The Felice Brothers are a veteran folk-rock band who throughout their career have sacrificed commercial success by sticking to their principles. They have turned down offers to work with big-name producers and have resisted pressure to adopt a more mainstream sound.
In 2011, the band turned down a lucrative offer from Dow Chemicals to use their 2008 tune “Take This Bread” for a gluten-free bread commercial.
On their latest album, Undress, several tunes address greed and capitalism. One such song is the satirical “Special Announcement,” which features the lyric “I’m saving up my money to be president.” The line highlights the role money plays in politics.
Ian Felice, the primary singer and songwriter of the group, expresses what he would want to accomplish as president, such as “I’ll gather up all the cash, toss it to the birds” and “Burn down the Stock Exchange, the Federal Reserve.”
The lyrics also address how being president is generally linked to “Pleasing all the financiers. All the corporate goons” and confronts political and corporate corruption. “They wanna eat their enemies’ hearts and brains and lick the bloody plates.”
In a statement made to Paste, Felice says: “This song should feel like you’re reading the Financial Times in a motel at the edge of reality. You feel very frustrated by the corrupting power of money in politics, and a piano’s cloud-like chords are hovering over a terrace.”