Wait, he said what?

One of the best things about rock lyrics is that half the time nobody understands them. Sometimes, no one even listens to them.

Since I have no indie-rock credibility anyway (I like Def Leopard and I bought the second Creed album, something about clay and getting high on the lord or something), I'l just admit I got into The Wrens when I picked up The Meadowlands in 2003. Of course now I own Secaucus, their great 1996 second album, which has one of my favorite Wrens' tunes: Surprise, Honeycomb.

This song rocks. I knew from the first opening twenty or so seconds I would love this song. It slowly builds up, then at about twenty seconds in goes into a kick-ass groove. Those fuckers can play. And the vocals perfectly match the music.

Until the third or fourth time I listened to the song, though, I never actually paid attention to the lyrics. The song just rocked so much, who cared what he was saying?

I should have payed attention, because the lyrics grab you. They are a little disturbing and very catchy.

"cut a killing path / through the true west dozens laid rest / settled down then at last"

Well surprise, the song is about killing people. Lots. Then settling down, because well, that's what you do if you get away with killing a bunch of people.

"thought i might be done / but being good made me burst the killing got worse / it almost got fun / so i got a new gun"

Now if you are the kind of person who kills a bunch of people and gets away with it, you know at some point you will feel the itch again. And if you start killing again, hey, splurge on something new to do it with. You can't do the same old thing every time.

From there our hero picks up a female companion:

"looks like you need a man time, honey comb hid away for wine years how you’ve grown we can call your folks / from a highway side rotary"

Women do love dangerous men, especially women named HoneyComb. Wait, what?

"i drive up to your door / and wracked by disease i do what i please / drop you to the floor on top of magazines / and calendar art held up with darts / shows american scenes / of cowboys in jeans"

Your guess is as good as mine. Our hero drops HoneyComb on top of magazines and calendar art, that is somehow also held up by darts. Cowboys do love them some jeans, though. Incidentally, this sounds fantastic coming out of Charles Bissell(I could be mistaken, since all of The Wrens take part in vocals, in very delicious harmonies...didn't think anyone did that anymore).

"pop the door i think this wander lust ain’t the only thing between both of us i’ll make you famous / and we’ll double the states you’ve seen the cop who brought me in / an uncle of mine on first mommy’s side / i’m even named after him"

Hey baby, come on a killing spree with me. You'll see some good country, get famous, oh and by the way, I have some fucked up family dynamics.

I could be way, way off with my interpretation here. I often am. Either way, I love these lyrics, and I love how they flow through the song. Reading them doesn't do them one bit of justice, you have to hear them.

Well, I'm done getting my music nerd on. It's Friday, and even though it was a short week I still feel exhausted. Work isn't any harder, I think finally having a place of my own just makes me want to leave work that much more.

I'm really looking forward to the first football-filled Sunday of the season, and of course, the Redskins monday night opener.

Skins by 14.