The original theme of "You're Everywhere" was very political. It debuted when the Hip were performing random gigs during the recording and pre-release of In Between Evolution during 2003. In September, they played it live at EdgeFest in Barrie, Ontario under its working title: "Ballroom." The song opened with the line "when it comes to country are you in, are you out?" In an apparent critique of the "with us or against us" mentality of many of the war hawks in Washington, as well as the increasing polarization of society and especially the media. While the opening line was eventually changed, the tone of the song remained intact.

"...You are everywhere, within and without
It don't matter what we used to do now
Where I feed my people when I get behind the plow
When I write the Tiger hanging on by his eyebrows
Somehow where the gang in me
Is being all that it can be
Somehow part hope is a plan
And part vigilante streak"

"...Somehow where democracy
Is how we all learn to sleep."

"...There's no escaping this dream."

The all encompassing scope and never ending presence of the media in the 24 hour news cycle seems to inform "You're Everywhere." Whether cultivating stories, blindly championing a cause (note the US Army slogan: "be all that you can be") advertising hope or retailing fear, the media seem to be omnipresent nowadays. "Riding the tiger" is a centuries old political metaphor, that was even referenced in John F. Kennedy's 1960 inaugural address. Here, perhaps with media influence in mind, Gord has substituted the word "write." 

Hipbaser sfissel nicely summed up his opinion of "You're Everywhere," and it seems to be concise, accurate and supported by a quote from a band member.

"I think what's everywhere is the smokescreen of American media coverage," he wrote. Our man 'S' dug up this news story complete with Bobby Baker quote from 2004: "In doing so, (recording in Seattle) the musicians were subject to the noxious gas of American media - a "smokescreen" Baker says, of Kobe-O.J.-you-name-it scandals to keep the public in a state of perpetual dread and ignorance. It definitely had an effect on the lyrical content of In Between Evolution." The media. It's everywhere.