Lump Kills Grunge
July 10th 2008 06:11
This song came on the radio this morning as i was driving and damn if I didn't feel like the last thirteen years never happened...
Lump sat alone in a boggy marsh
Totally motionless except for her heart
Mud flowed up into Lump's pajamas
She totally confused all the passing piranhas
She's Lump, she's Lump
She's in my head
She's Lump, she's Lump, she's Lump
She might be dead
Lump lingered last in line for brains,
And the ones she got were sort of rotten and insane
Small thing's so sad that birds could land
Is Lump fast asleep or rockin' out with the band?
She's Lump, she's Lump
She's in my head
She's Lump, she's Lump, she's Lump
She might be dead
Lump was limp and lonely and needed a shove
Lump slipped on a kiss and tumbled into love
She spent her twenties between the sheets
Life limped along at subsonic speeds
She's Lump, she's Lump
She's in my head
She's Lump, she's Lump, she's Lump
She might be dead
Is this Lump out of my head, I think so
Is this Lump out of my head, I think so, yeah
Is this Lump out of my head, I think so
Is this Lump out of my head...
1995 saw a world still reeling from the suicide of Kurt Cobain. Whilst fellow grunge rockers such as Pearl Jam and Soundgarden were still going strong, there was no doubt that the so-called Seattle Sound had reached its peak and there was a giant Nirvana-shaped hole in the music industry.
And then came the Presidents Of The United States Of America (PUSA). Literally bursting onto the scene with Lump, their unbelievably fast-paced and nonsensical debut single, they were one of the bands that signalled the end of the reign of grunge.
In contrast to the alternately melancholy/apathetic and angst-filled lyrics which were a hallmark of grunge, PUSA also hailing from Seattle, chose instead to explore their art by way of catchy, tongue-in-cheek and self-depracating lyrics. The video clip for Lump features the band members dressed in suits and ties and engaging in over the top antics as they perform the song. This was a conscious attempt to distance themselves from their fellow Seattle contemporaries who were, of course, famous for their unkempt appearances, love of flannel and their tendency to eschew any sort of theatrics in their performances.
The theories as to the meaning of the lyrics are as varied as they are many. Some of my favourites include:
*Lump" being a reference to the singer Chris Ballew's penis; "lump was limp and lonely and needed a shove".
*An ode to necrophilia. I'm not quite sure which lyrics point to this however. Maybe the soggy marsh? Is Lump fast asleep or rocking out with the band? She might be dead?
* An obituary to a transvestite whose sex change operation goes horribly wrong as she ends up with a very small penis, gets raped and dumped hidden in a marsh. The "passing piranhas", of course were confused as to her sexual identity. Hmmmm.
Whilst the above interpretations are indeed creative, I always thought it was about a non-too-brilliant groupie who slept around and got into too much trouble for her own good with lines such as, "Lump slipped on a kiss and tumbled into love", perhaps indicating her unfortunate habit of mistaking sex for love. How unusual. I've never done that myself.
For his part, Ballew has said that the lyrics were based on vivid dreams he had whilst on antibiotics for pneumonia and the band did later confirm that the song was indeed about a former party girl who grew up and got lazy.
Whatever you want to make of the lyrics, it's a kicker of a song and as much fun now as it was during the crazy, heady, drug-infused days of my youth.
It also spawned the following parody by Weird Al Yankovic:
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and their songs Peaches and many others
takes me back to practically every high school party i was never invited to!