Song of the Day: Machine “There But for the Grace of God Go I”

Not too many high energy disco songs expect you to pay attention to a 5 minute story about the moral tug of war between families looking to escape life in the 70’s Bronx and the unintended rebellion that such a move can cause in their kids. Formed in 1977 and lasting only four years the band Machine‘s only hit outside of the New York City area was There But for the Grace of God Go I. The song centers around two Latino parents named Carlos and Carmen Vidal who look to escape the Bronx and namely to find a place to raise their daughter Carmen “With no blacks, no Jews and no gays”. The hook to the story is that their daughter starts listing to rock and roll and in the words of the song “She turns out to be a natural freak. Gaining weight and losing sleep. And when she’s sweet sixteen, she packs her things and leaves with a man she met on the street. Carmen starts to bawl, bangs her head to the wall…” The song concludes with a final nihilistic paradox, a warning going against the ethos of the stereo typical disco song, “Too much love is worse than none at all”. The song has gone on to be popular in the underground music scene amongst, you guessed it, the very target audience Carlos and Carmen were looking to escape.

Song of the Day: Machine “There But for the Grace of God Go I”