Shamemaker

Aaron(Gener) has been pretty open in terms of what this song is about. It's tongue-in-cheek but is inspired by meaningful advice he received from his therapist when he was in recovery -- which was to embrace feelings of shame or vulnerability rather than bottling it up or repressing it. Or self-medicating to forget about it. So basically letting it "have its way 'til it says goodbye".

Processing shame rather than running from it. It's genuine advice for people who don't handle vulnerability very well. Aaron's a pretty sensitive fellow. In many ways his difficulty being sincere has defined his career path(and musical brilliance), but also his substance abuse. This song is a light hearted take on figuring this all out.

is it about feeling shame for having caught some sort of virus? a yellow worm with teeth could be like bacteria or something? perhaps even Hep C cos of the Yellow bit?

I think this song is meant to mimic the slightly preachy alternative bands from the 80s and 90s, like REM and XTC. So many of Ween's songs are just meant to be ridiculously over-the-top imitations of well-known music styles. The problem is, because they are so incredibly gifted, Ween's imitations are usually better than the target of their satire, so you kind of forget what the joke is. The vocals of this song, in particular, sound like Michael Stipe, not only the accent but the sentiment -- "I'm in a very defensive place." Hah! Overall the song is totally alternative rock -- very very catchy and probably meant to be deep but ultimately just kinda says nothing.

This song imho, is clearly about addiction. Particularly the process of withdrawal. Going through withdrawal is a horrendous and brutal experience, and every aspect of your being is out-of-whack and pained. It also makes one ashamed and meek.

"my body aches And I feel aloneI'm in a very defensive place Shamemaker"

Seems kind of self explanatory, at least for anyone who's gone through detox.

"Feel the feeling oh! Process feelingsFeel it in the belly Like a yellow worm with teeth"

Drugs are a great mask and tool for escapism. When you start sobriety, all those feelings that were once masked become raw and often unbearable. The "yellow worm", I'm assuming, is about heroin withdrawal specifically. Coming off of opiates is as bizarre as it is painful. There is this otherworldly feeling one goes through where it feels like bugs or electricity is coursing through your entire being, and there's little you can do except endure it until it stops.

The vocals in this song crack me up. Definitely reminds me of blink 182's style..

The vocals seem to be done in a Pennsylvania accent... (Ween is from New Hope, PA). Listen for the way they pronounce words like "yellow", "so", and even the "oh"'s in the chorus..That's a PA accent if I ever heard one. Which I think is outright hilarious. Being from Central NJ, I find the South Jersey/PA accent to be unbearably annoying.

This song is about blue balls.

sounds to me like a spoof on therapy circles...

I hate Blink 182.