---
title: "Don't You"

meaning: "FEiN Little Homes: newspaper war story, why give him money when the world's on fire: don't you ever wanna think about nothing at all; hold your hand, dreams back to the war."

year: 2016
release: "Little Homes"
releaseType: "album"

artist: "FEiN"
artistId: "#fein"

coWriters: ["Brandon Michael Woodward"]
credits: "Written by Luke Francis Walton and Brandon Michael Woodward (FEiN). Produced and recorded by FEiN at Tiny Giant; engineered at LMU; mixed and mastered by Frank Rosato at Woodcliff (Discogs). Brian Robert Jones, bass (album). Brandon Woodward, guitar, keyboards, found percussion. Luke Walton, keyboards, found percussion. Amaire Johnson, piano. Peter Lee Johnson, violin."

spotify: "https://open.spotify.com/album/2xWtW9VwcaoHkS7FnIJfaQ"
apple: "https://music.apple.com/us/album/dont-you/1111956961?i=1111957072"

press:
  - outlet: "Indie Shuffle — Don't You"
    url: "https://www.indieshuffle.com/fein-dont-you"
  - outlet: "Fresh Beats 365 — FEiN interview (*Don't You* sound summary)"
    url: "https://freshbeats365.com/2016/04/09/fein-interview/"
    date: "2016-04-09"
    desc: "Apr 2016 Q&A: FEiN pick *Don't You* (not yet out) as best summary of their sound — acoustic/electronic first half, found-object sampling second half."

themes: ["FEiN", "Little Homes", "war", "empathy", "2016"]

isrc: QZ2QB1600009
isrcSource: soundexchange
lyrics: |
  Newspaper came
  Your thumbs turn
  Black and blue from all the ink
  Story's so sad
  Poor fellow lost the only child he had
  What's he crying for?
  You wonder if he cried about the war
  He's just one guy
  Why give him money when the
  World's
  on fire?

  Don't you, Don't you
  Ever wanna think about
  (nothing at all)
  Won't you, won't you try?
  I know you know
  Everywhere you wanna go
  (Living it all)
  Won't you take your time,
  sometime?

  I'll hold your hand
  Your fists were shaking
  in your sleep again
  Don't you cry no more
  I know your dreams take you back to the war
  Covered your skin
  Open your blanket up and let me in

draft: false

---

Track ten on [*Little Homes*](/albums/little-homes-fein/) (**May 31, 2016**), after [*Twenty-Three*](/songs/twenty-three/). Walton/Woodward co-write. In [Fresh Beats 365](https://freshbeats365.com/2016/04/09/fein-interview/) (**Apr 2016**, pre-release), Luke and Brandon named *Don't You* — still unreleased at interview time — as the song that best summarizes FEiN: acoustic/electronic first half, then found-object sampling (*doors, car keys, beer bottles*). The song sets the reflex to look away against the effort to stay.

Verse one is compassion rationing itself. A newspaper carries a father who *lost the only child he had*, and the response is to file it under triage: *he's just one guy, why give him money when the world's on fire?* The chorus pitches the easier exit, permission to think about *nothing at all*. Then verse two quietly refuses both. The narrator holds a partner whose *fists were shaking in your sleep again* because *your dreams take you back to the war*, and the closing image gives the blanket its meaning: *open your blanket up and let me in.* The same blanket returns when the doctor covers a patient's skin on the closer, [*Blanket*](/songs/blanket/).

The song ends on *let me in*, no chorus to follow. Where [*American Man*](/songs/american-man/) said mind your own business, here someone tries not to look away from the person beside them. Leads into [*Roadtrip*](/songs/roadtrip/).

**Session:** [Amaire Johnson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amaire_Johnson) — piano (*Little Homes* liner). Johnson moved to LA in 2012 for Musicians Institute and later became a producer/keyboardist in Big Sean's orbit (*Bounce Back*, *Moves*, *Single Again*); the FEiN credit is a pre-fame session on this track only.

---