Lyrics:Titus Andronicus/The Monitor

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Current revision as of 22:41, 8 November 2012

A More Perfect Union

"From whence shall we expect the approach of danger? Shall some transatlantic giant step the earth and crush us at a blow? Never! All the armies of Europe and Asia could not, by force, take a drink from the Ohio River or set a track on the Blue Ridge in the trial of a thousand years. If destruction be our lot, we ourselves must be its author and finisher. As a nation of free men, we will live forever, or die by suicide." - Abraham Lincoln

Part I. Roadrunner Revisited
There'll be no more counting the cars on the Garden State parkway, nor waiting for the Fung Wah bus to carry me to who-knows-where. And when I stand tonight 'neath the lights of the Fenway, will I not yell like hell for the glory of the Newark Bears? Because where I'm going to now, no one can ever hurt me, where the well of human hatred is shallow and dry. No, I never wanted to change the world, but I'm looking for a new New Jersey, because tramps like us -- baby, we were born to die. I'm doing 70 on 17, 80 over 84, and I never let the Merritt Parkway magnetize me no more. Give me a brutal Somerville summer. Give me a cruel New England winter. Give me the great Pine Barrens, so I can see them turned into splinters. And if I come in on a donkey, let me go out on a gurney. I want to realize too late I never should have left New Jersey.

Part II. Fear and Loathing in Somerville, MA
I sense the enemy; they're rustling around in the trees. I thought I had gotten away, but they followed me to 02143. Woe, oh, woe is me. No one knows the trouble I see. When they hang Jeff Davis from a sour apple tree, I'll sit beneath the leaves and weep. None of us shall be saved; every man will be a slave, for John Brown's body lies a'mouldring in the grave and there's rumbling down in the caves. So if it's time for choosing sides, and to show this dirty city how we do the Jersey Slide, and if it deserves a better class of criminal, then I'm-a give it to them tonight. So we'll rally around the flag, rally around the flag. Rally around the flag, boys, rally once again, shouting the Battle Cry of Freedom. Rally around the flag, rally around the flag. Glory, glory, Hallelujah; His truth is marching on...

"I will be as harsh as truth and as uncompromising as justice. On this subject, I do not wish to speak, or think, or write with moderation. I am in earnest. I will not equivocate, I will not excuse, I will not retreat a single inch, and I will be heard." - William Lloyd Garrison

Notes

• "Roadrunner Revisited" is a reference to "Roadrunner", Jonathan Richman's ode to Massachusetts, which is the destination of the narrator in this song. Titus released their own rendition of "Roadrunner" on their limited-edition 12", The Innocents Abroad: Live in London, 23/02/09.
• "Fear and Loathing in..." refers to the title of the first song on The Airing of Grievances, which refers to the writings of Hunter S. Thompson, most famously his novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
• Begins with a variation on a quote by Abraham Lincoln from his address to the Young Men's Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois on January 27, 1838, as read by the late Okey Chenoweth, who was the band's drama teacher at Glen Rock High School. He also contributed his voice to The Airing of Grievances.
• "A More Perfect Union" is a phrase from the Preamble to the United States Constitution, and is also the title of a 2008 speech by Barack Obama, which the song seems to allude to. Check it out here.
• "Counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike" is a line from Simon & Garfunkel's "America". Patrick noted in an interview that he used the Garden State Parkway instead of the New Jersey Turnpike because he felt it was the more important freeway to actual New Jerseyans.
• The Garden State Parkway is the busiest toll highway in America. It stretches through the entire length of New Jersey from Montvale to Cape May.
• Fung Wah Bus Transportation Inc. is a rather infamous Chinatown bus company that operates between Boston and New York City. Its low fares have made it popular with budget-minded travelers, like students or struggling musicians such as Titus Andronicus.
• Boston's Fenway Park is probably one of the most well-known sports venues in the world.
• The Newark Bears are a Can-Am League baseball team based in Newark, New Jersey.
• "I don't want to change the world; I'm not looking for a new England" is a line from Billy Bragg's "A New England".
• "Because tramps like us, baby, we were born to run" is a line from Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run".
• '17' is Route 17 in New Jersey, which connects Mahwah to New York City.
• '84' is Interstate 84, a large part of the route from New Jersey to Boston to New York City.
• The Merritt Parkway is a historic parkway in Connecticut. Part of the route from New Jersey to Boston.
• Somerville, MA is part of the Boston metro area, where Patrick Stickles lived briefly after graduating from college in Mahwah.
• Massachusetts and Connecticut are part of New England.
• The Pine Barrens is a fairly self-explanatory, heavily forested area of coastal plain stretching across southern New Jersey. The Garden State Parkway runs through it.
• "If I come on a donkey" refers to Jesus's triumphal entry into Jerusalem on a donkey on Palm Sunday.
• 02143 is Somerville's zip code.
• The "Jersey Slide" is a driving trick often pulled on the Garden State Parkway in which the driver merges all the way from the far left lane to the exit ramp in one fell swoop with no signal being given.
• "This town deserves a better class of criminal, and I'm gonna give it to 'em" is a line from the 2008 film The Dark Knight.
• The second part of the song references a few Civil War songs:
  • "John Brown's Body" was a marching song about the abolitionist John Brown, and references hanging Jeff Davis, the president of the Confederacy, from a sour apple tree. The unpopular lyrics to the song led to the creation of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic", essentially the same song with different lyrics.
  • The "rally around the flag" chorus is from "The Battle Cry of Freedom".
  • The last line is from "The Battle Hymn of the Republic".
• The song ends with a William Lloyd Garrison quote from "To The Public" in the inaugural issue of The Liberator in January 1831, as read by artist and singer Nolen Strals.

