Michael McDermott hadn’t planned to rush out new music Friday, but the daily headlines about persistent immigration arrests in the Chicago area compelled him to respond the only way he knew how.
“The Future,” a new song from the acclaimed Chicago singer-songwriter, was released on all major streaming platforms Friday ahead of Saturday’s “No Kings” protest downtown and throughout the US.
The song — which laments the radicalization of the federal government by far right-wing nationalists — joins “Bad News” by country star Zach Bryan, as one of the few new songs to emerge in recent months that directly addresses the public anxiety over President Donald Trump administration’s attack on free speech and, most pertinent to McDermott, the threat of social media manipulation.
“Two people living 30 feet apart can now live in two different realities,” he said. The benefactors of the division, “are the people who want to take it all.”
McDermott wrote the song a month ago as a response to what he describes as a slide toward fascism since the Trump administration took hold of Washington in January. The mid-tempo, piano-driven song strikes a commonsense tone in the lyrics.
“I think it’s time we did some critical thinking/The Statue of Liberty has started sinking,” he sings. “All they wanna do is keep you distracted/At least until martial law is enacted.”
Despite the song’s dark lyrics, the music was purposely written to sound upbeat — even with a “sha-la-la” chorus — to make it appeal to the most ears.
“I don’t want to sing to the echo chamber; I want to sing to the other side,” he said, adding that he wants to reach, “the middle right.”
He debuted the song two weeks ago while on tour. Last week, in St. Augustine, Florida, an audience member told him he should do a special release of the song timed for Saturday’s march.
McDermott recorded his parts in his Orland Park studio, while in Nashville, Will Kimbrough and John Deaderick added guitars and keyboards. Matt Thompson played bass.
McDermott plans to record a new version with his Chicago band and include it on a new album, which he plans to perform during a three-night stand at City Winery in December. This week, McDermott put together a lyric video that includes footage from recent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests in Chicago as well as a few shots from “The Lives of Others,” the 2006 Oscar-winning film depicting life in Communist East Berlin.
One of the video’s most powerful moments is McDermott singing “Jefferson would roll over in his grave/If he saw how these people behave” to the image of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem brandishing a large military weapon.
McDermott, who grew up in Orland Park and released his debut album in 1991, said he understands why most musicians have been silent in their music this year.
“It’s fear. It’s no joke. You could be targeted on some level,” he said. “But I’m Irish and can’t keep my mouth shut.”