Kicking Television

Very cool track. Weird how Wilco's b-sides are better than most band's album tracks. :-)

i swear, in the live version it sounds like he says he's kicking masturbation in the ending verses

yea i definetly heard him say masturbation twice in the lsat chorus in live in chicago

Plain and simple, it's a song about anti-consumerism.

Maybe that ties in to masturbation somehow, though :P

as for the masturbation part, its definately on the live in chicago. i think this song has to do with greed, and self pleasure. people do a lot these days for themselves to better their self satisfaction, but i feel like this is to more so motivate to "kick" those habits/sins.

Get off your ass and do your best to get out and be a part of life. Sure, we'll never be completley rid of antiproductive things like television, but at least we can try to enjoy being humans with other humans in a communal experience. So what's one good way to "kick" television??

Go to a Wilco show!

I think it's just a tounge-in-cheek song about getting healthy.

Summerteeth87 is on the right track. Definitely a subtle satire about people trying to improve themselves. Pretty apparent when he says "I'm serious...you'll see...", and uses such exaggerations as "stop shopping even". It's just about people that take improving yourself way too far.

It's pretty much a satire of an anti-everything attitude - and thats the predominant attitude today with anything mildly addictive (I use that in the loosest sense of the word), from TV to shopping to masturbation. But it's interesting that he picks Television as the main, and says the full word, seeing as he's always cited the band Television as a primary influence. Since this was around the time Wilco started being a bit mellower - and hence, less like Television - he might've thought he had given up that influence. The satire probably came in when he realized that even Wilco relies heavily on all of its influences. Or I could be full of crap.