Listen here:  w w w

‘w w w’
(previously ‘What if’, ‘What if What next’ and also ‘What if What next What now’)
 

Sound effects inspired by Martin Taylor’s initial acoustic mix, as well as Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” (as are the conga percussion parts), CRASS’s ‘Reality Asylum’ and also the Beta Band’s ‘It’s Not Too Beautiful’
 

The line “Something that I never heard” is referencing Van Morrison’s ‘You Make Me Feel So Free’ – “I prefer to spend some time just listening for that special something that I've never ever heard. I like a new song to sing”

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The original title moves on from what Gaye said about ‘What’s Going On’ when he removed the question mark from the title: ‘this is what is going on’. These are kind of positive question/statements, as in ‘What if we did this’. Or ‘This is what’s next’, ‘this is what we have to do now’. The new title keeps this feeling as well as introducing the world wide web into the concept. It was changed out of necessity when the phrase “What if” started to crop up in TV programs and adverts while we were producing the track.

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The song has had a few very different arrangement styles, mainly concerning the rhythmic structure, but ultimately the whole song was altered after meeting with a producer at a local studio, who pinpointed the verse where he lost interest due to the way the song repeated a section and didn’t drive the song onwards.

 

The released version is inspired by Tears For Fears’ “Sowing the Seeds of Love” – keeping its BPM and driving rhythm track.

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The shouted ‘whats’ and middle eight backing vocals are again, me and my son Theo.