Barnaby, Hardly Working Lyrics

Lyric discussion by stormville 

Cover art for Barnaby, Hardly Working lyrics by Yo La Tengo

"Wore a hat so he'd impress her" is an echo of the Kinks' "Muswell Hillbilly" ("wore her Sunday hat so she'd impress me") with a slight echo of the epigraph to "The Great Gatsby" ("wear the gold hat if that will move her")

@stormville The Muswell Hillbilly reference is spot on, as they are mentioned in the liner notes for Fakebook in reference to another cover song, "Oklahoma USA."