Here are times when we just need to take a deep breath and scream from the top of our lungs, "What's going on!?"
That's how 4 Non Blondes frontwoman Linda Perry felt when she wrote this very cathartic song. "It's like, 'Why does it always seem like either I'm struggling, or there's some f--king political mess happening? Why is this all happening in the world?'" she said on the Backstory Song podcast.
The phrase "what's up" doesn't appear in the lyric. The chorus refrain is "what's going on," but that's the name of a 1971 Marvin Gaye R&B classic.
The song was influenced by the political climate of the time (George H. W. Bush was president), but there are no political references in the lyric, which makes it malleable and gives it staying power. "If you look at the lyrics, they don't mean anything," 4 Non Blondes bass player Christa Hillhouse told Songfacts. "It's the way the song makes certain people feel. In Europe where they're not speaking English, they know every broken-English word, and that song makes them feel something. I knew right when we played it, the song made the whole room feel this thing. It's a connection to humanity. Certain simple songs, that's what they do. There's an honesty there that breaks through that people can relate to. Then of course they played that song to death and a lot of people are really sick of it." "It also had to deal with, 'We're living, we're broke, all we do is play music,'" she added. "It was a weird time, the late '80s. We were living pretty raw, but when you're an artist and you're living that raw existence, you're so much more open and exposed with your feelings. We definitely weren't poseur types, we've always been pretty honest as individuals. The song was an expression of something she [Linda Perry] was feeling, and it ended up being a pretty universal experience. There's just something there that's pure, that you almost can't define, and that's the thing. We were just living as honest a life as we could, and I think the music that came out of it had heart."
Lyrics
25 years and my life is still
Tryin' to get up that great big hill of hope
For a destination
I realized quickly when I knew I should
That the world was made up of this brotherhood of man
For whatever that means
And so I cry sometimes when I'm lying in bed
Just to get it all out what's in my head
And I, I am feeling a little peculiar
And so I wake in the morning and I step outside
And I take a deep breath and I get real high
And I scream from the top of my lungs
"What's going on?"
And I say, hey-ey-ey
Hey-ey-ey
I said "Hey, a-what's going on?"
And I say, hey-ey-ey
Hey-ey-ey
I said "Hey, a-what's going on?"
Ooh, ooh
Ooh
Ooh, uh huh
Ooh, ooh
Ooh
Ooh, uh huh
And I try
Oh my God, do I try
I try all the time
In this institution
And I pray
Oh my God, do I pray
I pray every single day
For revolution
And so I cry sometimes when I'm lying in bed
Just to get it all out, what's in my head
And I, I am feeling a little peculiar
And so I wake in the morning and I step outside
And I take a deep breath and I get real high
And I scream from the top of my lungs
"What's going on?"
And I say, hey-ey-ey
Hey-ey-ey
I said "Hey, what's going on?"
And I say, hey-ey-ey
Hey-ey-ey
I said "Hey, a-what's going on?"
And I say, hey-ey-ey
(Wake in the morning and step outside)
Hey-ey-ey
(Take a deep breath and I get real high)
(And I scream)
I said "Hey, a-what's going on?"
And I say, hey-ey-ey
(Wake in the morning and step outside)
Hey-ey, yeah yeah yeah
(Take a deep breath and I get real high)
(And I scream)
I said "Hey, a-what's going on?"
Ooh, ooh
Ooh
Ooh, uh huh
25 years and my life is still
Tryin' to get up that great big hill of hope
For a destination, mmm
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