He's Simple, He's Dumb, He's The Pilot

I interpret this song in a very literal way - basically it's the story, written from a viewer in the future, about someone who escaped the earth that he believed was in a terrible state (for reasons i'll go into later on). "Adrift again 2000 man" Here we have a man from around the year 2000 who is adrift in space (although, as we later find out, this is an intentional act). "You lost your maps, You lost the plans Did you hear them yell, "Land, damn it land"? You say you can't Well I hope you can I hope you can" The 2000 man has told all the people on earth that he is lost and can't come back to earth, but really he WANTS to be lost and alone. The narrator of the story is nonetheless fooled, and like all the people on earth, has tried to 'help him' and invite him to come back. "How's it going 2000 man Welcome back to solid ground my friend I heard all your controls were jammed Well it's just nice to have you back again" Later on (and following a shift in the song) 2000 man comes back to earth, and the narrator is glad and still trying to pry out of him how he got 'stuck' in space. However ... "But I guess they still don't understand And they can never understand" ... it's still the same old story on earth as before. The people that 2000 man escaped still believe in the same things, and, the narrator believes, they always will. "And they said go find 2000 man And they said tell him we've got new plans" The people of earth want 2000 man - the man who rejected the ways of his culture - back on earth, because they want to tell him they've changed. They want to reincorporate the rebel. But ... "But instead I'm here to tell you, friend I believe they want you to give in" ... they haven't changed at all, and although the narrator wants 2000 man back, he also wants to warn him of this. "Are you giving in 2000 man?" 2000 man has come back to the same culture. The narrator asks: are you ready to give up your struggle now? "Did you love this world and did this world not love you?" 2000 man loved the world, but rejected his culture. "Don't give in 2000 man" The final plea from the narrator. I guess it's up to you what you think that culture could be - so bad that someone would choose to be alone in space rather than face it. Whether it's Parkov's concern of a society "becoming obsessed with complex but ultimately meaningless things", or Nehllah's struggles of civilization or Jean-Baptiste's ecological concerns. However, I have heard Grandaddy speak in interviews and they have regularly put forward these ideas - of the self-destructive decadence of consumerism and over-production, but mainly of over-reliance on technology and the problems that this brings (these themes feature across Grandaddy's work, and lend many to believe that the Sophtware Slump is a concept album). In fact, I remember Jason Lytle saying he was disappointed that the Millenium Bug hadn't, in the end, destroyed all the computers - is this what 2000 man hoped to escape from?

I don't know if anyone's already said this, but 2000 Man is the title of a Rolling Stones song written in the 60s, and one of the lines from the chorus is "And my kids, they just don't understand me at all"...which could possibly relate to the line "But I guess they still don't understand, And they never can understand" in the Grandaddy song. Maybe it's a song written in 2000 by Grandaddy commenting on how things have played out since the sixties, or maybe not. That's my two cents...

this album is the best of 2000 no question, just a shame that nobody has heard it

Davey Jones got it. This song is a reflection on "2,000 Man" by The Rolling Stones. The Stones' song illustrates "2,000 Man" as a man so into elements of the future, technology, and his career that he loses site of humanity and the tangible things that keep us grounded on this planet - our family, our children, etc. It ends with thought of 2,000 Man having two options to continue his life... live self-absorbed in his career and technology, or "come down crashing" after recognizing and owning up to the neglect, and heartbreak he caused. Read these lyrics, then read Grandaddy's lyrics again, and maybe a little about the band. Grandaddy picks up with 2000 Man returning to earth after all his fuck ups, and still feeling lost, disconnected, and misunderstood. From there, the interpretation of Grandaddy's purpose behind the song is arguable. I tend to think while the Stones provided perspective for the listener that 2000 Man could not see, Grandaddy's style is a more introspective. It shows 2,000 man trying to reground himself, and how he feels like his intentions weren't received, feeling used and betrayed by his peers and society's expectations. A major theme to the Sophtware Slump is technology's effect on modern society. It was released in 2000, and this is the opening track for the concept album. Good stuff.

Hidden stuff in music is awesome.

This song reminds me of the story of Icarus and how our ego can deceive us. Hence the name of the song "He's simple, he's dumb, he's the pilot." We can seem so dumb in the pursuit of things that satisfy our ego. We don't realize how dumb we are at the time as we are flying toward the sun, but eventually we get burned. Being up in space is a metaphor for being disconnected from reality, which is referred to as "solid ground". And how many times have you heard your parents, friends or others say "Land damn it, land." But we ignore the pleas and warnings and go on towards the sun, often losing our way as we drift further from our self. Sometimes we drift so far from our self, we need a map to get back. Back to "solid ground" is the metaphorical parent who is there for us when we get burned. Once we are on solid ground, reality sets in and we grieve, fight, deny and sometimes hide to be with our depression alone. Perhaps this is what leads the singer to say, "Are you giving in 2000 man?", metaphorically referring to how many in our lives become concerned for us when we have lost a love, been burned or crashed emotionally and are struggling to cope. Interesting that the song ends with the question unanswered. Perhaps the singer has not yet come to terms with his own ideas of giving up. But he continues to ask himself the question, like a person who may be contemplating suicide or retreating from the cruel reality life can be at times.

Sounds to me like he's talking to himself in the year 2000 (or possibly all of mankind); I don't know when the lyrics were written/conceived. This 2000 man has lost the plot and needs to come back to reality. Why would he lose the plot? Had he not loved the world, or did the world not love him enough? If you lose love you want to leave, so if you feels the world does not love you are likely to want to leave it... reminiscent of depression, drugs, and out-of-mind out-of-reality attempts to discover something beyond the daily grind we so easily find ourselves in. From the age of the singer he could be talking about himself as he matures and tries to get to grips with the world, or possibly a friend or be referring to all friends we've all ever had who've lost the plot and their grip on life. Don't give in 2000 man.

Grandaddy is an amazing fucking band. The singer is brilliant. This song can be related to in several different ways, pretty much I guess all stemming from one intended meaning, which is obvious, I'm not gonna get into it. My favorite line is "Welcome back to solid ground my friend. I heard all your controls were jammed. Well it's just nice to have you back again."

I found something very cool in this song! If you listen very carefully about 3 minutes and 39 seconds into the song, after all the funky piano and right after he says "Are you givin' in 2000 thousand man?" there's a tiny snippet of the intro to the song "AM 180". Listen for it. It's kinda hard to hear, but I swear it's there and it's kinda neato. P.S. Sophtware Slump is the best Grandaddy CD and I'm sure of it.

my god...after hundreds of times listening to this song, it still brings tears to my eyes