It's My Tail and I'll Chase It If I Want To

Anyone ?

I've been listening to this song non-stop initially just because it's so unusual and refreshing. More and more though, I'm loving it for the meaning that it has. At least as I understand it.

The song seems to me to have 3 parts:

1. The customer is being sold something
2. The customer buys it
3. The customer concludes what he thinks about the product.

***PART 1 "A whole new world of "would" When the bad outstrips the good"

It seems here that a seller is describing the world we live in wherein we have this preoccupation with whether we should do things or not and not really think about why we should do things or not. A whole new world of "would" rather than "should". And it's a bad world indeed.

"It's the reap/sow interface That'll help you win the race"

Here comes the product. Maybe it's Capitalism or the corporate way of life or maybe that's just me being where I am now, in the capitalist/corporate world. The selling point of this kind of lifestyle is "You reap what you sow" and if you sow more than you can, you'll reap as much.

"It'll help you build a rocket Help you build a ship There's a good chance you can help"

The seller is telling of the possibilities when you buy into Capitalism. The seller just jumps straight to the good stuff.

"There's a price on this return"

This one is bit vague but maybe it's deliberate. The seller says there's a price just so that it makes him look honest. That way later when you realize you've been duped, the seller can tell you he was honest from the get go. 

"But there's absolutely no rush Absolutely no rush And no time, no time, no time, no time"

Then he says to the customer: hey take your time, think about it. There's no rush. But! take note that life is short and if you join now, you can get a head start on sowing your seeds. 

I think it's real clever too that the singing style on this one sounds a lot like an auction or some seller pitching his product so fast, the customer is rushed into making a hasty decision. I'm unsure though whether this singing style was deliberately done to give that effect or whether it was just the style that fit the music best. Either way, it sounds fucking awesome.

***PART 2 "As the spider takes the fly"

So the customer(fly) buys into capitalism(spider)

"As the gray does take the dye As the drink does numb the pain"

The customer gets a whole lot more than he'd sign up for. He's getting older more and more but he has to hide his growing disadvantage. He's also getting tired more and more but he has to numb himself because in the world he bought into, he has to be on tip-top shape. 

"As the songs all sound the same With diminishing returns"

The life he bought into is getting very boring for him and as much as he has reaped, he's finding less and less enjoyment in them.

"And the hackneyed twist-and-turns As the egg runs down your face We'll still bang on the bin lids Cause dad forgot the kids And they throw us to the pigs And it's hard lines, hard lines, hard lines, hard lines"

This part I just can't get at. Judging from "Hard Lines!" though, it gets really bad for our guy. Maybe in his insistence to pursue this life, it falls apart. 

***CONCLUSION "It's my tail, I'm gon' chase it if I want to"

He concedes and admits that he did it to himself. I can sense some pride in him though in saying that it's his life, he'll do as he pleases. But he also seems to admit his stupidity, like a dog chasing himself.