The Philosophy of Modern Song: Ball of Confusion

Posted on December 16, 2025 by Tony Attwood

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By Tony Attwood

This is part of a series of articles (links to previous articles at the end) in which I take a look at the songs Bob selected for his post-doctorate volume “The Philosophy of Modern Song”.  I did start the series by trying to comment on Bob’s comments, but I found I couldn’t really add anything meaningful or useful, so I changed the series to one that offers a recording of each song, so if you wish to hear the song Bob was talking about, eventually they will all be available in one place – on this site listed in the final episode.  And because I can never resist it, I have added my own comments too.

If my counting is correct, this is number 36 in the series, or something like that.  Today’s song is Ball of Confusion by  the Temptations. with the sub-title (That’s What the World Is Today).  And there’s a Tina Turner version too.

The style of the music was known at the time as psychedelic soul, and the song rails against everything that is perceived to be wrong with the world in the early 1970s.  There’s nothing here that is especially new beyond the fact that the lyricist seems to have a bash at everything that everyone else has mentioned in any other song.   So we have racism, the Vietnam war, drug abuse and by and large general social breakdown.   The only problem is perhaps that the song fails to acknowledge that just singing about the problem doesn’t help.   Songs generally preach to the converted; few people ever have their eyes opened by a song.

Still, enough people were sympathetic to the lyrics for it to be a hit in 1970 for the Temptations – it also turned up on one of their greatest hits LPs.  In the UK, the single made the top ten, and it also neared the top of the USA R&B chart.

The original song was, I think, an instrumental which ran for about 11 minutes, but the Temptations version cut this down to four minutes.   The Temptations version was often called “electrifying” as a musical performance, and it probably was, but it is difficult to imagine that as a piece of persuasive propaganda it actually changed anyone’s mind or indeed behaviour.   And indeed, I think this is a comment that has been often made about this song, and others of its type.  It gives believers ar a sense of being part of the group that feels this way, but probably doesn’t change many people’s minds.

The song was also a key part of launching the career of Tina Turner, but unfortunately, the recording of her performance is not available on the internet in the UK (where I am) so if you wish to hear it you’ll need to go searching the internet.

The song itself picks up on numerous issues of the time, particularly race issues, governmental policy and the Vietnam War, which together symbolise a society and a state running out of control, with the government seeming to look one way, and many of the population seeing the world from a quite different point of view.   And thus inevitably in such a situation, society breaks down.  Perhaps the only thing that stops it from being eternally relevant is the solid soul style, from which many have now moved on, and which can sound dated to contemporary audiences.

There is also the problem that change is demanded through the voice and music of the side of the argument that demands change – there is no reaching out for discourse.

But then again, it is a piece of music, not a political exercise.  Here are some extracts from the lyrics…

People moving out, people moving inWhy? Because of the colour of their skinRun, run, runBut you sure can't hideAn eye for an eye, a tooth for a toothVote for me and I'll set you freeRap on, brotherRap on

Well, the only person talking 'bout love thy brothers is the preacherAnd it seems nobody's interested in learning but the teacherSegregation, determination, demonstration, integrationAggravation, humiliation, obligation to our nation

Ball of confusion, ohThat's what the world is today

Perhaps the problem with the song in the end is that it becomes itself, a list of problems rather than any suggestion of a solution, which is what makes it so noticeably different from a song like, “Times they are a changin” in which Dylan sets out how those in power can react to change in a way that will enable society to survive.   As Bob says at the start, all those in power have to do is to admit that the world has changed and is changing.   Here however, we primarily have a list of all that is wrong.

Eve of destruction, tax deduction, city inspectors, bill collectorsMod clothes in demand, population out of handSuicide, too many bills, hippies moving to the hillsPeople all over the world are shouting "End the war", yeahAnd the band played on

So the conclusion is that we are in a world of confusion, but at least it seems to me, there is no real solution offered, apart perhaps from the implied, why don’t we listen to each other?

 

Previously in this series

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