I’ve been listening a lot to Double Nickels On The Dime, one of my favorite records and in my opinion perhaps the best American punk album ever produced. D. Boon & Mike Watt were known for writing whimsical and esoteric lyrics, but this particular song has stuck in my mind lately. It’s so short that this is one of the few times where I can actually take a look at every single line of a song without writing a dissertation.
Musically, the song is mostly upbeat and funky, which makes the lyrical passages more arresting, beginning with this opener.
As I look over this beautiful land I can’t help but realize, that I am alone.
It would make sense to me that this was written on the road, given how much touring the Minutemen did. What’s interesting about the line is that with such a close relationship with his bandmates, particularly Mike Watt, that Boon still felt lonely, I’m guessing in his romantic life. It’s a definite truism that when you see a beautiful thing but can share it with someone you love, it only intensifies the loneliest that many times throughout your day you never really feel. It’s often in the best moments that actually miss someone.
Why am I able to waste my energy,
and all this life being so beautiful,
Maybe partying will help.
After the opening, there are a couple ways of looking at this. Perhaps the “waste” of energy is related to feelings of depression, or the reprecussions of those feelings. Perhaps the “waste” is related to the drudgery of everyday life, or an everyday life that feels like it doesn’t have much meaning. In either case, it’s clear from Boon’s tone that partying isn’t really going to help.
What of the people who don’t have what I ain’t got?
Are they victims of my leisure?
This has always struck me as one of the most perplexing lines I’ve ever heard. For years I thought it must have been a strange misread on Boon’s part. It would seem like the line should be “What about the people who don’t have what I got?”, that makes all the logical sense in the world, but I think it was intentionally sung this way. Boon and his bandmates were never well off, never saw themselves as achieving major rock’n’roll stardom and thus lived the “econo” life, happily. But living in the US, even if you’re not privy to a privileged life, you are still aware of it. So perhaps the line is in reference to that, with Boon thinking about people who are significantly more unfortunate than him. Perhaps also he’s wondering, as most earnest leftists musicians likely would, if he’s doing the right thing. Maybe singing songs about rebellion and liberation are just “leisure” compared to the hard work of directly organizing for social change.
To fail is to be a victim,
To be a victim by choice,
Maybe partying will help.
These lines also are interesting to me on a personal level. Here Boon seems to ascribing to a kind of existentialist perspective, where life is what you make it. I’ve always thought that failure isn’t about a momentary success or setback, it’s about what you do next. When you fall on your face, do you stay down or do you get up and get back on the path. I’ve always felt that the only time you truly fail something is when you give up. Giving up on something is a choice that has to made, just the same way you hav eto make a choice to continue fighting for whatever it is that you love. It’s only when you make that choice to not fight on, to try one more time that you truly fail.
That line of “maybe partying will help,” once again offers no real comfort. It’s almost like, “well…these issues are too heavy to deal with, I don’t want to tackle them now…maybe partying will help me forget or at least allow me to escape.”
But then we have the music to contend with as well, which as soon as the lyrics are done, gets right back to the funky, along with a trademark blistering solo from D. Boon. Hard to tell what to ultimately take away from this one…what do you think?
The Minutemen – “Maybe Partying Will Help” – from Double Nickels On The Dime (1984)
As I look over this beautiful land I can’t help but realize, that I am alone.
Why am I able to waste my energy,
and all this life being so beautiful,
Maybe partying will help.
What of the people who don’t have what I ain’t got?
Are they victims of my leisure?
To fail is to be a victim,
To be a victim by choice,
Maybe partying will help.