Titus Andronicus Forever

(or Theme from “The Monitor”)

The enemy is everywhere, but nobody seems to be worried or care that the enemy is everywhere.

"I am now the most miserable man living. If what I feel were equally distributed to the whole human family, there would not be one smiling face on Earth." - Abraham Lincoln

Notes

• This song ends with a quote by Abraham Lincoln from a January 1841 letter to John T. Stuart, as read by the late Okey Chenoweth, who was the band's drama teacher at Glen Rock High School.

No Future, Pt. 3: Escape from No Future

Everything makes me nervous and nothing feels good for no reason. Waking up, it’s rarely worth it –- the same dark dread every morning. Senior year here in Mahwah; a new world just around the corner. Leave me behind, let me stagnate, in a fortress of solitude. Smoking’s been okay so far, but I need something that works faster, so all I want for Christmas is no feelings, no feelings now and ever again. There is a faceplate all brown and red that stretches across my mouth. It’s worn for protection; nobody gets in and nobody gets out. I used to look myself in the mirror at the end of every day, but I took the one thing that made me beautiful and threw it away. I was a river. I was a tall tree. I was a volcano. But now I’m asleep on top of a mountain; I’ve been covered in snow. Yes, I have surrendered what made me human and all that I thought was true, so now there’s a robot that lives in my brain and he tells me what to do. And I can do nothing without his permission or wasn’t part of the plan, so now in Rock Ridge Pharmacy, I will be waiting for my man. But there is another down in a dungeon who never gave up the fight, and he’ll be forever screaming. Sometimes I hear him say, on a quiet night, he says, “You will always be a loser, man. You’ll always be a loser now, and that’s okay.”

Notes

• According to some dude on SongMeanings: "Patrick recently told a crowd at their show in San Francisco that he takes Lexapro. I'm pretty sure this song is about taking antidepressants or some other mood stablizer, and how he gave up what he thought was true (or being his true self) and now he's like a... well, a robot, but he still hears that voice that pills just can't silence."
• This song is part of the No Future trilogy which began on The Airing of Grievances. When played live, this song is usually played first, followed by Part One and Part Two, for whatever reason.
• Patrick Stickles attended Ramapo College in Mahwah, New Jersey.
• Rock Ridge Pharmacy is in Glen Rock, the hometown of the band.
• "I'm Waiting for the Man" is a song by the Velvet Underground about a guy waiting in Harlem for his drug dealer so he can buy some heroin.

Richard II

(or Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds (Responsible Hate Anthem))
Soon you’ll be burning orphanages down, watching ashes scattering all over town, and when the smoke gets too close to the ground, you’ll see blue trampling over grey and green over brown. And you’ll be cutting ears off of dead men, pumping shells into the carcass for hours on end, then you’ll swear that we’ve always been friends, and be unable to conceive it could ever happen again. Of course, you have never been to blame for the various horrible things that you did. You may have gotten away with them, too, if not for those meddling kids. The lump in your throat, the ache in your bones -- they are nobody’s fault but your own. And whatever amount you paid, for your many distractions -- well, it was too much -- and at the end of the day, to whatever extent that you hate yourself, it isn’t enough. And we can no longer afford waiting for someone to lift this terrible swift sword. In our basements, we all look so bored; we’ve never seen the glory of the coming of the Lord. There will be parties, there will be fun, there’ll be tall gallows for everyone, and we will all be sleeping easy upon the sinking of the sun. But there’s only one dream that I keep close, and it’s the one of my hand at your throat. I will not deny my humanity. I’ll be rolling in it like a pig in feces, because there’s no other integrity in awaiting the demise of our species. May you endure every indignity knowing all the while that life will go on, and when it ends, may you have nothing to say, except that it took too long, and may I be there somehow, asking, "Where are all of your friends now?"

