Spider Song is about discrimination. It is about humankind's lack of respect for non-human life, but also about discrimination in general. We tend to fear what we don't know or understand. This fear is what lead America to the war it's in right now.

Where I'm from in Florida, the term "environmentalist" is a red flag. People think that environmentalist means hippie, or tree hugger, and even terrorist. Most environmentalists do have big hearts for the earth but it is because of a knowledge and understanding they have gained through study of science. Traditional conformists think that the earth is a resource to be dominated and tamed. They believe that animals are disposable things put here for our pleasure- that they don't have any worth other than the worth we give them, and that they don't have complex emotions or feelings. If one were to read up on the subject, they would see that animals are complex, do have feelings, seek pleasure and avoid pain.

The Spider Song was written after a traumatic experience at one of my old restaurant jobs. We had a rat living in the restaurant and everyone but me wanted to kill it. One of the dish washers found the nest that the rat had made in a glass rack that had not been used in a while. There were bits of plastic bag, towels, and cardboard fastened into one tiny section of the rack, and there were tiny newborn baby rats in it. The next thing I knew, the dishwasher took the rack outside, turned it over, and smashed the babies. I cried. I cried for the lack of respect for the life of the rats. I cried because of the lack of respect for all animals, and for the earth. I understand that the restaurant cannot have rats in it. It's against code and sanitation. But could we not have taken them and the mother somewhere else? No, that would be too much work. Better just to kill them. (I was then made fun of for crying and paying my respects. I think we should hurt inside when something dies for no good reason.)

Many creatures have gone extinct because of man's takeover of the planet. Rats have survived because they are smart and resourceful. We look at them like they're the problem. They're the ones spreading disease. We fail to notice man's disease upon the earth. We are smart and resourceful, and so we've flourished, but at what cost to the rest of the world?

So, the night of the unfortunate rate incident, I had a dream. In this dream, a hurricane was coming and everyone was running to a shelter on the top of the hill. Abandoned pets where running among, scared and confused. I tried to scoop up as many of them as I could to bring them to the shelter. I tried to get other people to help me. There were just too many animals for me to save by myself. No one would help. They were all focused on saving themselves. Then I woke up. I later realized what this dream meant, and that I should write a song about it. Thus the Spider Song was born.