Music Review // Mr. Grossman ft. Patrick Ames "F.W.I.W."

https://open.spotify.com/track/4NEGMW2A6TbwjHhjjG1eEZ?si=d6b3287ddf274565&nd=1

The first sounds you'll hear on "F.W.I.W." are reggae keys which bring about this somewhat distorted guitar riff.   This song can cover genres from the band War to Santana to Bob Marley and something unknown by the time all the different sounds come out at the end.  This definitely feels like a protest song from the 1960's or 1970's, very much as part of something you might hear at Woodstock if it came ten years later.

Throughout the course of this song the lyrics take me to different places.  At one point, I can feel as if this song is about war in the sense we're raising children to grow up and have no choice but to enroll in the military and go fight battles they should never be a part of.   At the same time, it can just feel like a protest song in the sense that it mentions riots and that makes me think about a lot of what was going on during the pandemic in 2020.

Towards the end there is the line "There's a man with a gun" which doesn't really clear matters up whether you want to think about this as being an anti-war or anti-police song, but I think just shows that overall the song just becomes one which is anti-violence.  In the USA we unfortunately have a lot of gun violence which isn't a result of protests or war and that line might touch on that as well.

Historically, music can be important because it makes you think about a certain time or event.  To this day, people still listen to Hendrix playing the National Anthem at Woodstock.  Songs can reflect those moments in time and whether things get better or worse, I think this is the type of song that can always be looked back upon- and taken to heart right now- as a reminder of what is really going on in the world today.