Why We Build the Wall (COVER)

This cover was arranged by Nina Richards and Zoë Blade, with vocals by Olly Thorn and Nina Richards

[HeyItsOlive]

The fact that the original version of this song was written basically 10 years ago and Anaïs had no intention for it to become literal is the most bat-shit crazy thing as well. Thank you for introducing more people to the wonder that is Hadestown!

[johanadisunno]

YES I DONT NEED TO SKIP TO 41:11 ANYMORE

[seanegan]

I don't know how many people will see this comment on a year old video but a lot of people actually get quite offended when this song is sung in the musical Hadestown, which the song is originally from. Patrick Page, who plays Hades (who sings this song to end act 1) said he sees people leaving out of anger when he's singing this song and he wants so desperately to tell them that the song isn't about them, despite the obvious parallel of the wall and the call and response style of catchy phrases (build a wall, lock her up etc.).

I saw Anaïs Mitchell (the writer of Hadestown who composed the original concept album and worked on the show when it was off-Broadway) live when she came here to Ireland to perform some songs from her other albums and a few from Hadestown, and she said she's also seen a lot of people assume the song is about a certain politician leading a certain country. Before starting the song she just quipped "Well turns out not everything's about you" and the crowd (of a relatively small theatre) went nuts, it was awesome!

Great job on this cover Olly, I don't know how I only found this now but it's so amazing! The song builds up perfectly and you really sell the firebrand style of Hades and his grip on the workers of Hadestown. My favourite Breadtuber and my favourite musical come together and it's perfect. :) <3

[eldrago]

Apparently, this song was written several years before Trump for a play based on ancient Greek mythology in which it is sung by Hades. Now whenever the writer performs it they say "any resemblance between the current president and Hades, Lord of the Underworld is purely coincidental."

[CP-llqg]

The best thing about this song is that it was written by an American long before Donald Trump's appearance on the political stage. It was "just" a metaphor then. Prescient.

[johnpaulsylvester]

“The enemy is poverty, and the wall keeps out the enemy...”
Absolute chills.

[anone.mousse]

True story: I didn't catch the "anti-fire" pun the first time I watched the Steve Bannon video. The moment the end card showed itself was the moment I realized Abigail had removed all pretense. I knew she was quite the leftist already, but this? This was when I recognized that she had become an unambiguous anti-fascist.

And I *LOVED IT.*

[fgn]

Listening to this while playing tetris.

[beardedartisan]

"I say ... you wouldn't happen to have ...





*... a match?"*

_(Shivers)_

[melodygrace]

i actually got goosebumps hearing this for the first time, it’s so terrifying yet perfect at the end of the steve bannon video. iconic moment in youtube leftist history.

[smile-tlin]

personally i love the "what we have got and they don't is a wall". Coming full circle, full circular argument showing the absurdity, hypocrisy, pointlessness and pettyness of all this

[hairymcnipples]

The sophistry behind "because they want what we have got, because we have and they have not" as though those two things are the same is fantastic and I think really captures a lot

[iusethisnameformygoogleacc]

"We have a wall to work upon" is such an incredible line that completely changes the context of everything that came before it. I have absolutely loved Hadestown since like 2012 but showing this song to people after 2015, explaining it predates Trump, and waiting for them to reach that line is always a mind-blowing experience. What do we have that they should want? We have busywork for idle hands. There is no enemy, there's no one to keep out, the wall exists to perpetuate the existence of the wall. It's almost disappointing to imagine that any of the success of this *incredible* story comes down to the way this song's lyrics have come to hit differently after the trump campaign.

[needntknowmyname]

Me: PhilosophyTube introduced me to this song called Why We Build The Wall and it’s super good

My gf: From Hadestown? The musical?

Me: There’s a whole musical of this??!

[Sugugus_]

I know almost every line of lyrics has been quoted in the comments by now, but IMO "And our owrk is never done, [...] And the war is never won" is one of the best. Really underlines how fascism is never satisfied with the "purity" of its nation and how there will always be threats to fight and ennemies to exterminate until there's no one left.

[icequote]

This is unironically complete fire my dude.

[skullhatcrazy]

hadestown is so underrated and this cover is so the themes of this song and ur video mesh wonderfully im still shook

[Afroman]

“Those who build walls are their own prisoners.” - Shevek (Ursula K. Le Guin)

[joshuapray]

This horrified me when you used it in your video, and it horrifies me now. Such a chilling rendition. Well done, mate.

[MalevolentDivinity]

I've had this stuck in my head for days, and I've been singing it basically on repeat.
Like, under my breath.
And every time I notice I'm doing it I get super concerned that somebody might get the wrong idea about repetition of the phrase "We build the wall to keep us free".

No I swear the song isn't like that, I swear, it's from a far left video pointing out the bad things about people like Steve Bannon.