I uploaded a song, Die On That Hill, to SoundCloud, and it’s gone bonkers – 3,250 streams in 4 days (up to today, Feb. 5, 2024). This is unexpected and has never happened before.
I mean that, as a complete unknown, just doing my own thing, I have had mostly zero streams per song. When I started uploading songs with lyrics and vocals, all of a sudden, the streams increased. Then I noticed that the more personal the lyrics were, the more the streams the songs got. I could only guess that people like to listen to songs where they feel connected to the lyrics. And then this happened: Die On That Hill took off. The first time SoundCloud sent me an alert I was really scratching my head and wondering, now what’s this?
An angry song
I wrote Die On That Hill, which is on my album Howl, when I was feeling cheesed-off at the world. The lyrics are angry, and the bridge-passage has aggressive, loud, howling bagpipes. It is about the particular saying, to “…die on that hill’.
I am quite careful about how I write and how I use language, because it is the tool with which I make a living, and I am quite proud of my expertise and large vocabulary. I give a smug grin, every day, when I solve the New York Times “Wordle” in three tries, on average, and do the Times Mini Crossword in less than a minute, and generally just beat the pants off the computers with every word puzzle and game on the Internet. So, when people misuse phrases, mangle grammar, or do not communicate clearly, it irritates the bejeezus out of me.
The wrong use of the phrase
“Die on that hill” is one of those stupid things that people say when they mean that they will not change their stance or opinion on an issue, regardless of the cost or repercussions. But in fact, the “hill” in this expression refers to a final military assault on a targeted enemy position on a hill. Seeing as the assault force would be fighting uphill, and be easy targets of the enemy, who’d be firing downhill onto them, those soldiers would often die in the process, leaving one or two survivors to raise the flag on top of the hill.
A famous example of this is when American forces raised the flag on a hill during the battle of Iwo Jima, shown on the photo, below.
(Above) Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima (Japanese: 硫黄島の星条旗, Hepburn: Iōtō no Seijōki, lit. ’The Stars and Stripes on Iōtō’) is an iconic photograph of six United States Marines raising the U.S. flag atop Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima in the final stages of the Pacific War. The photograph was taken by Joe Rosenthal of the Associated Press on February 23, 1945.
The expression is about a serious matter – life or death, victory or defeat. It is not about whether there are or aren’t two spaces after a period, or whether you will or won’t eat pizza with pineapple on it. But that is what people often do – the “hills” that they say they will die on are mundane or spurious.
Which hill would I die on?
I was wondering which hill – if any – I’d die on. I realized that one thing I do feel strongly about is my increasing alienation from the world that I know, or knew, and that is familiar to me. I feel sad and angry about things that I’ve become used to, that are meaningful to me, being taken away, being cancelled, destroyed, or legislated out of existence: You want to go back there? You can’t. You want to have that thing? Sorry, doesn’t exist. You want that gig? Nope, you don’t qualify. You want acknowledgement? Ha-ha! Not a snowball’s hope – you’re invisible now.
You know who wrote this thing?
I find it hugely ironic that this song, expressing the ideas of an introverted person, has been so popular on a platform like SoundCloud, of which the audience is 63.45% male and 36.55% female, and the largest age group of visitors are 18 – 24 year olds. Hur-hur-hur, that’s me laughing rudely like Terry Pratchett’s “Truckle the Uncivil”.
In any case, here are the lyrics. A work of art they’re not, but I think Ben Alexander’s singing takes the song to a new level. The song is actually quite danceable, particularly the second part of the bagpipes-dominant bridge-passage. The pipes screech and howl, but they sure get your feet tapping.
Die On That Hill Lyrics
Are you thinking what I’m thinking?
Who can we blame for all the madness?
It’s all gone insane.
The emotions are intensive but the choice is nil.
Red pill or blue?
I’ll die on that hill.
Refrain
Where is the world I fitted in?
I want it back.
I’ll die on that hill.
Everyone’s a stranger with a need to fill.
Freak out or just chill – do you want to die on that hill?
Refrain
This is my world.
It’s my home still.
The one I knew.
I’ll die on that hill.
It’s got so bad I wonder,
is that issue a hill to die on?
Are you thinking what I’m thinking?
Who can we blame for all the madness?
It’s all gone insane.
If you stick to your guns, don’t give up until
you’ve shown up the idiots.
Go die on that hill.
Refrain
This is my world.
It’s my home still.
The one I knew.
I’ll die on that hill.