Ecstasy

This politically charged song was inspired by Rusted Root lead singer Michael Glabicki's trip to Nicaragua in 1987 during the Contra War. Growing up in Pittsburgh, Glabicki spent his high school years on activism, fighting against apartheid, nuclear weapons, and racism. One of his causes was Central America, which led him to Nicaragua on a humanitarian mission to Pittsburgh's sister city, San Ysidro. He worked on improvements to their irrigation and drinking water systems, but also took note of the politics. "The country that I came from had really started the wars down there, and it didn't make sense to me," Glabicki told Songfacts, referring to the Reagan administration practice of arming the Nicaraguan rebel forces. In 2012, Rusted Root revisited political themes on their album The Movement, which was influenced by Occupy Wall Street.