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Singer/songwriter Jack Johnson (musician) debuted his song “Fall Line” with the release of the album On and On in 2003. Produced in his brother’s garage in Hawaii, the tracks expressed a political stance that were described as “more culturally engaged than you’d expect”. Shortly after, Johnson began a series of charities and foundations that were designed to improve the environment and educational system, and financially benefit various organizations.

Jack was born on Oahu in 1975, and spent his childhood competitively surfing and playing guiter, later graduating from the [University of California] as a filmmaking major. He created a surfing documentary of his friends and first gained exposure as an artist at various beach parties, playing original songs. The interaction with his environment gained through surfing experiences is what initially led to his desire to found charities related to preserving beaches and the ecosystem. His eclectic, [contemporary] [beach music] spread via word of mouth due to a nonexistent marketing budget, and within the last ten years he has participated in 23 album compilations, five soundtracks, and eight original albums.

“Fall Line” in particular expresses more serious, adult issues occurring in modern day society that his previous songs didn’t encompass. While it is based on a suicide event on a freeway from 1993, it also addresses problems such as crime rates, sensationalizing of crimes in the media, and suicide.

About the song
The overall tone of the song expresses Johnson’s desire for an improvement in the world he lives in. The “fall-line” he continuously refers to is the separation between the good, moral aspects of life and the poor decisions people make. In the first stanza, beginning with "you know that hope will make you strange," he states that hope is all people have left in the corrupt society they live in, and wants to "rewind and start it up again" in order to fix such issues. He then criticizes the media for sensationalizing crime (the “box with the view of the world” being the television’s limited perception of events). The chorus reiterates the line society has crossed, and stresses that they need to move away from destruction. The conclusion of the song refers to a man threatening to jump off of an expressway, only to be berated with malice and encouragement to commit suicide. Lyrics

The music itself revolves around a simple three chord structure (D, G, and A), with light guitar riffs played from Jack and a few minor percussive parts played by Adam Topol. The simplicity of the song isn't unusual for Jack Johnson and his three-piece group; the absence of heavy bass tones and electronic sounds give a greater emphasis on the lyrics themselves, as opposed to the presentation behind them.

Suicide
In October of 1993, thousands of Ventura citizens were stuck in rush hour traffic on the Ventura Freeway while Kevin Olejniczak threatened to jump. While police officials attempted to persuade the man to step down, hundreds of enraged spectators gathered and began the chant, “Jump! Jump!” One citizen commented on the traffic, as opposed to the potential suicide, saying “I’m used to rush-hour traffic, but this is ridiculous.”  After a few hours, they learned that Olejniczak had recently broken up with his girlfriend, and were able to use the new information to get him to come down. The news that evening was filled with angry motorists complaining about missing job interviews and wasting gas; very little was said about the man’s mental state or suicide attempt. The Ventura Police Captain Randy Adams stated “The city’s a mess." . The lines "I guess he lost a lot of hope, and then he lost his grip, now he’s lying in the freeway, in the middle of this mess" refer directly to this event from 1993, pointing out the pressing issue of suicide in today's world. In 2007, suicide was reported as being the tenth leading cause of death in America, accounting for nearly 35,000 deaths overall.  Suicidal behavior is a complex, mental disorder that is completely preventable if corrected early, and affects both the depressed person and anyone they interact with; Johnson, through the lyrics "guess we lost another one, just like the other one," touches on the increasing amount of attempted suicides in America, saying that "we," or the world as a whole, are losing people.  This conceptualizes suicide to being a societal issue, and not just an individual one. "Fall Line" also references a lack of compassion individuals have towards one another, and how problematic undetected depression becomes. The National Institute of Mental Health encourages interventions for any potentially suicidal person due to the fact that virtually anyone can become a victim to it. The key in this is both recognition and action on peers' part. An increase in suicidal behavior does not necessarily reflect on an increase in depression patients, but a decrease in the overall attention given to them. The event this song was based on is an exact interpretation of this idea, as people encouraged the man to jump instead of attempting to improve his well being; similarly, Johnson's words "somebody saw him jump but nobody saw him slip" relates to the problem of undetected suicidal behavior due to a lack of caring. “Fall Line” is an artistic representation of the need to fix what’s broken in society, starting with the decline of morals and individual conflicts between right and wrong.

Moral Decline
Arthur Dobrin, author and professor at Hofstra University, said that “codes of conduct can assist you in making moral decisions, but they are no substitute for ethical judgements…laws and ethical regulations can only suggest a course of action, not mandate a good, moral, and just one”. Although the government can enforce stricter laws and harsher punishments, issues such as suicide and crime can only be remedied through personal improvement; people continue passing the buck and overlooking simple contributions they could make to society to better it as a whole, such as recognizing and aiding someone who appears to be suicidal. It isn’t just artists, such as Jack Johnson, who recognize the decline in morality, either. According to a recent poll, about 82% of the Democrats and Republicans “say that the moral values in the U.S.A are only fair or downright poor.” When the same poll was taken 40 years ago, only 33% would have said this. The main reasons behind such a jump include an alarming amount of unsupervised children and major corporations condoning violence in video games and marketing tactics; the most influential, however, is that peer pressure encouraging rejection of bad behavior is virtually nonexistent. Military criminals from Abu Ghraib, for example, exhibited a similar “code of silence” regarding immoral decisions that a large portion of America encourages today. If a problem doesn’t directly involve a person’s life, simply turning the other way makes it "socially acceptable." This directly correlates to Johnson’s lines "the damage and ruin, man the things that we’re doing, we gotta stop;" he is disappointed in people continuously making poor decisions, whether it be through overlooking people's pain, committing crime, or ignoring such actions every day.

