The Shins’ “No Way Down” Lyrics Meaning
There’s a lot of poetry going on in The Shins’ “No Way Down”, but we’re going to try to outline the main points contained therein as simply as possible. For starters, James Mercer was inspired to write it after coming across what was apparently some anti-corporate literature. These articles argued that mega-corporations have been detrimental to the American economy.
And that is the fundamental idea upon which “No Way Down” is based. However, the vocalist does not approach this topic simply from an economic standpoint, as may be expected. Rather he dedicates significant bars to also pointing to the humanistic/moralistic ramifications of their practices.
And in that regard, we would argue that he is speaking specifically from the perspective of an American citizen and how such practices affect them individually.
The American Economy
For example, the American economy is such that many of the items consumers enjoy are manufactured in other parts of the world. And these places lag decades behind in terms of the institution of labor laws.
This is what the vocalist means when he says he “was born with blood on (his) hands”. Such a metaphor implies that he is somehow guilty, even though he didn’t actually commit any crime.
Well the crime he committed isn’t a social one. Rather, the implication would be that all American consumers are guilty of enjoying products which were made by the suffering of others.
And how this ties into the overall anti-corporate motif is that Mercer learned that the reason this is so is because corporations outsource their labor. And the said labor is outsourced specifically to countries where labor laws are lax, since relatively speaking workers can be acquired there on the cheap.
With that in mind, we’ll put forth that the second verse is founded on the same type of allegory. Here, the vocalist is apparently saying something like the general populace is feigning ignorance in order to enjoy these products. But at the same time, it’s only those at the top who are truly benefiting.
Invisible Slaves
Meanwhile the third and fourth verses focus more squarely on the “invisible slaves” whose produce satiate the American consumer. And what the vocalist is saying is that these individuals have no firsthand knowledge of where the goods they produce actually end up.
Likewise, those who consume said goods are “too far away” from the Third World to really understand how the people who manufacture them are suffering in the process. But again in terms of the latter, there is this sentiment of shame being levied against them.
In other words, James comes off more as if the reason Western consumers are able to enjoy the fruits of slave-like labor with a clear conscience is basically because of one primary reason. And this reason is the fact that they’re ignoring the exploitative aspect of the manufacturing process.
But can one free oneself from this?
The fifth and sixth verses are then, shall we say, more realistic. Here, the vocalist seems to express an understanding that freeing himself from this economy at large is not as easy as it seems.
He also seems to harp on, once again, this concept of intentional ignorance. And in that sense he also alludes to the moral consequences from a personal-conscience standpoint of knowingly chillin’ off of the suffering of others, even if you don’t directly witness it.
Thesis Sentiment of “No Way Down”
Meanwhile the chorus once more buttresses the idea that at the end of day, there’s only one group enjoying from this system. And this would be those on top of the corporate ladder, i.e. business leaders. After all, we too are working our behinds off just to attain these sweatshop-made goods.
By contrast, there’s only “a tiny few” individuals, the 1% if you will, who are verily “having all of the fun”.
And all facts considered, such would also be the thesis sentiment of this track. Yes, it is obvious that the vocalist thinks that the current state of the economy, where the manufacture of American goods is outsourced to more-exploitative countries, is messed up.
In fact it’s so messed up that it even bothers his conscience. And this is despite the fact that he’s an unwitting participant. But he doesn’t deem himself nearly as guilty as those who instituted this system and keep it running. And the people in question are the leaders of the various corporations behind these goods.
The Shins
The Shins is a band from Albuquerque that has been rockin’ since the late 1990s. Earlier in the group’s career, they were signed to Sub Pop. Sup Pop is the same label that put out acts like Soundgarden and Nirvana.
“No Way Down” and “Part of Morrow”
This particular track was released on 19 March 2012. It is part of the album “Part of Morrow”. The project is The Shins’ first full-length. It was released under Columbia Records.
Greg Kurstin, a producer who is omnipresent in the music industry, co-produced this track with The Shins’ frontman, James Mercer. And the other two members of the group at the time, who are no longer down with the crew as of the writing of this post, were:
- bassist Ron Lewis
- drummer Joe Plummer
“No Way Down” was not released as a single. Owing to this, it has no chart history to speak of.