Notes

• This song references the Billy Bragg song "Richard", which includes the lines, "There will be parties, there will be fun; there will be prizes for everyone." Richard II is also of course a Shakespeare play.
• "...and I would have gotten away with it, too, if it hadn't been for you meddling kids!" - Scooby-Doo, Where are You!
• The lines about the 'terrible swift sword' and 'the glory of the coming of the Lord' are from "The Battle Hymn of the Republic".

A Pot in Which to Piss

"The audience was large and brilliant. Upon my weary heart was showered smiles, plaudits, and flowers, but beyond them, I saw thorns and troubles innumerable." - Jefferson Davis

Part I. Theme from the Drunk and Alone on Valentine’s Day EP
It was a pretty good GPA -- we got a couple of good grades, and it sounded like a pretty good 7". And winter didn’t seem so cold, and I had a smile for everyone I know. I was starting to get comfortable in the place that I’m in, and it used to not mean anything. It used to not mean anything. It used to not mean anything, but it really, really means nothing now. Nothing means anything anymore. Everything is less than zero. And I know it won’t do much good, getting drunk and sad and singing, but I’m at the end of my rope, and I feel like swinging. It was an unflattering photograph, and people saw it all over town, hanging up in the wall above the urinal. Hear the man with the notepad say, "Oh, they’re funny, but they drink too much. Don’t be surprised if they don’t amount to nothing at all." We were talking about giving up. We were talking about lying down. We were talking about tying off. Wasn’t it supposed to mean something now?

Part II. From a Brooklyn Vegan Comment Thread
Let them see you struggle and they’re going to tear you apart. You ain’t never been no virgin, kid; you were fucked from the start. They’re all going to be laughing at you. You can’t make it on merit, not on merit and merit alone. Dan McGee tried to tell me, “There ain’t no more Rolling Stones.” They’re all going to be laughing at you. I’ve been called out, cuckolded, castrated -- but I survived. I am covered in urine and excrement, but I’m alive. And there’s a white flag in my pocket never to be unfurled, though with their hands ’round my ankles, they bring me down for another swirl, and they tell me, "Take it easy, buddy –- it’s not the end of the world."

"And there and then and bathed by the rising sun, my son in his grave, in his rude-dug grave I deposited, ending my vigil strange with that, vigil of night and battlefield dim, vigil for boy of responding kisses (never again on earth responding), vigil for comrade swiftly slain, vigil I never forget, how as day brighten’d, I rose from the chill ground and folded my soldier well in his blanket, and buried him where he fell." - Walt Whitman

Notes

• The song begins with a Jefferson Davis quote from his 1881 book The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, as read by Cassie Ramone of the Vivian Girls.
• Titus Andronicus does not actually have a Drunk and Alone on Valentine's Day EP.
• The Brooklyn Vegan is a revered indie music blog run by a mysterious Brooklyn vegan. They ran a story on Titus Andronicus around the time of the release of The Airing of Grievances, which prompted this response on their MySpace blog.
• Dan McGee is the frontman for New Jersey band Spider Bags. Patrick has called him "the best songwriter working in America today." He provides guest vocals on "Theme from Cheers".
• The song ends with a stanza from Walt Whitman's poem "Vigil Strange I Kept on the Field One Night", as read by Craig Finn of the Hold Steady.

Four Score and Seven

Part I. Four Score...
This is a war we can’t win. After ten thousand years, it’s still us against them, and my heroes have always died at the end. So who’s going to account for these sins? And I don’t know who here is my friend. Well, I’m certain that I’ve seen uglier men, but Christ, fuck me if I can remember when. Will I never be lonely again? Olden times are returning once more, as six dark-winged devils line up at my door. Each one is more evil than that which came before. Seven angels find me spread across the floor. You’d like everyone to believe you’re a star, and I’ll admit that it’s worked out pretty well so far. But when they see the kind of person that you really are, then you won’t be laughing so hard.

