12-13-18
“While I’m alive, I’ll make tiny changes to earth,” Frightened Rabbit frontman Scott Hutchison sang in Heads Roll Off on the Scottish band’s 2007 debut album. Hutchison, who passed away at age 36 earlier this year, is widely considered to have been one of the best lyricists of his generation. His work did indeed make “many tiny changes to earth,” providing a sense of catharsis and comfort for many fans—myself included—during some of the more difficult moments of one’s life.
Scott’s death, similar to how I spoke about David Bowie last week, shook me to my core. It’s always so strange when someone you never met can have such a profound impact, to the point that their passing is just as powerful if not more so than people you may have actually known. I came across Frightened Rabbit like many, when I was at a very low point in my life. The lyrics though bleak and often morose were often sung with a sense of brevity that often felt closer to revelry than austerity. To hear the eloquent insights of this person who seemed to feel the same thing, if not a more extreme version of it, was comforting. Quickly I was discovering how many people this music spoke too. That feeling of isolation we get stuck in started to feel a little less constricting.
Scott and the rest of Frightened Rabbit taught me a truly important lesson: to have empathy for your position and incumbent struggles, this act is a necessary part of struggling to discover your own self.
Self-empathy is like self-compassion, where self-compassion is having unconditional positive regard for yourself, self-empathy is aimed at learning how to listen to yourself. It’s about discovering what’s present within you, turning your focus inward to understand what’s really going on. For me part of this path was finding perspective in my situation, Scott helped immensely with this.
Listening to this particular song there is the phrase:
“When my blood stops,
Someone else’s will not.
When my head rolls off,
Someone else’s will turn.
And while I’m alive, I’ll make tiny changes to earth.”
This passage holds great meaning. Whether we are here tomorrow, whether we have settled all our grievances or accomplished all our goals, the world will turn, and people will live on. Focusing on the things out of my control does little to help me—instead, it’s up to me and me and alone to be the best that I can be given each moment and make tiny changes to earth.
Scott’s music is a gleaming testament to this sentiment. His own struggles and frustrations in a life consumed him, however when he was able to, he gave all that he could to all that would listen. There are countless fans here today because of his attempt at making a tiny change.
Lyrics:
Jesus is just a Spanish boy’s name.
How come one man got so much fame?
To enemy, it’s pointless to anybody
That doesn’t have faith
Give me the cloth and I’ll wipe my face.
When it’s all gone
Something carries on
And it’s not morbid at all,
Just when natures had enough of you
When my blood stops,
Someone else’s will not.
When my head rolls off,
Someone else’s will turn.
And while I’m alive, I’ll make tiny changes to earth.
So you can burn me
Cause we’ll all be the same, the same way.
Dirt in someone’s eyes cried down the drain
I believe in a house in the clouds
And God’s got his dead friends ’round
He’s painted all the walls red
To remind them they’re all dead
And you know when it’s all gone, something carries on–
And it’s not morbid at all–
Just when nature’s had enough of you.
When my blood stops
Someone else’s will not.
When my head rolls off
Someone else’s will turn.
You can mark my words, I’ll make tiny changes to earth
While I’m alive, I’ll make tiny changes to earth
Tiny changes to earth
Tiny changes to earth