I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
He turned 35 last Sunday, in his hair he found some grey.
But he still ain't changed his lifestyle, he likes it better the old way.
So he grows a little garden, in the backyard by the fence.
He's consumin' what he's growin', nowadays in self defense.
He gets out there in the twilight zone sometimes, when it just don't make no sense.
He's gets off on country music, cause disco left him cold.
He's got young friends into new wave, but he's just too freakin' old.
And he dreams at night of Woodstock and the day John Lennon died, how the music made him happy and the silence made him cry.
Yeah he thinks of John sometimes, and has to wonder why.
(chorus)
Cause he's an old hippie and he don't know what to do.
Should he hang on to the old? Should he grab on to the new?
He's an old hippie, this new life is just a bust.
He ain't tryin' to change nobody, he's just tryin' real hard to adjust.
He was sure back in the 60's, that everyone was hip.
Then they sent him off to Vietnam on his senior trip.
And they forced him to become a man while he was still a boy, and behind each wave of tragedy he waited for the joy.
Now this world may change around him, but he just can't change no more.
(chorus)
Well he stays away a lot now, from the parties and the clubs.
And he's thinkin' while he's joggin' round, sure is glad he quit he quit the hard drugs.
Cause him and his kind get more endangered everyday, and pretty soon the species will just up and fade away.
Like the smoke from that torpedo, just up and fade away.
(chorus)
Yeah, he ain't tryin' to change nobody, he's just tryin' real hard to adjust.
But he still ain't changed his lifestyle, he likes it better the old way.
So he grows a little garden, in the backyard by the fence.
He's consumin' what he's growin', nowadays in self defense.
He gets out there in the twilight zone sometimes, when it just don't make no sense.
He's gets off on country music, cause disco left him cold.
He's got young friends into new wave, but he's just too freakin' old.
And he dreams at night of Woodstock and the day John Lennon died, how the music made him happy and the silence made him cry.
Yeah he thinks of John sometimes, and has to wonder why.
(chorus)
Cause he's an old hippie and he don't know what to do.
Should he hang on to the old? Should he grab on to the new?
He's an old hippie, this new life is just a bust.
He ain't tryin' to change nobody, he's just tryin' real hard to adjust.
He was sure back in the 60's, that everyone was hip.
Then they sent him off to Vietnam on his senior trip.
And they forced him to become a man while he was still a boy, and behind each wave of tragedy he waited for the joy.
Now this world may change around him, but he just can't change no more.
(chorus)
Well he stays away a lot now, from the parties and the clubs.
And he's thinkin' while he's joggin' round, sure is glad he quit he quit the hard drugs.
Cause him and his kind get more endangered everyday, and pretty soon the species will just up and fade away.
Like the smoke from that torpedo, just up and fade away.
(chorus)
Yeah, he ain't tryin' to change nobody, he's just tryin' real hard to adjust.
Lyrics submitted by jburton71, edited by StillWaiting
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This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
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No Surprises
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Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
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