Part II. ...And Seven
I’m depraved and disgusting. I spew like a fountain. I’ve been debased, defaced, disgraced and destroyed. "Most of all, disappointed," I say atop this mountain, as I urinate into the void. Fuck, I’m frustrated, freaking out something fierce. Would you help me? I’m hungry, I suffer and I starve, and I struggle and stammer ’til I’m up to my ears in miserable quote-unquote 'art' about how ever since our forefather came on this land, we’ve been coddling those we should be running through. Please don’t wait around for them to come and shake hands. They’re not gonna be waiting for you. Because these humans treat humans like humans treat hogs. They get used up, carved up, and fried in a pan. But I wasn’t born to die like a dog, I was born to die just like a man. I was born to die just like a man! It’s still us against them, and they’re winning.

Notes

Theme from Cheers

Part I. The Hangover Mass
I’m sorry, Mama, but I’ve been drinking again. Me and the old man got us a head start on the weekend, and rest assured, tonight I’m going to be in Kevin’s basement with all my friends, provided we can get our lazy asses down to Bottle King by ten. And the walk home is going to be a real shit show -- I’ll be picking up half-smoked cigarette butts all up and down Rock Road, and then to throw up in the warm glow of the traffic light, but I’m gonna put the devil inside me to sleep if it takes all night. So let’s get fucked up, and let’s pretend we’re all okay. And if you’ve got something that you can’t live with, save it for another day, all right? Save it for another day. I’m sorry, Mama, but expect a call from the neighbors tonight. All of my asshole buddies are coming over and they’re feeling a little too all right. I’m sick and tired of everyone in this town being so goddamn uptight. But don’t you worry, I’ll do all the talking when they turn on the flashing lights. When I’m an old man, I can be the quiet type, and I can go without a moment of fun for the rest of my life. I can read a good book, and I can be in bed by ten, and I can get up early, go to work and come home, and start it all over again. But while we’re young, boys, everybody raise your glasses high, Singing, “Here’s to the good times, here’s to the home team. Kiss the good times goodbye, oh yeah, kiss the good times goodbye.”

Part II. Grandpa’s Old Cough Medicine
I need a timeout. I need an escape from reality, or else I need eternal darkness and death; I need an exit strategy. Down in North Carolina, I could have been a productive member of society, but these New Jersey cigarettes and all they require have made a fucking junkie out of me. So give me a Guinness, give me a Keystone Light; give me a kegger on a Friday night. Give me anything but another year in exile. I need a whiskey. I need a whiskey right now. God knows how many times I’ve said this before, but I really don’t feel like doing this anymore.

Part III. Song for Tretiak’s Movie
So hey, Andy, let’s turn into dirty old men, close down the bar every night at the Glen Rock Inn, talk about our grandkids as we stroke our grey beards -- funny we’re still doing carbombs after all of these years. And I know there are bicycles waiting to ride, but I could swear I heard voices from the other side, saying, “Wait until you see the whites of their eyes.” And now that I’m older, I look back and say, “What the fuck was it for anyway?” for those dreams are lying in the still of the grave -- what the fuck were they for anyway? So let it be on a stretcher if I get carried away -- what the fuck was it for anyway?

Notes

• This song is not the theme from Cheers.
• Guest lead vocals by the aforementioned Dan McGee of Spider Bags.
• Tretiak is the band's friend Alex Tretiak, who is also directly referenced in this song.
• The parts about Patrick drinking with his dad and coming home to a disappointed mom is based on real events, according to an interview with Rolling Stone.
• Presumably, Kevin is the band's friend Kevin Kearns, and Andy is former guitarist Andrew Cedermark.
• Bottle King is a liquor store in Glen Rock.
• Rock Road is a long street running through Glen Rock.
• Glen Rock Inn is a restaurant in Glen Rock.
• An Irish Car Bomb is, according to UrbanDictionary, "a potent mixed drink, usually part of a late night drinking session at dive bars or pubs between a young man and his friends, often consumed as a statement of solidarity."
• The instrumental outro is from the song "Latin for All Occasions" by Seizing Elian, Patrick and Andrew's high school band, from their 2004 self-titled album.

