"Silicon Valley" - Marsh Family arrangement of traditional American folk song "Down in the Valley"

What this video is about

This music video features a singer delivering lyrics that critique Silicon Valley culture through song. The performance blends upbeat musical elements with serious commentary on tech industry excesses, historical figures like William Shockley, and social issues such as eugenics and climate change. Visuals accompany the vocals to illustrate themes of corporate hubris, unethical behavior, and the potential downfall of modern technology leaders.

Auto-summarised from the video’s captions. It may be imprecise.

Description

‘Down in the Valley’ – sometimes also known as ‘Birmingham Jail’ – is a traditional American folk song that was circulating in earnest in the 1920s. Versions have been recorded by a huge set of music icons, with our favourites including those of Pete Seeger, Tex Ritter, the Blue Ridge Mountain Boys, Solomon Burke, and a Glen Campbell version which encouraged us to include modulations up a perfect fourth cos they’re very uplifting. The song comes from a deep heritage mixing English, Irish, Scottish, Appalachian, and Ozark influences, with its distinctive mournful (perhaps jailhouse) waltz. For our version we’ve stepped away from a love ballad, but there is a lament in the arrangement and it hopefully feels resonant of US pioneer history. It contemplates how some of the more progressive ideas that were kindled by early generations of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs have been flamboyantly cast aside by the latest cohort, as they move aggressively to embrace a different set of values – scrabbling for an ever-more concentrated and destructive matrix of resources and power, while backfilling flimsy self-oriented rationales. Not that US tech or Silicon Valley didn’t always have its fair share of corporate greed, competition, and self-promotion, but there was often at least a veneer of social conscience, environmental mindfulness, techno-altruism, and a kind of confidence and coolness that the current crop of tech bros have lost, as they suck at whatever teat will fit with their fantasies of deregulation, accumulation, and self-glorification. For info on the folk song: https://balladofamerica.org/down-in-the-valley/ For info on the history of Silicon Valley: Margaret O’Mara, The Code: Silicon Valley and the Remaking of America (2019); on the biography of William Shockley: Joel Shurkin, Broken Genius (2006) To buy this song as a download on Bandcamp: https://themarshfamily.bandcamp.com/track/silicon-valley ___________________________ Order our new album "Hollow Chapters" (came out 27 March): DIGITAL: https://orcd.co/hollowchapters PHYSICAL: CDs or LPs: https://themarshfamily.bandcamp.com/album/hollow-chapters ___________________________ Support us here: - PayPal to leave us a tip jar: https://paypal.me/marshfamilysongs - Patreon for ongoing support & bonuses: https://www.patreon.com/marshfamilysongs Find our other channels here: https://linktr.ee/marshfamilysongs Follow us here: - https://www.marshfamilysongs.com - https://www.facebook.com/MarshFamilySongs/ - https://www.instagram.com/marshfamilysongs/ - https://twitter.com/MarshSongs - https://www.threads.net/@marshfamilysongs - https://www.tiktok.com/@marshfamilysongs - https://bsky.app/profile/marshfamilysongs.bsky.social - https://open.spotify.com/artist/6AYmbCwi92V29y69lkRkRa ___________________________ LYRICS Silicon Valley, where did you go? Used to be kind of get-up-and-go That chapter’s over – new colours show Something’s come over every tech bro Pioneer spirits, once broke new ground Frontier outfits, set to astound New moral compass turned them around Now like the Donners, they’ll eat what they’ve found They treat the world like Lord of the Rings They riddle Earth with crypto-mined kings Buying up puppets, pulling the strings Be a good hobbit: don’t clip their wings Paranoid hubris, clinging like smoke Crass manifestos clichés invoke Stuck in denial, whingin’ ‘bout ‘woke’ Endlessly wealthy, somehow they’re broke Silicon Valley, let us regale William Shockley’s cautionary tale Legendary founder, went off the rail From a success to cultural fail From Palo Alto, hungry and smart He hit the East Coast, got a kick-start Helped out in wartime, playing his part Prize-winning research: state of the art Solid-state physics, brain full of sparks Semi-conductors, making his mark Signed up to Stanford, start-ups embarked But Shockley’s journey turned pretty dark Habits got grumpy, sacked employees Troublesome mindset, quite hard to please Spouted eugenics, false expertise Funded by fascists, causing unease Kind of psychotic, behind the scenes Gave to a sperm bank, proud of his genes Went from a legend, making machines To a sad end, like his little beans What will your new breed leave us behind? Fixing the climate, great new designs? Rocketing wealth gaps, unchecked AI Shitgibbon history, Bond villain minds Silicon Valley, what of you’s left? Every back-alley seems to be cleft Hitched to your new mule, journey’s bereft Where will it lead to: damage and theft ___________________________ THANKS SO MUCH TO PATREONS (HOWLERS below): Graham Peirson Jeremy Sedgley John Hanger Stephen Shuttleworth Sacramento Scott Christian Schranz Peter Green Richard Boultbee LisaMarie Fitzpatrick Ed Rocheck Wolfgang Tampier Dan McColm Douglas Lind David Ryan Simon Haslam Lew Mike Smith Andy Riches Cliff Hope Carol Leff Geeta & Karen (Alyssa Sangeeta Jacobson Memorial) David Patrao Grandad

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