A Beginner's Guide to Destroying the Moon
Foster the People- Supermodel
"A Beginner's Guide To Destroying the Moon"
I can't blame you, and I can't save you
But I will try
For you and I, for you and I
I won't find out all the dirty little things that you've done
But I will try
I—I'm coming for you giants and you liars and your chariots of fire
You charmers with your anecdotes have started to show your true colors
Now I'm staring at the moon wondering why the bottom fell out
I've been searching for answers and there's questions I've found
Open your eyes and share this burden somehow
Are you ready to drink
Or are you waiting to drown?
I would break you
Before I let you fall into the blind
For you and I, for you and I
I will breathe in all the truth I can stomach
If it keeps you alive
We've changed the dreamers and the preachers and the wise men on the hill
To concrete stepping smilers terrified to lose their power and control
Yeah we've been crying for a leader to speak like the old prophets
The blood of the forgotten wasn't spilled without a purpose, or was it?
Now I'm staring at the moon wondering why the bottom fell out
I've been searching for answers and there's questions I've found
Open your eyes and share this burden somehow
Are you ready to drink
Or are you waiting to drown?
Yeah
Ah—ah
Yeah you'll never be whole, yeah you'll never be whole
Until you lose control
And think freely to smash the wall of apathy
Stop your self-importance and lift the weight off somebody else
Yeah you'll never be whole, yeah you'll never be whole
Until you lose control
And stop drinking the wine that's been dripping
From the lips of the gluttons and envying their bloody teeth
Yeah you'll never be whole, yeah you'll never be whole
Until you lose control
Self Reliance, Society and Nature, and Rejection of Authority
Foster the People’s album, Supermodel, is critical of our capitalistic society and the separation from our origins it’s brought about. The song “A Beginner’s Guide to Destroying the Moon” in particular is sympathetic to a transcendental philosophy, encouraging a rejection of authority, and self reliance. The band claims that they “can’t blame you, and [they] can’t save you.” The ‘you’ being all the members of society who have yet to “open their eyes and share [the] burden” of realizing the truth of such a greedy community. The band cannot blame all these people for getting caught up in the morals that they have been taught to believe, however they also know that they cannot save them. Emerson conveys a similar idea in his essay “Self-Reliance” when he says “Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.” The people have to make the choice for themselves and be self reliant in order to extract themselves from the selfishness of society. “We’ve changed the dreamers and the preachers and the wise man on the hill, to concrete stepping smilers terrified to lose their power and control,” and this change in the relationship between society and nature has caused the world to become an evil place where every man must fend for himself all the while being told he is living in paradise. The song completely rejects the authority of this society, the political “giants and [the] liars [with their] chariots of fire” by questioning the decisions they’ve made. The song becomes a “counter-friction to stop the machine,” when they ask if the “blood of forgotten” was “spilled without a purpose.”