June’s song to introduce is Snakes & Ladders. Like a lot of the album’s songs, it was written using Nashville strings on my acoustic guitar, and then I let rip on the arrangement with overdriven guitar, some bar-room style piano and an energy-adding synth part.
The song tells the story of an ambitious politician for whom climbing the political ladder is more important than making a positive difference. Although it lampoons the main character, to an extent the song also tries to sympathise with them. They have a concern for social justice but understand that political and powerful interests work against doing anything radical.
The political theme of the song might seem particularly apt given the upcoming UK general election, but that’s just a coincidence as the election hadn’t been announced when I decided to post about this song.
However, I do have something else lined up to time with the election which is much more intentional. More later this week…