Strawberries

No comments? This is probably my favourite track from Mumps. It feels like a spoken inner eulogy to me...

Does anybody know what he's saying in the last lines on the demo version? I can't quite make it out. "But despite me I feel ??? I'm likely not the right me"

The first verse sounds like a recollection of someone old you know, and something you always think about when you think about that person. Like what flavor Jell-o they like, or what they always had at their birthday 'party'.

The 'shit I said...' line seems to be some form of embarrassment of saying something that you know that the above person would not approve of. Whether it be your tone, your language or what you're actually asking for.

The rest of the first verse seems to be coming to grips with the death of someone you vaguely know but feel close to. I've done the whole 'waiting in the upstairs hallway at church to carry someone out to the hearse' thing, and it can leave you distraught, but you have to do it. Like, that casket is not making it down the church steps if you don't do it.

Second verse seems to be about being (or not) comfortable in your own skin. The 'intern' part seems to imply that either it's just a temporary feeling or that you're not paid to deal with how you feel, you just cope.

Third verse, I got nothing. It's funny though.

The last little part just seems to be an earlier, younger incarnation of the hotel managers line.

To me, this whole song revolves around fear of dying alone. Yoni is positioning the audience to believe he has this fear. This is mostly evident in the repetition of “I am not okay.” He is lonely and has nobody to talk to, impulsively relieving his emotional build-up by talking to strangers, his words eventually ending up “haunting” him.

I’m not sure if anyone else sees the first line, “Strawberries on your birthday Shirley” like me, but I picture an old woman alone on her birthday, sitting at the table with nothing but a bowl of strawberries. It’s her birthday treat, but she has no one to share it with.

“Pall bearers of the first string ready, discretely gather in the second floor hallway”. Referring to the death of a person, part of where I believe the notion of dying comes into it. If Yoni does have this fear, this could be his thoughts of his own death.

“Itching like an intern with a sunburn, For what a stone unturned covers.” Intern and sunburn are both temporary things, meaningless. There is a longing to find something more in life. This is reinforced in the next two lines: “I don’t wear rubbers and I don’t wear sunscreen. I want to heat my hide not hide under something.” He does not pay attention to trivial matters, rather is looking at the big picture that is life.

The third verse is a link to the idea of growing old and lonely. The whole verse depicts an old lady, alone, watching day time television and smoking weed to forget about reality. Her laughter echoes out into the atmosphere, heard by nobody. Yoni links it back to himself, as though this is how he pictures his life in the future.

I love Yoni Wolf. His lyrics are always so profound, always have deep, connotative meanings underlying them. No other artist makes me think about life in the ways he does.