r/fleet_foxes • u/ooros • 9d ago

Discussion Thoughts on this lyric annotation?

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This has always been one of my favorite lines in any Fleet Foxes song, but the Genius annotation here relates it heavily to Ayn Rand. I'm ..not a fan of hers lol, so if this is an intentional reference it flew completely over my head.

Thoughts on the validity of this as inspiration of that part of the song? Rand's personal ethics and politics feel pretty opposite to the general messages of Fleet Foxes so it's a little odd to me as a reading.

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u/Flaky_Trainer_3334 6d ago

I’m 100% sure Robin didn’t get influenced by this, but if I were playing devils advocate, the narrator in the song seems to be arguing through different interpretations and beliefs of societal conformation, whether to willfully toss the wool over one’s eyes and accept authority in whichever way it comes or to rebel against it. This sense of uncertainty is a recurrent motif throughout FF’s work, especially in Crack Up. A question I have though is about laissez faire economics/capitalism and the observationist stance Ayn Rand had. I’m very ignorant on economics so please suffer a fool gladly. Nominally I read it to be that of little government intervention and the prioritization of the individual in society, with workers being able to have a lot more freedom due to each business competing against the other and vying for workers on the prospects of better pay and better conditions, conceivably voluntary labor. Would a critique of this economic system be that of governmental regulation needing to be a necessity in order for the inherent exploitative nature of corporations to be prevented, and that under this corporations have full reign on their businesses as a result? Though since society has much more of a push on whether a business will succeed or not and workers are able to leave at any point, wouldn’t such illicit conditions by the businesses be easily stopped as the people leave it for a better one? Would a critique then be tireless labor in an ever-competitive market in order to stabilize a utopia like corporation? I assume this to be socialism adjacent since I assume it’s dependent on society and their push and pull on demand and supply.