Positive Pop
(or) The World’s A Mess, We’re
Sneakin’ Out The Hospital
(4:11) [2/20/00]
MP3
Liner Notes
What I’m gonna tell you now is not public knowledge,
What I’m gonna tell you is not public knowledge.
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No
one’s united, all things untied:
I’m embalmed with tubes (it’s like someone died),
& these ministering nurses who keep me tongue-tied
Could use some pointers on polite bedside. |
Cards
to the players, three good players.
One card, the man takes one.
Cards to the players, three good players.
One card, the man takes one.
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It’s
time, I think:
We’re sneakin' out
The hospital to make my own luck.
I wanna get into a new plot
(One where you got a shot at the pot),
& be a man with style who can smile amid amok.
“Gotta play to win a hand,
& you gotta stay to play”,
“Gotta give to get action,
& you gotta give to stay”:
I’ve been told that that’s what the Man
Has said over my head.
“So sneak out your hospital bed.”
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No part’s united,
all boiling inside:
My world’s a mess, & like I already died,
‘Cause the wires all skewed in my face got me tied.
I’m not a player in my life, I’ve been railroaded to hiding. |
Cards to the players,
three good players.
One card, the man takes one.
Cards to the players, three good players.
One card, the man takes one.
|
It’s
time, I think:
We’re sneakin' out
The hospital; that’s where you abdicate
From a meaning to a mess,
Like, “Marmalade cats press
Their convict-flavored hyacinth license plates.”
“Happens to the best, hear-tell."
That’s what some people say.
Then others, something else:
“Another hand, a new winner’s day.”
I’ve been told that that’s what He tells
When He’s standing over my bed.
“So sneak outta your hospital head.”
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So do you ever
feel like you got stuck in a cineplex hall
With four movies going & there’s open doors to all?
A cocophony of different scores (flushing mush amplified),
& the dialogues smear into absurd post-Dada asides.
They all might be the same flick, just started five minutes apart; astride,
You think you’ve maybe been discarded to the Valley of Undecide. |
Hey Wheezy, who
doomy Cassandra henpecks -----
Hey Elmo, making Grouchland an annex -----
Hey Tigger, who could use some Zanex, like Rex -----
Hey Buzz Lightyear, with your space cadet codex -----
Hey Chicken Little, so sure the sky’s falling -----
& Hey Stuart Little ----- I think our Dad’s calling.
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A brain united
is a brain that’s unfried:
This melocoma’s been telling me lies.
I wanna feel the clouds coat my throat as they slide,
& exhale these demons outta my insides. |
Cards to the players,
three good players.
One card, the man takes one.
Cards to the players, three good players.
One card, the man takes one. |
It’s
time, I think, for sneakin' out the hospital.
Words never make sense during secret wars,
But play it past, take it to next,
& take it outta it’s context,
& then you’ll find your way through sliding double doors.
“Gotta play to win a hand,
& you gotta stay to play”,
“Gotta give to get action,
& you gotta give to stay”:
I’ve been told that that’s what the Man
Has said over my head.
“So sneak out this hospital bed.”
“Happens to the best, hear-tell.”
That’s what some people say.
Then others, something else:
"Another hand, a new winner’s day.”
I’ve been told that that’s what He tells
When He’s standing over my bed.
“So sneak outta your hospital head.”
What I’m gonna tell you now is not public knowledge,
What I’m gonna tell you now is: “Next case.”
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Despite being titularly inspired by the Adam Horivitz-John Doe teaming
in Roadside Prophets, this is mainly about Swan’s near-fatal
asthma attack &hospitalization in 2000, with enough David Mamet references& card-playing metaphors to make even Suzanne Vega blush (flush?).
Moby & Heather Nova - “Straight To Hell”
“Now the boy Samuel was ministering to Yahweh in the presence of Eli; it was
rare for Yahweh to speak in those days; visions were uncommon. One day,
it happened that Eli was lying down in his room. His eyes were beginning
to grow dim; he could no longer see. The lamp of God had not yet gone
out, and Samuel was lying in the sanctuary of Yahweh where the ark of
God was, when Yahweh called, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ He answered, ‘Here I
am.’ Then he ran to Eli and said, ‘Here I am, since you called me.’
Eli said, ‘I did not call. Go back and lie down.’ So he went and lay
down. Once again Yahweh called, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ Samuel got up and
went to Eli and said, ‘Here I am, since you called me.’ He replied,
‘I did not call you, my son; go back and lie down.’ Samuel had as not
yet no knowledge of Yahweh and the word of Yahweh had not yet been revealed
to him. Once again Yahweh called, the third time. He got up and went
to Eli and said, ‘Here I am, since you called me.’ Eli then understood
that it was Yahweh who was calling the boy, and he said to Samuel, ‘Go
and lie down, and if someone calls, say, “Speak, Yahweh, your servant
is listening”.’ So Samuel went and lay down in his place.”
- 1 Samuel 3:1-9, The Jerusalem Bible
“Like a flag at half mast as frames click fast
Not a thing will last as past is past
Like stacks of thoughts that got played and worn
Used over and over 'till they were tired and torn . . .
As long as I’m learning I will make mistakes
What do I want? What do I need? . . .
Don’t worry your mind when you give it your best
One-two one-two, this is just a test.”
- The Beastie Boys, “Just A Test” (1998)
“No one is united
All things are untied
Perhaps we’re boiling over inside
They’ve been telling lies
Who’s been telling lies?
There are no angels
There are devils in many ways
Take it like a man
The world’s a mess, it’s in my kiss . . .
There
are some facts here
That refuse to escape
I could say it stronger
But it’s too much trouble
I was wondering down at the bricks
Hectic isn’t it?”
- Exene Cervenka & John Doe, “The World’s A Mess, It’s In My Kiss” (1980)
“A man with style is a man who can smile.”
- David Mamet, House Of Games (1987
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