“[This music is] caviar and escargot in a burger and fries world.”
–Radio Station on why they’ll not play songs from Third World Symphony

The line of cars wraps around the building at the edge of my neighborhood all day long and swells out into the street around noon. McDonalds: Serving 60 million people around the world every day.

In college I was fueled by their Quarter Pounders with cheese, salty fries and the sweetest Cokes in Waco. But then my wife, Becky, got on a health kick. It was about the time I was diagnosed with a digestive illness. And well, I got off the stuff – no more burgers.

A lot of people make that choice every day. For all sorts of reasons: Health, sustainability, social responsibility, to save money, lose weight, or they have a beef with big business or…whatever. For myriad reasons people choose to get out of that drive thru line.

Most of those folks just quietly drive away and eat elsewhere: at home, a sit-down restaurant, Whole Foods Market. There’s no shortage of food options in America, after all. But some, a few, leave the drive thru line and go make movies, write books, lobby representatives, protest, launch websites – all in an effort to bully McDonalds into serving what they want to eat.

They are very few – the loudest critics. Certainly not lined up around the building.

And of course their best efforts don’t get them far. There’s little motivation for McDonalds to change its menu. I mean, as long as every McThing on the menu is legal in all fifty states. Think about it from McDonalds’ perspective a second:

Why would McDonalds stop serving chemically flavored french fries when 60 million people line up to buy them every day?

Why would they stop serving burgers which refuse to decompose (even when left outdoors for years) if there is tremendous public demand for such resilient meat paddies?

Hey, the votes are in! Lots of people love McDonalds…just the way it is.

Not everyone wants burgers and fries. Sure. Or else all those other restaurants and grocery stores wouldn’t exist. But millions of people do want them. Many can’t imagine life without them. They love McDonalds. Or, at the very least, they like the ease of providing food that is reasonably priced, close to home, and relatively safe for their whole family. And doing it from the comfort of their car. Yummy.

Now Serving Gourmet Burgers To Tens Of People

For the record, I don’t think my music is escargot and caviar. Not even close. (Thankful someone thinks so though.) As musician Matthew Smith quipped yesterday, Radiohead is escargot and caviar. At most, he said, our music is a gourmet burger. Humbling and oh so true.

If you work in Christian radio and you like gourmet burgers, have a taste below. And if you like what you hear, please let me know at shaun AT shaungroves DOT com and I’ll send you the record just for saying hey. (Thank you.)

Third World Symphony by shaungroves