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.
I'm a pale imitator of a boy in the sky,
With a cap in his head and a knot in his tie.
I'm the light in the mall when the power is gone,
A shadow in a corner, just playin' along!
I'm gonna lay in my bed, I'm rolling aside,
But if a get a car- A moment to ride.
Because I know if I ever tear living with you
You've got a holding chainAnd you don't know what to do!
You'd stop!
You wanna do it but you don't know what you doin' baby! A-a-a-a-aha!
You wanna feel it, but you don't know what you're feeling tonight!
And if you're thinking, and I don't know what you're thinking baby! A-a-a-a-aha!
You go on thinking and you gonna make it alright!
I'm impregnable, incredible, the setting of quoI'm a late Jimi writer, not a heart and soul.
Got Saturday night, enough's been said.
If I ever had to do it, well, you know I wouldn't care.
I'd just get down, I'm loving the feat, and if I wanna talk back, the message is free!
I never found a ray and...And if you can't partake, you get 'em alive.
You get a heart--ache..
You wanna do it but you don't know what you doin' baby! A-a-a-a-aha!
You wanna feel it, but you don't know what you're feeling tonight!
And if you're thinking, and I don't know what you're thinking baby! A-a-a-a-aha!
You go on thinking and you gonna make it alright!
Every time we try, we get nowhere!
But wouldn't it be nice if we were just normal people, yeah.
Trying so hard to act like we don't care...
But it's true, you do, nothing is left,
So I guess I'm right!
New word, onomatopoeia... boom! Quit acting like you don't wanna be here.
Fuck around and get jumped like leap year.
Glock and a glove make you really wanna leave me a...lone, get off, go'n, go'n.
OK, OK, OK back to the happy zone,
Rap ain't nuttin' but the art talking ish.
My girl look pretty up there, ridin' it.
My plaid pants, my solid future, Asinine ass, and a gorgeous coochie.
I'm an outcast, but you're into me. Summer got mad cause Winter blew me.
That juicy fruit, that shplooshy-shploosh. Generation X on bloop de bloop!
Get duked out, or get duked-duked.
Er'rybody hit the floor, we through the roof, Ha!
Like a chimney, I commend me. How come it be, some lame, man,
Nigga talkin' 'bout "Aww, he don't rap enough"
But y'all rap a lot and I'm like "Wrap it up, hoe"
Ye ain' Scarface, ye ain' Willie D, Ye ain' Bushwick, ye ain' killin' me.
Better play wit' yo ma'fuckin' mama, Bet you still stay wi' yo ma'fuckin' mama.
Keep sleeping on me, I'mma rock my pajamas!
In the daytime I swear, I promise.
Dare a nigger say som', tear a nigga face off. How come blacks don't play baseball?
Y'all white, know y'all can taste all this fly shit! I stay finna take off.
Do ya damn thang, do ya thang-a-thang.
Do ya damn thang, do ya thang-a-thang!
Do ya damn thang, do ya thang-a-thang.
Ye ain't fresh squeezed juice, nigga, you that Tang!
Do ya damn thang, do ya thang-a-thang.
Do ya damn thang, do ya thang-a-thang.
Do ya damn thang, do ya thang-a-thang.
But is ya really Slick Rick? No you Dana Dane!
Bet it up, head erupts, A lava language, and the vocals volcanic.
If it ain't fix, don't broke it, don't panic,
If it ain't this, it ain't shit, goddammit,
If it ain't this, it ain't dope, it don't flush,
If it ain't hip, it don't hop, well then hush.
Man, they sound like! Man, they stole yo! Man, they look like-! Nope it ain't us.
Ah, Do ya damn thang, do ya thang-a-thang.
Do ya damn thang, do ya thang-a-thang,
Do ya damn thang, do ya thang-a-thang.
Is ya really Slick Rick? No you Dana Dane!
Do ya damn thang, do ya thang-a-thang!
Do ya damn thang, do ya thang-a-thang!Do ya damn thang, do ya thang-a-thang!
Ye ain't fresh squeezed juice, nigga, you that Tang!
Every time we try, we get nowhere.
But wouldn't it be nice if we were just normal people, yeah.
Trying so hard to act like we don't care (I don't care)
But it's true, you do, nothing is left.
So I guess I'm right!
Flip the page, our days are revelations (Hiiide!)
Space is strange, doctor, I've got no patience!
Oh, it's all a part of the process (Okay, okay)
Nothin's new, it's true, cool, I admit, shit, I guess you're right!
With a cap in his head and a knot in his tie.
