When it comes to blistering openers, it doesn’t get much better than “A More Perfect Union,” the opening track of New Jersey rockers Titus Andronicus' 2010 album, The Monitor, an aural assault reminiscent of the best of the Detroit garage bands.

The song’s title references a speech made by Senator Barack Obama on March 18th, 2008. You can read the speech in its entirety on Genius here. There are numerous cultural references in the lyrics, including nods to Simon & Garfunkel, Billy Bragg, Bruce Springsteen, Eric B. & Rakim, “The Battle Cry of Freedom,” and “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.”

“A More Perfect Union” establishes the major, overarching theme of The Monitor, which is an extended metaphor comparing American history, and in particular the American Civil War, to Patrick Stickles’s life in the period of 2007-2009, following the release of Titus Andronicus.

During the writing of The Monitor in 2008-2009, frontman Patrick Stickles was living in Somerville, MA, and the song describes his move to that “dirty city” from Glen Rock, NJ. In turn, he feels homesick for Jersey, then realizes his depression has followed him to Mass., and finally “rallies” to take control of the situation.

Probably the most “accessible” song on the album, MC Ride feels that the stuff he has seen in the ghetto is so messed up that he has detached himself from it and sees it as a dream or video footage and not real.

MC Ride is also describing the amount of disturbing shit you can watch online: videos of decapitations, police brutality, etc. He’s become desensitized not just by the stuff he’s seen in real life but also by the “footage” he’s seen online.

In a 2012 Pitchfork interview, Zach explained the phrase from the title and how the hook came about:

The line “I’ve Seen Footage” was from a conversation I had with this street-person dude in Sacramento named Snake Eyes. A friend of ours recorded him on the porch in a conversation– he didn’t know he was being recorded. He was all fucked up on drugs and shit, just rattling off all this crazy information. He was talking about structures on the moon. I mean, I talk about those things, too. So we were talking about moon structures, and Snake Eyes says, “I’ve seen footage! I’ve seen footage of it!” And I was like, “That’s good!”