To Old Friends and Now

You have got a lot of nerve to behave the way that you do, making me listen to all of your carrying on. You are not the only one who thinks that life is so cruel. Me, I have got problems of my own. But if you talk and no one’s listening, it’s almost like being alone. So it’s alright, the way you piss and moan. It’s alright, the way you piss and moan. Like the time traveler who killed his grandfather, these cycles are bringing me down. We could build a nice life together if we don’t kill each other first. Are you just too fucked up to understand me or is it the other way around? Maybe it’s both, and I just don’t know which is worse. So you better thank your lucky stars; you don’t know half of what I know is true. And it’s alright if you think that you do. It’s alright if you think that you do. Was it the devil or was it the Lord who gave you those words, the ones I never heard? That it’s alright to kill and it’s alright to steal if you’re willing to hold up your part of the deal. There are plenty of things that are worth dying for, but you’ll never know until you open that door. And reasons for living are seldom and few; when you see one, you better stick to it like glue. Yes, it’s true. It is true. If I were there to keep satisfied all of your carnal desires, then it might be my place to say what is or isn’t forbid. So how can I hold it against you if you answer the call of the wild? No matter how brilliant a woman, you’re only a kid. But if you know that nobody is ever going to suffer for you like I did, then it’s alright the way that you live. It’s alright the way that you live. It’s alright now.

Notes

• Guest lead vocals by Jenn Wasner of Wye Oak.

...And Ever

(or Theme from The Monitor (Reprise))

The enemy is everywhere. I’m worthless and weak, I’m sick and I’m scared, and the enemy is everywhere.

"I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battle-field and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature." - Abraham Lincoln

Notes

• Ends with a quote by Abraham Lincoln from his first inaugural address on March 4, 1861, as read by the late Okey Chenoweth, who was the band's drama teacher at Glen Rock High School.

The Battle of Hampton Roads

Tonight, two great ships will pull back to their ports, depleted of everything that shoots flames and reports, and in the morning, the shells will wash upon the shore, and the mighty of Earth will have no other recourse but to shiver and shake and make shit in their shorts, because we have been told that if you’ve been assured there’s a way to live the values your forefathers gave you, prepare to be told, "That shit’s gay, dude." I guess that what they say is true. There is no race more human; no one throws it away like they do. The things I used to love, I have come to reject. The things I used to hate, I have learned to accept. And the worst of the three, you now have to expect, Satan ain’t hard to see without craning your neck. He’ll be seventy-some inches tall, he’ll be chugging a beer, he’ll be grabbing his balls. He’s a remote explosive waiting for someone to call. He’s just eighteen for now, but he’s going to murder us all. Solidarity is going to give a lot less than it’ll take. Is there a girl at this college who hasn’t been raped? Is there a boy in this town that’s not exploding with hate? Is there a human alive that can look themselves in the face without winking, or say what they mean without drinking, or believe in something without thinking, “What if somebody doesn’t approve?” Is there a soul on this Earth that isn’t too frightened to move? I think the wrong people got a hold of your brain when it was nothing but a piece of putty. So now try as you may, but you will always be a tourist, little buddy. And half the time I open my mouth to speak, it’s to repeat something that I’ve heard on TV. I’ve destroyed everything that wouldn’t make me more like Bruce Springsteen, so I’m going back to New Jersey; I do believe they’ve had enough of me. So when I leave Boston, my tail is between my legs, after deep cups of patience have been drunk to the dregs, and now I’m heading west on 84 again, and I’m as much of an asshole as I’ve ever been. And there is still nothing about myself I respect; still haven’t done anything I did not later regret. I’ve a hand and a napkin when looking for sex, and that’s no one to talk to when feeling depressed. And so now when I drink, I’m going to drink to excess. And when I smoke, I will smoke gaping holes in my chest. And when I scream, I will scream until I’m gasping for breath. And when I get sick, I will stay sick for the rest of my days, peddling hate out the back of a Chevy Express, each one a fart in the face of your idea of success. And if this be thy will, then fucking pass me the cup, And I’m sorry, Dad; no, I’m not making this up. But my enemy, it’s your name on my lips as I go to sleep, and I know what little I’ve known of peace. Yes, I’ve done to you what you’ve done to me, and I’d be nothing without you, my darling; please don’t ever leave. Please don’t ever leave.

Notes

• The Battle of Hampton Roads was an important naval battle of the Civil War. It became the first clash between two ironclad warships, the Union's USS Monitor (hence the album title) and the Confederacy's CSS Virginia.
• "I'm going back to New York City; I do think I've had enough" is a line from the Bob Dylan song "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues".
• The band tours in a Chevy Express.
• Guitar solo by Dustin Wong of Ponytail.