Oddfellows Local 151 Lyrics
Where Peewee sits to prove a sage to teach
Peewee gathered up his proof
Reached up and scratched his head
Fell down and hit the ground again
Firehouse
Where Peewee sits upon the wall to preach
This boy and girl that gather pearls of wisdom
Falling from his mouth
Wash off the blood, wash off the rum
Firehouse
Where Peewee sits upon the wall to preach
This boy and girl that gather pearls off wisdom
Falling from his mouth
Wash off the blood, wash off the 151
Firehouse
Firehouse
Firehouse
To support some of the comments made above:
Peter Buck said that the "Oddfellows" were a social organisation, "just like the Mooses or the Shiners", with lodges all over Athens.
He also explained that the song was about the old winos who lived near Michael Stipe. They drank all day and slept in their cars, so the band called them the "Motor Club". Buck remebered that one of them really was known as Pee Wee. The name Oddfellows is used ironically to suggest that this assortmnet of drunks were like a fraternal society.
Stipe himself said the song was a debunking of the "Southern folk" myths he had written for "Fables of the Reconstruction" (e.g. Wendell Gee, Old Man Kensey). In other words, the quaint eccentrics of his earlier songs turn out to be nothing more than sad old drunks.
It seems to me that it's about drunk homeless people hanging outside the liquor store in the alleyways and spewing their "wisdom" to those that pass by. Much like you see the sidewalk preachers talking about the "end of days". And people just stare at them and the homeless people and hear their strange drunken mutterings.
Anytime you say "Something local ###" it's referring to a Union.
Other than that, I can't say anything concrete. Coule be some kind of Union meeting or something. Or a metaphorical union meeting. Who knows, It's Michael Stipe after all. That's why he's so great.
This could be about simple small town life and how kids grow up fast or pretty much about anything.
I always interpreted this song semi-literally. I thought the "151" referred to alcohol. I figured that this was just a character study of the homeless drunks that hang out and babble in alleyways. Henceforth the characterization as a union.
Hit the nail on the head redork...Wash off the rum wash off the 151.
Hit the nail on the head redork...Wash off the rum wash off the 151.
Well i think tat 151 refers to the firehouse number. And its how they do things in their firehouse.
The Firehouse is (or was) a liquor store in Athens. 151 probably refers to Bacardi 151. So the oddfellows are a bunch of drunks that hung outside a liquor store.
Odd Fellows is a social organization, much like The Eagles, Elk, Moose or Sokol...
I used to sell soda at their functions when i was 15...