Crime in the Media
Generally, the public's knowledge of crime is primarily a result from how it’s depicted in the media. This can be a good or bad thing depending on how the media displays it to the community. The media is responsible for the headlines and what the world sees on television, and the conclusion to be reached is that they influence the public's attention regarding crime. Most often, crime is sensationalized on the news, which often creates a fear of crime among the general public. According to an EAPL Student, “Media portrayal of crime and criminal justice has become incredibly widespread in the last decade, with crime often considered both a source of news and entertainment. As a source of entertainment, crime and criminal justice have emerged as central themes across various sources of media. Particularly in television shows, portrayals of crime and criminal justice can be seen in everything from courtroom dramas to nightly news programs. Indeed, the popularity of crime shows has lead to some of television’s most enduring series, such as Law and Order and CSI.” Typically, most individuals do no have any first hand experience with the criminal justice system, so their only source of information on crime is portrayed through the media. This is why fictional and non-fictional rendering of crimes on the television, radio and newspapers shape the public’s thoughts and beliefs about what the average criminal look like and behave like. This also shapes the public’s understanding of the typical process for solving a crime and how criminals should be punished. Unfortunately, the line between fiction and reality has become blurred due to the many crime dramas on television. This has sadly contributed to the misconceptions about how the criminal justice system works. Television shows such as CSI and Law and Order are popular criminal investigation series that confuse the general public about what professionals in criminal justice actually do. While they may be entertaining and exciting to watch as the actors/actresses investigate crimes and conduct experiments in the lab to solve the mystery, it’s a false representation of what people in this field actually do. According to Kenneth Dowler from the Department of Criminal Justice California State University at Bakersfield, Western society has a fascination with crime and justice. “From films, books, newspapers, magazines, television broadcasts, to everyday conversations, we are constantly engaging in crime "talk". “Research indicates that the majority of public knowledge about crime and justice is derived from the media (Roberts and Doob, 1990; Surette, 1998).” The mass media portrayal of criminals, victims and deviants is also the reason why people usually have a fear for crime in our world. While offering entertainment on television, crime dramas have accidentally supplied inaccurate ideas about the criminal justice system. It is for this reason that crime is often given an entertaining angle when shown on the news, giving the public inaccurate media portrayals.

Genre
Johnson's overall genre is considered to be both contemporary and beach music. [Contemporary], classified as modern or present, refers to any song or album generated after the early 1900’s, characterized by dissonant harmonies and the use of percussive or electronic sounds. Beach music (also known as R&B/soul) is anything you can do the Carolina Shag, a dance style, to.

Musical Influences
Johnson’s artistic style is very similar to that of Ben Harper and Dave Mathews Band, but his lyrics “hold deeper meaning than theirs were known to”. He has been described as the modern-day Bob Dylan, who was, coincidentally, Johnson’s initial inspiration for song-writing. Dylan’s song “Who Killed Davey Moore” is based on the same societal issues that “Fall Line” was: people blame their issues on peers, the community, and the government, as opposed to accepting some of it themselves. Dylan’s song "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)“ includes the line “That not much is really sacred,” which is almost identical to Johnson’s lyrics in “Fall Line” saying “Ain’t there nothin’ sacred anymore.” Bob Dylan is known for his opinionated, moving lyrics; Johnson, similarly, is attempting to change the society he lives on through his songs and various charities and foundations.

Turning point
Although Jackson's first album, Brushfire Fairytales, was said to scream "simply relaxing" and "rainy day at the beach," his later albums symbolized a more political, opinionated feel. This turning point in his career led to several politically-based albums, beginning with On and On , that incorporated "meatier" songs that "reflect this scary world". The song Fall Line represents one of many cuts produced by Johnson after 2003 that went hand in hand with his philanthropic career.

Contributions
Just as his music reflects relevant events in society, Jack Johnson’s actions reflect his desire to better the world his children will grow up in. He is considered part of a new era of musicians concerned more about the causes than the luxuries, saying “we don’t get to see the positive things…until a few years later. A lot of times you come through town and do a show, and if someone was inspired or motivated it may take them a while to start up that club…it takes a while to see the impact.” Both him and his family devote their time to each new charity idea they come up with, advertising their cause at his performances through his powerful lyrics. They “say it’s like this gathering of humans coming together to share an idea.”

Foundations
Johnson dedicated his music and livelihood to bettering the society his family would live in, one that he found to be corrupt and in need of change. His main concern was respecting the government, encouraged through several of his foundations. In 2003, he established the Kokua Hawaii Foundation, a nonprofit environmental awareness group that provided schools and communities with better understanding of “The Three R’s”. With the help of his management and crew, he initiated the All At Once Campaign that promised to use reusable, refilled water bottles, recycle and compost materials, and sell eco-friendly merchandise at their concerts. The Johnson family also focuses on benefitting their community. Jim and Kim created the Ohana Charitable Foundation in 2008 for concerts, promising to match their fans’ donations to the respective charity in their area. They use ticket proceeds to fund art and music education in their schools as well. In support of Amnesty International, Johnson recorded a John Lennon song on a benefit CD that raised money for a campaign recognizing human rights, specifically for those with special needs.

Kokua Festival
The Kokua Festival, created in 2003 in conjunction with the Kokua Hawaii Foundation by Johnson and his wife, Kim, is an annual benefit for environmental and art/music education in schools. Artists such as Ben Harper, Jackson Browne, and Ziggy Marley have performed with Johnson at the concerts, putting out a compilation CD of the songs for fundraising opportunities each year. Johnson performed “Fall Line” at the Kokua Festival in 2008, and again in 2009 and 2011 at Live Earth and Live at the Greek, respectively.

Kokua Festival- Jack Johnson performing "Fall Line"