Oh Not That Song Again..."From a Distance" by Bette Midler (1991)

Don't think I've made any secret of the fact that I don't like religion and all the problems that especially organised religion brings with it so when I started this series I really wasn't keen on starting with a song that cakes itself in a religious bent but none the less here we are starting with Bette Midler's 1991 hit "From a Distance" mainly because I have been wanting to express the pain that this song gives me every time I hear it.

However let's do a little background before we dig into why "From a Distance" sucks, Bette Midler, at the time, of this song was an ultra successful recording artist and actress, this song was released off the back of the massive success of  the song "Wind Beneath My Wings" and the film "Beaches" and she then decided to record "From a Distance" in 1990 which was a cover of a Nanci Griffith country song written by songwriter Julie Gold released in 1988 and became a number nine hit in Ireland, it was released in late 1990 and peaked at number two on the ARIA singles chart in 1991. It's also important to note that this song came out at the time of the Gulf War. 

Anyway enough of that...now, let's get stuck into the actual song and yeah, the nice opening organs and then Bette Midler opens her mouth and sings the opening verse.

"From a distance

The world looks blue and green

And the snow capped mountains white"

Well yeah but from that same kind of distance the earth is also shades of brown, red and gray, the earth isn't just green grass, blue oceans and white snow capped mountains. Did the writer forget about arid deserts, droughts and grey clouds in the sky too.

We continue

"From a distance
The ocean meets the stream
And the eagle takes to flight"

Unless the eagle is flying toward outer space and swooping back down, you aren't going to see an eagle from the kind of distance you are thinking of. Also oceans meet rivers not quaint little streams!

Then we get to the chorus and this is where this song takes a turn from being factually inaccurate to really creepy.

"From a distance
There is harmony
And it echoes through the land

It's the voice of hope

It's the voice of peace

It's the voice of every man"

So I get that this mantra is supposed to rally people and make them feel good but even from that distance Midler has sung of...what harmony echoes through the land? We've always had some kind of war or trouble in the world since humans inhabited it, Also the world isn't just one big land mass either. It's just feel good wishy washy made to make the listener feel good and not see the song for the ridiculous rot it is.

"From a distance

We all have enough

And no one is in need

And there are no guns,

No bombs, and no disease

No hungry mouths to feed"

Again this is wishy washy feel good nonsense,this is somebody living in a dream world where no guns, bombs or disease exist and nobody is going hungry, it's this false distant utopia that doesn't ring true or connect at all and even if it is meant to sell this ideal utopia why is the production so fucking miserable and why does this song get even cornier?

"From a distance

We are instruments

Marching in a common band

Playing songs of hope

Playing songs of peace

They are the songs of every man"

Actually depends on the person, the songs that the writers of this song were singing are likely not the songs the every man are singing or connect to because while yes. we are all human, we are all different and look at a piece of music differently. This is the writer of this song living in some dream world that everybody is dancing around a fire singing "Kumbaya" and "The Land of Hope and Glory" at the top of their voices...then we get to the whole creepy point of this song...

"God is watching us

God is watching us

God is watching us

From a distance"

Holy shit, all that shit about us marching in a common band and how the world is just shades of blue, green and white just to tell us that some God is a Big Brother type fixture watching from a distance...that is just really creepy, even as somebody who is agnostic, this is really creepy in some of th worst ways possible and its matched by how miserable and lifeless the production is but we get a brief break from this creepy God watching us for an anti war epithet.

"From a distance
You look like my friend
Even though we are at war
From a distance
I just cannot comprehend
What all this fighting's for"

So this person looks like your friend and yet you are at war with them? If you are at war with somebody, they aren't your friend, they are your enemy!. Also of course you can't comprehend what the fighting is for if you stand at a distance from it...geezus, doesn't take much to read a newspaper or something instead of pretending you aren't on this planet.

And from there we're back to the main hook about harmony, voices and how some predator called "God" is watching us all from a distance...this song when it's not being creepy, doesn't make a lot of sense and has a lot of vague platitudes.