I wrote "Everything's Fine" towards the end of my freshman year. There were a couple of weeks left, and while the song has a dark under-current to it, it has a lot of energy to it. The song is an overview of the suburban family. Despite the title, everything is not fine. Mom, Dad and the children are struggling with deep issues.
The family in question isn't the one that has to deal with real tragedy. The horror, and the tragedy are much more banal. Little by little, the characters trade away their integrity for security, and wind up with neither. It might seem odd to write a song being so far removed from that world at college, but college is the finishing school for the suburban life. For some, at least.
This song is somewhat auto-biographical, but I wasn't the only one living in such a house. Most of the people I knew lived in these houses where the depths of being human was hidden by a facade. I wasn't trying to slam middle-class America. In my experience, they were going through a very real hell. The mother, the father, and the children are all struggling with a system that asks them to be inauthentic. The state of "fine" is not a state of joy, or triumph, but a state of having achieved what was expected.
Dewey Kincade: Guitars, keys, harmonica, lead vocals
Tonya Buckler: Backing vocals
Jeff Faith: Bass
Steve Sizemore: percussion
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