I'm the light in the mall when the power is gone,
A shadow in a corner, just playin' along!
I'm gonna lay in my bed, I'm rolling aside,
But if a get a car- A moment to ride.
Because I know if I ever tear living with you
You've got a holding chainAnd you don't know what to do!
You'd stop!
You wanna do it but you don't know what you doin' baby! A-a-a-a-aha!
You wanna feel it, but you don't know what you're feeling tonight!
And if you're thinking, and I don't know what you're thinking baby! A-a-a-a-aha!
You go on thinking and you gonna make it alright!
I'm impregnable, incredible, the setting of quoI'm a late Jimi writer, not a heart and soul.
Got Saturday night, enough's been said.
If I ever had to do it, well, you know I wouldn't care.
I'd just get down, I'm loving the feat, and if I wanna talk back, the message is free!
I never found a ray and...And if you can't partake, you get 'em alive.
You get a heart--ache..
You wanna do it but you don't know what you doin' baby! A-a-a-a-aha!
You wanna feel it, but you don't know what you're feeling tonight!
And if you're thinking, and I don't know what you're thinking baby! A-a-a-a-aha!
You go on thinking and you gonna make it alright!
Every time we try, we get nowhere!
But wouldn't it be nice if we were just normal people, yeah.
Trying so hard to act like we don't care...
But it's true, you do, nothing is left,
So I guess I'm right!
New word, onomatopoeia... boom! Quit acting like you don't wanna be here.
Fuck around and get jumped like leap year.
Glock and a glove make you really wanna leave me a...lone, get off, go'n, go'n.
OK, OK, OK back to the happy zone,
Rap ain't nuttin' but the art talking ish.
My girl look pretty up there, ridin' it.
My plaid pants, my solid future, Asinine ass, and a gorgeous coochie.
I'm an outcast, but you're into me. Summer got mad cause Winter blew me.
That juicy fruit, that shplooshy-shploosh. Generation X on bloop de bloop!
Get duked out, or get duked-duked.
Er'rybody hit the floor, we through the roof, Ha!
Like a chimney, I commend me. How come it be, some lame, man,
Nigga talkin' 'bout "Aww, he don't rap enough"
But y'all rap a lot and I'm like "Wrap it up, hoe"
Ye ain' Scarface, ye ain' Willie D, Ye ain' Bushwick, ye ain' killin' me.
Better play wit' yo ma'fuckin' mama, Bet you still stay wi' yo ma'fuckin' mama.
Keep sleeping on me, I'mma rock my pajamas!
In the daytime I swear, I promise.
Dare a nigger say som', tear a nigga face off. How come blacks don't play baseball?
Y'all white, know y'all can taste all this fly shit! I stay finna take off.
Do ya damn thang, do ya thang-a-thang.
Do ya damn thang, do ya thang-a-thang!
Do ya damn thang, do ya thang-a-thang.
Ye ain't fresh squeezed juice, nigga, you that Tang!
Do ya damn thang, do ya thang-a-thang.
Do ya damn thang, do ya thang-a-thang.
Do ya damn thang, do ya thang-a-thang.
But is ya really Slick Rick? No you Dana Dane!
Bet it up, head erupts, A lava language, and the vocals volcanic.
If it ain't fix, don't broke it, don't panic,
If it ain't this, it ain't shit, goddammit,
If it ain't this, it ain't dope, it don't flush,
If it ain't hip, it don't hop, well then hush.
Man, they sound like! Man, they stole yo! Man, they look like-! Nope it ain't us.
Ah, Do ya damn thang, do ya thang-a-thang.
Do ya damn thang, do ya thang-a-thang,
Do ya damn thang, do ya thang-a-thang.
Is ya really Slick Rick? No you Dana Dane!
Do ya damn thang, do ya thang-a-thang!
Do ya damn thang, do ya thang-a-thang!Do ya damn thang, do ya thang-a-thang!
Ye ain't fresh squeezed juice, nigga, you that Tang!
Every time we try, we get nowhere.
But wouldn't it be nice if we were just normal people, yeah.
Trying so hard to act like we don't care (I don't care)
But it's true, you do, nothing is left.
So I guess I'm right!
Flip the page, our days are revelations (Hiiide!)
Space is strange, doctor, I've got no patience!
Oh, it's all a part of the process (Okay, okay)
Nothin's new, it's true, cool, I admit, shit, I guess you're right!
Lyrics submitted by yamsrock
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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.
Great version of a great song,
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I absolutely LOVE this song and I hate how it isn't on Spotify