Waiting For the Punchline

"Waiting For The Punchline" is essentially a commentary on the inherently evil nature of the record industry. I became aware of the connotations of the tune thanks to an insightful interpretation of the lyrics by none other than Jesse Jarnow. I think he truly touches on the essence of the tune in his analysis. I know, from a personal standpoint, the following commentary convinced me that the more recent bluegrass reformation of the song just doesn't work to capture what the tune is about. Anyway, thanks again to Jesse Jarnow...

At the debut of this tune during High Sierra 1997, Al (I think) announced that the tune was about the band's ongoing dealings with record companies in general. There's another little speech that might nice to transcribe for MOE.TUNES (I'm currently in the process of getting these tapes and accomplishing this).

My interpretation of the tune always had to do with the band's disullusionment with record companies. Are they really necessary? Is moe.'s life better because they signed? Hence the line, "And if I waited/Would my life be such a crying shame?"). The chorus, I think, has to do with the hope that someone will let moe. in on the joke of record companies. A paraphrase, "This is a joke, this has to be a joke. Somebody tell me this a joke. This is a joke, right?" in regards to the utter silliness of the music industry. FWIW, I've been corresponding with Cory, whose .SIG quote is from Robert Fripp of King Crimson: "The history of the music industry is a history of exploitation and theft."

I'm not sure what the signifigance of "seven days" is, other than, maybe, it's a symbol of time. "Okay, we've been here a while...you can let us in on the joke now."

As far as the preacher thing goes, I wasn't kidding before when I paraphrased the chorus as, "Wait a minute, I know who you are...you're Satan!" Basically, the lyrics are saying that the record industry, personified as a person, is the kind of person your mother warned you about: "My daddy told me about the likes of you/My mama told me about the likes of you/My preacher told me about the likes of you/And I tried to tell myself about the likes of you." Ditto for the end of the tune: "My mama told me...My daddy told me...Preacher told me...Peter Jennings told me." Just different sources for being warned against Satan, as it were.

Jesse later broadened his interpretation of the lyrics...

Reading this over, I don't think that I stressed enough that, even though the record industry is what the song may be about, it doesn't mean that it's the only interpretation of the tune. In fact, I think the power of the Punchline lyrics is that they're direct enough to specifically address a situation, but open-ended enough to not specify the situation itself.

Obviously, I haven't ever been directly fucked in the ass by the record industry (unless you count TicketBastard), but that doesn't mean that I can't relate to the tune. I have been in so many situations where I have felt the exact sentiment conveyed in the tune. All through high school, for example, I felt I was waiting for the punchline. My relationship with the administration of my high school seems something similar to the chorus of the tune. I've been in relationships with people that I feel have been in a similar fashion.