Spinal Meningitis (Got Me Down)

I don't think this song is intended to be humorous in anyway. They're making a point about how religious fanatics tend to say that Jesus has a purpose and plan for everything that happens, but how do you explain that to a small child dying of a serious illness? Sweet song by the way.

In addition to getting the line from a magazine cover story, this song was about a mutual friend Dean and Gene had in grade school that died of Spinal Meningitis. Everyday the school principal would come on the PA and update everyone on the status of the student's health, until one day, the principal the boy was dead.

WEEN RULE!

"Smilin' Mighty Jesus" is a malapropism for spinal meningitis. Like saying "Old Timer's Disease" instead of "Alzheimer's Disease."

Aaron Freeman (Dean): “There’s some really dark shit going on in Ween. I consider Ween to be dark, crackwhore, fucking hell. We’ve always been like that, and that’s what has brought us together,” Aaron explained. “We’re fucking really—we don’t go out and do horrible things, but in our minds—”

I interrupted Aaron to tell him about how one of my friends, an otherwise thick-skinned grown man, refuses to stay in the room whenever someone plays “Spinal Meningitis (Got Me Down)”.

“That’s good, and that’s what I want, because it’s fucked up for us, too. That’s why we do it. That song didn’t come out of any kind of making fun of. That song came out of fear of death, fear of needles in the spine, and that’s not cool at all. That’s really bad news. There is a lot of psychological terror going on in Ween, and there always has been." Pop Matters, "Taste the Waste: A Conversation With Gene Ween" http://www.popmatters.com/feature/ween-030819/

i've never been bothered by the creepiness factor (what does that say about my sensitivity?) of this song, but it's easily one of my favorite ween songs. i fucking love this band.

hell yeah

I LOVE this album, but this song gets the skip button every time. Not that it lacks originality, it's just too unnerving.

The first time I heard this song, I was really creeped out by it, but even though it really creeped me out, the chorus always got stuck in my head. The more I listened to it, the more I liked it. Mizchiff got the meaning, or at least my interpretation of it, but it's a shame how many people misinterpret Ween's songs as being intentionally offensive all the time.

hah. this song was honestly soooo disturbing the first time i heard it, but i sort of learned to love it in all of it's unnerving creepiness.

I never thought a song would get to me but this is absolutely creepy.. the child's voice adds to it's creepyness. Pretty much self explanitory