AROUND THE SUN: THE WORST JOKE EVER

   While answering messages for a blog post, Michael counts this song as some of his favorite lyrics. He also goes on to say it's about someone who can't let go of the past and is fixated on archetypes from the 50's like the cat burglar and the beatnik, sort of a pulp view of the world. While revisiting the song I was surprised how short it is and perhaps this is why it never had an effect on me one way or another--I say that, but the first time I heard it I thought the first section was a little lame. The song has grown on me and maybe its brevity coupled with the resurrection of the track during the Dublin sessions make me think of it in a different way. By this point in the album though, there is a malaise--could this song have picked up the pace and plugged in a little it might've started sounding like ACCELERATE. Maybe. I just listened to the latest episode of RU Talkin' R.E.M. Re: Me which happens to be the ATS episode. It didn't go too deep, but their call of this sounding A LOT like 'High Speed Train' is spot on, could this song have been moved or excised? I suppose the thing I like most about the song is the 'Auctioneer' quality it has and honestly, this album feels more like a companion to FOTR the more I listen to it. Stray observation: I'm not sure where I read it, but someone compared 'Leaving New York' to Aerosmith's 'Dream On',  I also nominate this song for its use of dissonance.



THE WORST JOKE EVER

You see there's this cat burglar who can't see in the dark
He lays his bets on 8 more lives, walks into a bar
Slips on the 8 ball, falls on his knife says:
‘I don't know what I've done, but it doesn't feel right’

Some things don't hold up over the course of a lifetime, oh
When's the first time you heard that one, 1954
Get to the punch line

Fall to the floor

Give me a minute and I’ll tell you the setup for the worst joke ever

I never
I’ll tell you my version of the greatest life story

Don’t bore me

Now I am floating, I feel released
The moorings have been dropped
The weights unleashed
Everything is crystalline, simple and free, oh

The crime of good men who can't wrestle with change
Are too afraid to face this life's misjudged unknowns
You're not hurting anybody else's chances
But you're disfiguring your own

Give me a minute and I’ll tell you the setup for the worst joke ever

I never
I’ll tell you my version of the greatest life story

Don’t bore me

I never

Give me a minute and I’ll tell you the setup

Oh

You see there’s this feeling that I’ve heard this one before

   There's not a lot to this song, inventive chord: check, cool progression: double check. Because of its brevity it's a fun song to play. For the second verse, it sounds good to just pick the G and D strings to mimic the keys. The intro chord is basically a C chord played up a fret with the F note on the high e string, for Dublin it looks like Peter just plays the C# hybrid without the F note and it sounds as good.

THE WORST JOKE EVER

Intro

e|-1--|

B|-2--|

G|-0--|

D|-3--|

A|-4--|

E|-0--|

Verse

e|-0---0--------1---0-|

B|-1---0--------1---0-|

G|-2---0--------2---0-|

D|-2---2--------3---2-|

A|-0---2--------3---2-|

E|-0---0---x3---1---0-|

Chorus

e|-3---1---3---1-1--|

B|-3---3---4---3-1--|

G|-0---2---5---3-2--|

D|-0---0---5---3-3--|

A|-2-------3---1-3--|

E|-3-------3---1-1--|

End

e|-3---0---0---0-REPEAT--|

B|-3---0----0-0----------|

G|-0---0--0--0-----------|

D|-0---2-2---------------|

A|-2---2-----------------|

E|-3---0-----------------|