History Will Absolve Me
billy woods
2012
The title History Will Absolve Me is a reference to the idea of the movement of time, and history is a big part of the idea that woods focused on the personal level, which the album is a lot about. Looking back on your life, how the past impacts the future and the present, things like that.
“And then on a wider level, I talked about a lot of political and historical ideas that underpins a lot of the ideas and even the metaphors that I use on the record.” – billy woods
billy woods elaborates on the album: “There are multiple levels in my music and song titles. The top level is that history will absolve me – if this was my last record, I was nice, I had a lot of good music and if people didn’t appreciate it, time will tell. And there’s another aspect to that where I actually don’t really think just because I did something good that will time will tell or that anyone will care or remember, the same way that Fidel Castro said that history will absolve him and at the end of the day it probably will not.
“The Cuban revolution, a lot of things didn’t really work out, so I also wanted to convey the sense of, while saying I’m nice and in the future people will see that I’m nice, on the same level I wanted to convey the futility of that idea. Fidel said it, and in a sense he was right and on another sense he was wrong. I wanted to make a reference there and I also wanted to make a reference to the idea of the movement of time and history was going to be a big part of the idea [that I’m focusing] on the personal level, which the album is a lot about. Looking back on your life, how the past impacts the future and the present, things like that. And then on a wider level, I talked about a lot of political and historical ideas that underpins a lot of the ideas and even the metaphors that I use on the record. So I wanted the title to work on a bunch of different levels.”
Stand-Out Tracks
Crocodile Tears
The Man Who Would Be King
Body of Work
Duck Hunt
