Feed Them to the 5 Lions (Linden) Lyrics
Every street a straight line
Team colors, yellow and blue
Perfect smiles, unaffected
And you won't forget
Our colors blue
Home of the Redbirds
Team colors crimson, blue
For the boys who reimburse us
With a goal-line stand
On fourth and two
Reservoirs are shallow
Spillways unexposed
When the government's elected
That the fields
Will turn to yellow, too (oooh)
Linden CA is a small, insulated farming town about 20 miles east of Stockton CA, with one high school. Contrasted with Stockton, which is a larger diverse urban city, Linden is still very country and very white, with kids working on farms during the summer and football is a VERY big deal, like in other more rural areas across the country. Their mascot is, of course, the Linden Lions. To me, this song is about that small town attitude towards high school football, that it is SO important to the community. As s7ugg1e said, it is about people not paying attention to the important things, or maybe even being able to ignore the fact that your small town is dying, and hide behind the pride of your local football team.
@stickie pants Thanks for that info. I saw a pic of Gary Young with a Linden hat on, now that is explained. For people who aren't diehard fans, malkmus and kannberg grew up in Stockton. Just in case anyone reads this.
@stickie pants Thanks for that info. I saw a pic of Gary Young with a Linden hat on, now that is explained. For people who aren't diehard fans, malkmus and kannberg grew up in Stockton. Just in case anyone reads this.
it's not a reference to gambling it's a reference to the stakes people in small communities put into football. Whether it be by way of overall support, or that of boosters (open up your purses for the boys who reimburse us). Football is a way of life in the these types of towns, and I don't think it really matters what teams the song is even referring to, as they're probably just generic for the purpose of the song. And I think stickie pants is right about the small town dying.
"Two colors, yellow and blue"... actual lyric is "Team colors, yellow and blue". This is also the case for the lyric "Team colors crimson, blue".
For me this has always been the easiest Pavement song to understand, with the usual Pavement "values":
People don't pay attention to the things they should.
I think all the members of Pavement are sports fans to some degree or another, so it's not surprising that they would write a song referencing football.
I love the references to gambling. Gambling on high school football... decadence American style at its best.
Is it not just called 'Lions (Linden)'?
I heard Steve Malkamus say that this song is about growing up in the Central Valley of California. As others have mentioned Linden is a small town outside Stockton where he grew up.
Water and football are both a big deal to the Central Valley which is one of the biggest agricultural regions in the world but is also basically desert without their extensive system of reservoirs and channels. I think that explains the reference to reservoirs and spillways and the fields turning yellow.
No idea what it means to me. Maybe it's about St. Louis? It's a great song either way.
Oh no .. it's about Kentucky and Louisville. Why would they write a song about a college football game? Because they are(were) Pavement and they can!