Song #75: Giuseppe Andrews - "Reason"

Song #75: Giuseppe Andrews - "Reason" (2009)

Songs from "Look"

"For everything we're going through in this life, the sweet Lord's got a reason."

Giuseppe Andrews is one of the most visceral and unique musicians and filmmakers working in the business today, and it seems with Adam Rifkin's documentary Giuseppe Makes a Movie, which shows Giuseppe's filmmaking process up close, Andrews is finally get the respect and credit he deserves after years of masquerading in almost complete underground obscurity. Andrews has starred in numerous films and TV shows, with probably his two most famous works being leading/supporting roles in Cabin Fever and Detroit Rock City (also directed by Rifkin). Andrews also continues to release his music, films, and thoughtful musings through his website http://giuseppeandress.net.

One of Andrews' unique roles was in a film by the name of LOOK (also directed by Rifkin), which was an anthology film concerning numerous ordinary people, whose lives intertwined through security cameras that were placed all over the town. We watched these people when they didn't know they were being watch, be it through security cameras placed inside restaurants or fast food places, through their webcams, their cell phone cameras, or whatever camera they happened to be near. It was a unique and subversive show. It also spawned a short-lived Showtime series of the same name, which despite running for only about eleven episodes, remains one of the most brilliant things I've ever seen on Television.

In both projects, Andrews' played Willie, alongside Miles Dougal, a close-collaborator of his, who played Carl, both of whom worked at a gas station/convenient store. Willie was an aspiring musician, often playing tunes and holding jam-sessions in the gas station, to which Carl would obnoxiously dance to in the aisles of the store, knocking things over, making a mess, etc. One of the songs Willie played in the series in the gas station, at the end of the episode in hopes of getting signed, was "Reason," an incredible ballad about a man that believes that every experience or hardship we undergo in life is all because "the sweet Lord's got a reason."

The song is simple, but effective, and unlike many of Andrews' songs, straight-forward, with no vague ideas or strange statements making the meaning of the song that much more puzzling. Andrews' has some of the most unique vocals around - ones that are simultaneously scratchy at the same time chilling and softly romantic, sure to send shivers whenever he gets the song into high-gear. Not to mention, there's an unexpected side of spirituality from this song I didn't foresee Andrews dabbing into, and even went on to assume that he intentionally rejected religion and the likes before hearing this song. Even as somebody who is irreligious, I'd like to think that there is a reason we go through everything in life, and even go on to believe in some sort of karmic revenge, but I simply cannot bring myself to find either to hold much ground on myself, personally.

Unfortunately, the studio version of the song - from the album Songs from "Look" - has mysteriously disappeared from the internet, along with that album, so I have no way of linking or promoting the original masterpiece. What I can provide, however, is the audio version that Andrews' character Willie performs in the gas station in the TV series Look, which is a fitting substitute; personally, I'm just glad some form of this song is on the internet.

Give "Reason" a listen, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ppx9TOr1ueA