Not Mad Enough by Smith & Myers

Album: Volume 1 (2020)

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Songfacts®:

Smith & Myers is the acoustic side project of Shinedown frontman Bret Smith and the band's guitarist Zach Myers. This powerful song is the lead single from Volume 1, their first recordings as a duo since a pair of 2014 EPs.
Smith wrote the lyrics in the immediate aftermath of George Floyd's death in Minneapolis at the hands of a white policeman. The Shinedown frontman rarely switches his television on when he's touring, but for some reason he did so that night. The killing of George Floyd was breaking news and the singer watched the tragedy unfold in real time.

"I remember watching [the news coverage], partly in disbelief, and partly just heartbroken because of where we had arrived," Smith told ABC Audio. "I really could not believe that... I kept saying it to myself, too, I was just, like, 'This cannot be real. It's a movie.' But it wasn't a movie."
The lyrics poured out as Smith expressed his intense emotions at the awful events that he'd witnessed. "I just had the wind knocked out of me like a lot of people did," the singer told American Songwriter. "I wrote the song very quickly. The words came almost like a flood. When they talk about these subjects, people get terrified that they're going to say the wrong thing. But you're not going to say the wrong thing as long as you speak from the heart."
What followed was a plea for racial justice, which Smith describes as a song about "right and wrong."
"We're choosing to be on the side of what's right," he explained. "The song is also about, let's put it into action. Let's figure it out together, and then let's create the world that we actually want to live in."

Comments: 8

Greg from UsaThe lyrics are perfect, just not representative of the correct reason….. If by now you can’t see we are all being conned by an evil and corrupt government (world elite) then well there is little hope for you anyway. They keep us divided like this, using race, religion, sexual identity issues, etc…. Feed them bread and give them circuses and they will never revolt. Stay distracted and have tons of fear. Damn right I’m mad, I wish you were too, FOR THE RIGHT REASONS!!!
3rdworldusa from UsaIdolize a criminal and make a few bucks off it seems innocent right. Where's the statues and street signs for all the white criminals dead by the hands of police? Statically speaking more whites die by the hands of police then any other race. Please make songs about those fallen heros nope not the cops the white criminals who resisted arrest, high on drugs. Murderers rapist etc. Nobody will because the only difference was Floyd's race. Blm has defended many white criminals, until they found out they're white. Racism comes in many forms and not seeking the same justice for a white, Hispanics or Asian criminal in a similar situation is racist in itself. Like the song but the mea ING is lost because your only appalled because it was a black man. In the future feel that way towards any victim of police brutality and not use race as reasoning. We all want equal justice so please show outrage for all races.
Pat from Space CoastI love the sounds of this song, but am very disappointed in its message. My comment has nothing to do with anything about Geo. Floyd, but rather that any reference to the overall tragedy of that day is memorialized. Stick to ambiguous themes please.
Honorable Jr from America (?)The Jason guy has ALL his "facts" wrong! The holds weren't "nonlethal" nor allowed, and 9 minutes of pressure on the neck is excessive in any situation! If you pull your head out far enough, you might see your racism & how you are victim-blaming to justify murder!
Gloria from Phoenix, ArizonaLike most people i DIDN'T look far enough for the meaning of the song BUT fell in LOVE with the song as soon as the First time i heard it (not to mention the singer) Means a Lot more knowing the reason behind it! THANK YOU for bringing this to the attention of ev1 Hope you keep going you guy's are GREAT!
Jason Gartner from AzI wish people would wait until all the facts come out before rushing to judgement. The coverage and encouragement of the "mostly peaceful protests" was irresponsible. Don't try to capitalize on local police occurrences. Despotisms want to discredit local police and replace them with national police. This is straight up marxist. Next time wait. Too bad. You're talented, but this is a lie. The scenes of white liberal BLM protesters chasing off black patriots carrying the American flag is a disgrace. This song does nothing except rile up emotions and feed off of a false narrative based on incomplete, perhaps intentionally incomplete coverage of a situation. Perspective: you're a cop called to deal with known violent felon, who's high on drugs, who's huge and muscular, who you've personally witnessed working as bouncer taking people out, who's resisting arrest, who's asking you to let him lay on the ground, and you need to protect the person who called the cops and the bystanders while hopefully trying to perform the arrest. You allow him to lay on the ground, but you know what he's capable of so you properly hold him down as is in the police handbook, in what is actually a very nonlethal hold, although the average joe might not realize that. You see that he doesn't seem well so you're calling for an ambulance. They're taking their sweet time getting there. You have to be careful for the victim of the crime who called you, the bystanders, yourself, and hopefully the suspect. Alright. Your turn. What can you do that's so much better.
Baldman Dude from Chattanooga, TnThis is a powerful song and leads anyone, who has ANY emotions and ANY sense of positive justice, to cry and say a prayer for good changes in this world to be made...a great song and a definite "thumbs up" for the lyrics and way it was made.
As for the "anonymous" comment below, thank God above that YOU haven't felt or been a target of racial hatred simply because of your skin color. And no matter WHAT the color of your skin, the death of George Floyd was a horrible act of brutality and should never be repeated...if you feel differently, then may "something" rest your soul when you die...and it WON'T be God.
AnonymousGeorge Floyd was not a martyr but a criminal who was dying on that street anyway. These guys are just trying to ride a wave of a false agenda which is why I choose to turn off this song whenever it comes on.

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