"All Deliberate Speed" by Mae, Thursday, January 21, 2021

In 1954, when the Supreme Court ruled that segregation of public schools was unconstitutional, Chief Justice Earl Warren declared that American schools be integrated "with all deliberate speed." What does that mean? I think that if you are trying to speed something up, being deliberate about it, you press your foot on the execrator and the car gains speed. You go as fast as you can go, looking out for cops and and pedestrians, but your intention is to go quickly to your destination. Apparently, I'm wrong. Chief Justice Warren's meaning was that the change be gradual as not to stir the anger of the states. Don't let change happen too quickly.

WHAT BROUGHT YOU HERE IN THE FIRST PLACE? Now is this even related to Mae's song? The lyrics without considering the quote by Chief Justice Warren, made me think about the band's dreams. Perhaps internal band strife with management, particularly as they are almost making it. In fact, in an earlier season of Labeled (Tooth & Nail's podcast) there is a now unavailable two-part series in which Dave Elkins talks about the stories behind Destination: Beautiful. It doesn't seem that he was drawing on the injustice of segregation, but rather trying to make a personal point: change happens at a deliberate speed, which is a speed that no one is comfortable with. When trying to jumpstart a musical career, most bands will never make it. Some will get a little success and then interest will fade. Some blow up over night and the band members might not be able to cope with that level of success. Mae's career has had its own ups and downs. Two highly successful Tooth & Nail Records, a major label flop, independent releases, a hiatus, and a return to Tooth & Nail.

WE SAID, "WE'RE FRUSTRATED." The emotional climax of the song comes with the lyrics "Sound off, we're going to L.A. / If it's going to be ... It's got to be enough for me." The synthesizer takes the song to a dreamy place where the guitars started the song in a kind of gloomy, pensive mood. This song deals with both the hard work and the reward of waiting for the hard work to come to fruition. That doesn't make the frustration sting any less, but at night after a hard day, we have to lie our heads down and tell ourselves it wasn't for nothing. We have to have the "We're going to L.A." wins, otherwise we'll be swallowed by the hum drum of life. When the band manager says "All deliberate speed" and it's slow, we have to focus on going to L.A. I can't say that this is the best advice in terms of activism, but when it's situations you can't change, we can focus on those moments. 




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