Marz

I think song is about the Illuminati and how they are trying to manipulate us through mind control conducted by the CIA, The Council on Foreign Relations, The Bilderberg Group, The Club of Rome, The Think Tank: Project for a New American Century, The Trilateral Commission, and through various forms of silent weapons against critical thinking, shaping and conditioning our minds to numbing down so we can continue to devaluate and degrade other human beings for the sole purpose of consuming alot of things we don't need, and to create shame and install fear in us to use a divide-and-conquer strategy so the powers that be can continue to build up a global totalitarian government and patent everything from the seeds we eat and tax every single use of any carbon in the universe, and just continue to practice their hierarchy through manipulating consensus through mass media and entertainment, and to continue to lull people into favoring all this instead of educating themselves, so they can achieve their final goal:

Eat all the popcorn they want.

I think it would be all about.... forbidden fruit?

From what I know about Grant, this seems to be about his teenage years growing up gay in a small town (Parker, CO to be exact). He contrasts the cloyingly sweet "malt shop" young, straight love scene with his real desire to "go to Marz" where "your sweet 16 is waiting for you after the show...where you'll get your heart's desire...(and) I will meet you under the lights." If you know the small town high school scene and its alienation, you can relate to this song, particularly if you are gay.

John had this to say about the track:

Marz was a sweet shop from my childhood. It’s now empty and for sale. But I got to visit beforehand, and the woman who served me as a child was still there. They still made all their own candies and ice cream. In the song, I list all the names of the sundaes, and drinks like Green River.

The song is about the gateway back to childhood and innocence, before things have become complicated. The owner’s name was Marzetti, which was shortened to Marz. The main theme of the song is a melancholic longing to return to one’s favourite childhood memories.