Good Day

"I'd like to say hello and welcome you Good day that is my name Come here and sit down I'm so glad you even really truly came"

*I could be way off, but I think it might be kind of about growing up. There's the strange, warm welcome of the beginning, it's like being born. then,

"Its name I like to call It likes to say it's nothing It's nothing It lives and breathes and it insitsts that it insists that it is something"

*this introduces the sort of existential motif that runs through the album. it's about a person: in the grand scheme of things, we're nothing. but we live and breathe and insist that we're something. because this is introduced as the writer's what and when, it's probably self-descriptive.

"Looking through glass eyes Give it a few tries Nothing goes right in its time Kill all its bad dreams Wonder bout no things Circles and spirals in mind"

*This sounds like life as a kid to me. You learn from mistakes, you try to avoid being sad (killing bad dreams), and you kind of accept this crazy life. But while it seems kidlike, we don't really outgrow this stuff even as we grow up.

"But we know that this song is not about a no or yes or why What's really truly what I say is that about a little sigh"

*And it's not like all the answers are in. Philosophies and such will never have the whole picture of the universe, mankind is always going to be just a kid in a crazy situation. so this song isn't out to pretend to explain things.

"I thought you knew I knew but why and by and why and by and by I wanted you to know I thought you knew but why and by and why"

*eh, hard to tell. i'd guess this bit's about people dealing with each other. up in the air for me though.

"Birds and bees and television (let us sing, let us sing) Cardboard houses, x-ray vision (let us sing, let us sing) Many little silly rhymes (let us sing, let us sing) Things forgotten lost their time (let us sing, let us sing) Telephones and silly games (let us sing, let us sing) Periods and lots of question marks (let us sing)"

*more kid imagery, and as the song tends toward disorder at the end, it's a bit like entering the cluttered adult world. but in the end, the song is called good day. it's a generally/potentially good world we're walking into. so let's sing.

to me, it really sets up what the album is about. the universe is crazy, random, strange, etc, but also mechanical (per album title) in the laws of physics and such. they revisit that sort of thing on taken for a ride, spring and a storm, and ruler of everything (possibly banana man a bit), and if there's a consistent message, it's to make peace with the things bigger than ourselves and to find love, happiness, and humor where we are. Which is why i find it strange when people dismiss Tally Hall as silly, quirky, funny, etc. Although i realize i might be in way deeper than they intended at this point. either way, that's what Marvin's is about from my point of view.

GOOD DAY: "But we know that this song is not about a no or yes or why"

TAKEN FOR A RIDE: "bumble mumble make the rounds no matter what you'll seem profound; it's useless just to worry....so please just stop thinking, this is happy."

BANANA MAN: "forget all your troubles and go with the flow. forget about whatever you may never know, like whether whatever you are doing is whatever you should, and whether anything you do is every really any good."

SPRING AND A STORM (on death): "Well I think you return to obscure, Or wherever you were Before you were, But I won't let you lose yourself in the rain"

RULER OF EVERYTHING: "But if you try to pretend to understand, You resemble a fool, Although you're only a man, So give it up and Smile.

brilliant album.