three inches above the floor / man in a box wants to burn my soul / and i'm tired / is that the truth, he says / the pain is easy / too many words, too many words // and i can hear 'em // if you're hearing screams / come back, child / come back, my hands are dry / but i know they're gonna make it just one more night / too many words, too many words // and i can hear 'em
Alan's Notes:
a rough sketch of a real experience. too embarrassing to go into, but it was scary and changed my life. richard from the band versus thought we were singing "interlocking hero" in the chorus.
Personal Thoughts:
I believe this was the first song I ever heard from the band, and it perfectly captures the minimal melancholic atmosphere they're known for carrying throughout their discogrpahy. Revisiting it as I've - funnily enough - moved up to Duluth myself, it really does fit the dreary loneliness that this city can evoke.
Live:
This was one of the first songs penned by the band, so it appeared regularly in live shows until it disappeared in the 2000s to make way for new material. One memorable performance of this song was on Halloween 1998, when the band performed the song (along with Turn and Over the Ocean) in the style and guise of the Misfits! Recordings of these performances appear on A Lifetime of Temporary Relief and they just have to be heard to be believed.
The song returned to regular setlists for the 2010s, but after that vanished once more.
Music Video:
The music video was directed by Phil Harder, who directed many music videos for the band in the years since. Opening and interspersed shots between the band performing the song show the band members dragging a rowboat across frozen-over Lake Superior. Full footage of this appears in Phil Harder's short film "Looking Out for Hope", a film for which the band contributed an early version of Tired.
