Up-beat prog-rocker recalling the angst of earlier anti-war social dissent and the constant lure of selling out to the call of the American Dream.
alternative
progressive
pop
rock
upbeat
classical
political
world
Story behind the song
From the album tribute to the quintessential archetypal namesake, European Emperor Frederick II Hohenstaufen (1194-1250) "Stupor Mundi" (Wonder of the World), - the double excommunicated, early renaissance catalyst, who was vilified for his peacefully negotiated reclamation of Jerusalem, and attempts at Christian reform. Orphaned as a child and raised by tutors, the likelihood of his murder was at least as great as his coronation as King of Sicily, let alone Emperor of the greater part of Europe. His other accomplishments included such things as his employment of the merchant / mathematician Fibonacci, in order to replace clumsy Roman numerals with the first institutional establishment of our Indo-Arabic numerals in Europe; his founding of the first secular European university ( and 3rd overall ); the first use of proof-based empirical scientific logic in Europe; his translations of the lost Greek and Roman classical texts from the only remaining Arabic source; the writing of the first voluntary state Constitution shortly after the involuntary signing of Magna Carta; his selection of an inter-ethnic court and opposition to the persecution of Jews, and much more. Not much bloodshed though, and so not so well remembered.
Much of what is known about Frederick II was written by his enemies, as well as by today's scholars who are under contemporary academic pressure to express original revisionist views. Therefore, some reading between the lines is required in order to peer through his enigmatic mystique. During the 1930s, Jewish-German historian, Ernst Kantorowicz, attempted to impress Hitler with his lionization of this half German monarch, with his book "Frederick II". However, Hitler had no need for Kantorowicz, nor Frederick's lenience towards Jews, and today, scholars can't get their Ph.D's rewriting Kantotowicz, even if it was largely written through an exhaustive study of Frederick's Chancery letters, which expressed his most heartfelt beliefs and intentions. This book reads much like a chapter of the Bible, and that's not how academia works. Also, in the 1950's, Norman Cohn presented a somewhat similar image of Frederick II with his best-seller book, "In Pursuit of the Millennium", in which he highlights the centuries of popular European yearning for the prophetic apocalyptic "return" of Frederick II. (I wouldn't mind trying to fulfill this, but I wouldn't want to have to put too much effort into it :) Personally, I find it very surprising how many of today's books on Frederick II manage to diminish such a colorful character by concentrating on the administrative minutiae of his reign, and dismissing the fact that his apparent misdeeds were usually a result of Papal demands, and the imposing darkness and ignorance of those times.
Apparently, Frederick was also a musician with a strong predilection for trumpet fanfares, which I have sometimes employed in trying to create this musical representation of him. In 2001, while visiting Italy, through chance encounter I was invited to speak to a gathering at Frederick's tomb, thus sealing my affinity for the monarch. Stupor Mundi is often confused with the 18th century Frederick II "The Great", who attempted a similar sort of progressive reign, but with far more destructive and expensive militancy... not a big fan. He is also sometimes confused with his grandfather, Frederick I Barbarossa. However, being an orphan raised by tutors molded him into a much different creature than either of these two.
Lyrics
Taking the chance that the world would dance
To the rhythm of a different drum
Out on a limb though the odds were slim
We marched against smoking guns
I can remember all the things we said
Yet I surrendered into the call of the dream
Confusion reigns when the cause is stained
By the nature of reality
Black or white, no one is right
When the truth is something out of sight
On dark December locked in despair
I did surrender into the call of the dream...
Oh, give us strength to live that in our hearts we'll give
Another day of youth searching for the truth