PREACHING NOVACAIN: Where Did That Title Come From?

An ironic argument for occasionally turning down the noise and escaping for a while.

An Original Instrumental Work by Marc Soucy

Years ago, when I was working as an independent producer, one of my clients was a veteran who lived with injuries from his time in the service. Painkillers had become a regular part of his life.

One day, with the kind of humor people sometimes develop around things that aren't particularly funny, he said to me: “Novocaine is my friend.”

That sentence stayed with me.

Somewhere along the way, my brain did what it sometimes does and turned “Novocaine is my friend” into “Preaching Novacain.”

I liked the absurdity of it. It sounded like someone standing at a pulpit advocating the virtues of getting numb.

But underneath the joke was an idea that seemed increasingly relevant. Sometimes a little numbness can be your friend.

There are periods in our personal lives—and certainly in society and the world at large—when the sheer amount of noise, stress, conflict and information coming at us can become overwhelming. Maybe occasionally shutting some of it out isn't such a terrible thing.

Maybe there are times when personal health practically demands it.

So Preaching Novacain gradually became a kind of ironic advocacy for temporary escape. Not permanent withdrawal from the world. Just permission to turn down the volume for a while. And that led to another question:

What would that idea sound like?

The answer became a new Original Instrumental Work—and, eventually, a rather strange video to go with it.

Preaching Novacain arrives Friday, October 23.