"Make Believe" is the sixth track on Time 'n' Place. It is the third single from the album, released a week before the album came out.
Composition[]
The synth figure here was initially written for electric guitar, and the song was going to have a pop-punky arrangement. Driven by organ and acoustic guitar instead, it feels to the band like Prefab Sprout meets Stereolab meets "Stuck In the Middle With You".
The verse bassline was written in the group's makeshift backstage at Oberlin College when they played there in 2017. Gus recorded a demo on his phone that night in his room at the Red Roof Inn and Suites in Elyria, Ohio. Most of the chorus was written the next day, on a plane journey taking the band from Cleveland via Chicago to their next show at the University of Washington in Seattle.
Sarah came up with Make Believe's synth riff as the group rehearsed the song for our 5-piece band's debut shows at DIY Space for London in April 2018. It is played on the DX7 and Alpha Juno, layered twice each. The intro to "It's Bugsnax!" uses the same DX7 patch. To make the weird synth sound effects here, Gus programmed quasi-automated patches on the Bass Station II that "played themselves", let them do their thing and edited out the best bits.
Meaning[]
"Make Believe" is about human experiences that traverse the boundaries of perceived reality, like sleep paralysis, lucid dreaming and maladaptive daydreaming, and their place vis a vis the real world we have to face. It was partially inspired by an article the band read one time about a woman who never got out of bed to live her real life because her daydream life was so much more vivid. She could imagine - and feel - anything she wanted.
Music Video[]
Heinz Junkins returned to direct the song's music video. As with the other Time 'n' Place videos, shots were filmed on a range of cameras including film, VHS, DV, a drone and old webcams - again reflecting the arbitrariness of nostalgia for different media.
The video was largely filmed above a vintage emporium in Bristol. The bird toy with a rotating head became a fixture of our live shows afterwards, perching on top of Sarah's keyboard.
Lyrics[]
I set a watch
For 5 o'clock
I think of trees and rivers
As I'm drifting off
I pinch my wrist
(Just to tell where I am)
I get a twinge
(Seems as real as it can)
But I remain and so I know
The rest is up to me
At night
The sunlight beats upon my skin
In here I see everything
And until the morning comes
I feel it
All my life I tried
To find the time to make believe
But now as certain as the seasons
I know real life will get in between
If I never get to decide my reality
At least I see how it could be
When I get round to sleeping (sleeping)
Dreaming (dreaming)
Works for me
And though my soul
(Lets me do what I want)
Is pretty bold
(In a place I belong)
From time to time my grip'll slip
And I just lose control
Then awake I freeze
But nothing in my head can hurt me
However real it seems
All my life I tried
To find the time to make believe
But now as certain as the seasons
I know real life will get in between
If I never get to decide my reality
At least I see how it could be
When I get round to sleeping (sleeping),
Dreaming (dreaming)
Get round to sleeping (sleeping),
Dreaming (dreaming)
Oh
Trivia[]
- Sarah claims that "Make Believe" is one of the harder tracks from "Time 'n' Place" to play live, due to its complex musical arrangement.
- At 3:27, "Make Believe" is the second longest song on Time 'n' Place, after "Only Acting" and before "Rest Stop".