just from google (and above), I see that it's in songs by Dylan, Belinda Carlisle, the Vulgar Boatmen (nfi), Joe Ely, Roxette and so on. When I posed the question, I was thinking it was some 70s pseudo sensitive boy artist like Bread or Jackson Browne, but it could still be. Then again, you two might be right that it was just a cliche turned on itself (like the whole song).
posted by psmealey at 6:33 PM on March 15, 2005