Story Behind The Song

This song was inspired by a near-death experience involving one of our band memebers, and we used the idea of snakeing out of a hospital in the middle of the night as a metaphor for trying to get on with your the business of living after a life-changing m

Song Description

The full title of this song is actually "Positive Pop (or) The World's A Mess, We're Sneakin' Out The Hospital". Despite being titularly inspired by the Adam Horivitz-John Doe teaming in "Roadside Prophets", this is mainly about Swan?s near-fatal asthma a

Lyrics

What I?m gonna tell you now is not public knowledge,
What I?m gonna tell you is not public knowledge.

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.)

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.?

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.?

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 Xanex, 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.)

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.?