Chicago Piano

A “Chicago Piano” is a nickname for a tommy gun, which is stereotypically associated with mobsters. What I get out of the song is that it’s about a mobster’s conscious, or perhaps the guilt or paranoia that one may feel while living outside the law. I figure the “stern old men” could be politicians, while the “face out of history” could refer to money. Maybe he’s being paid by crooked politicians to kill someone, or maybe he’s trying to pay them off. He’s still very uncertain about everything, sure that he’s going to end up screwed somehow. Of course, this mobster scenario/psychology could just me a metaphor for something similar. Like, perhaps, cheating on a spouse or being corrupt in some way?

It could be, as DeMinor put it, a metaphor about turning tables in society. But since I am reading "Psychic Confusion: The Sonic Youth Story" by Stevie Chick, I have been learning a lot about the transition many "indie" bands made to mainstream labels on the 88-94 era and how in many cases these bands were shocked by the inhumanity of these big conglomerates. The lyrics to "Cooling Card" fit that atmosphere of ambivalence towards a step that could be the walk of a promised idillic way of making music or a corporate trap which makes you become a numb dollar-making machine. This is specially true for the lines that mention guarantees and the attack to the "stern old men" who "make the bed" as in the preparations they did in order to assure a new band or artist signed a contract for them.