Andrew James Stockdale (born 20 July 1976) is an Australian musician best k… Read Full Bio ↴Andrew James Stockdale (born 20 July 1976) is an Australian musician best known as the singer and guitarist of Wolfmother. Stockdale was educated in Brisbane, Australia, at Ashgrove State School, Wimbeldon Middle School, The Gap State High School and Kelvin Grove State High School, and lived in Ashgrove and Wimbeldon Village, London as a child.
Andrew graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Photography from RMIT University in 1999 and worked as a photographer before launching Wolfmother.
Stockdale's influences are most commonly cited among late-sixties and early-seventies hard rock and heavy metal guitarists. Vocally compared to a "cross between Robert Plant and Ozzy Osbourne" by Allmusic, his guitar antics and stage persona are commonly traced to Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi and Jimi Hendrix, while his style can often be compared to progressive rockers Pink Floyd.
Stockdale plays Gibson guitars, primarily a 72' SG standard with a Bigsby vibrato tailpiece in vintage sunburst. He has also been seen using a 61 Reissue Gibson SG. Other times he uses a Gibson Dot Studio ES-335, a white Gibson Flying V and an alpine white Gibson EDS-1275 with golden hardware. For the recording of the Wolfmother album he used a borrowed Gibson ES-355 through a 60's Marshall. When playing live, he uses Orange amplifiers and cabinets, lately seen in an Orange advertisement with an Orange AD30 and Thunderverb 200 and PCC412 cabinets. Stockdale also states to use a Fender Stratocaster, though he prefers the Gibson guitars.[citation needed] In recent times he has also started using a Hohner Blues Master Harmonica microphone for some vocals.

Ghetto
Andrew Stockdale Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

People are living free
Free from their misery
Why you gotta fight
No one knows why

Knows why
Knows why
Knows why

Knows why

Why you wanna wait
Until it's too late?
The future is in your hands
While they're making plans

Making plans
Making plans
Making plans
They're making plans

This time I'm not going to stand
On the sideline
This time I'm not going to be
Wasting my time

People, make a stand
The city for a chance
Why you wanna fight
No one's got the right

Got the right
Got the right
Got the right
Got the right

This time I'm going to live
The reality
This time I'm going to make it
What it should be

This time I'm going to try to watch
What's in front of me

This time I'm going to try to see
The reality, yeah

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Andrew Stockdale's song Ghetto speak to the struggle of living in a city that seems to be defined by violence, crime, and despair. The first verse suggests that despite this difficult reality, some people are able to find a measure of freedom from their misery. The chorus asks why there is so much fighting and why people wait until it's too late to make a change. The second verse suggests that the future is in the hands of the people, who should be making plans to improve their lives rather than waiting for someone else to do it for them.

This song can be interpreted as a call to action for the people living in the "ghetto" to take responsibility for their own lives and their community. Rather than waiting for someone else to solve their problems, they should take control and make positive changes. The lyrics are powerful and also highlight the frustration and hopelessness felt by those living in poverty-stricken areas.

Line by Line Meaning

People are living free
People are finally enjoying their freedom.

Free from their misery
People are free from their own problems.

Why you gotta fight
It's unclear why there's conflict.

No one knows why
No one can explain the reasons for conflict.

Why you wanna wait
Why procrastinate?

Until it's too late?
Until the problem cannot be solved anymore?

The future is in your hands
It's up to you to create your own future.

While they're making plans
While others are working towards their own goals.

This time I'm not going to stand
I won't sit back and watch.

On the sideline
I won't watch from the sidelines.

This time I'm not going to be
I won't waste my time.