Tropic of Cancer Lyrics
And then
You sneak it all away
Laughed it off as if it's no big deal
What a joke to joke no joke
And then
You sneak it all away
Sick has to eat well too
And dumb it on down
You won't come back to it
You can't come back to it
And you can't get back
You won't come back
You can't come back to it
And you can't get back
You won't come back to it
You can't come back to it
And you can't get back
You won't come back
You can't come back to it
And then
You sneak it all away
Sick has to eat well too
Got to like what kills
It kills just to like what kills
Got to like it all
All things know just
One thing keep it live
Keep it live
Dead or alive
These guys kill to live on
And you give up on the upside
Give it up on the other side
Noah Lennox really loved his dad. Noah said this about him in an interview, "He was a surgeon, but in 2002 he got brain cancer and died. My first solo record, Young Prayer, was all about him. He was the biggest influence on my life and his death still affects me now." Dave Portner, Noah's band mate, directed the video for Tropic of Cancer. It's like Animal Collective re-shot the last scene of the 1982 movie "White Dog." But instead of the dog representing racism, the dog in the video represents cancer. It's owner, whom I presume to be Death, let's the dog loose and it literally tears the panda family apart. But Noah and Dave depict the heartbreaking event in a beautiful, serene manner. The parade is over but I don't think there could be a better eulogy for Noah's dad than this song and video. It's easy to be bitter about losing a family member to cancer. In a weird way, listening to the lyrics of this song and watching the video has brought me a little more peace.
Noah has done something really phenomenal here. Pas de Deux is one of my favorite classical pieces, and his sample of it here does it no disservice. He takes it and makes it something equally touching and adds a heartbreaking spin to it. Seriously amazing.