FAWM: "IDIOT STICK"

IDIOT STICK

2025 by @brisk

Liner Notes

This suggested itself yesterday, because I thought there should be a rock song called IDIOT STICK. Because I thought that sounded cool. [edit: and it was only after singing it that I realised the not very subtle homophone.. which because I have a mental age of nine, I deemed a promising lyrical jumping-off point.] This was the result. Attacks on easy targets make me wince, and self-righteousness is the emotion I most fear in myself and despise in others, and this song seems to lean pretty heavily in to both.

Ah well. It's a bit ragged in places. That said, I worked on the words more than I usually do. Oh, and @davidtaro, this is a perfect example of me doing that thing that that man talked about in that book [Jeff Tweedy's... How To Write One Song?], you know, singing nonsense, and then trying to work out what wonderful things were being said.

#90s #rocker #easy-targets #self-righteous-indignation

Lyrics

I saw a sour milk mask in the mirror Then lo! A Day-Glo Nebuchadnezzar A kinda cane toad-looking sun-downer (Without the deathbed Rosebud encounter)

I got an idiot stick cos I'm an idiot

Amidst this endless press of bed-wetters A child was born with two hands and one pecker

I got an idiot stick cos I'm an idiot I got an idiot stick and I'm not afraid to use it

No fault, no foul Now I'm breaking new ground No you never ask how You're never choosy I use my brain I'm ahead of the game Cherry-picking new rules so I don't lose it

And though my pale white hands start to tetter [and in my pale white hand stands a sceptre?] You must admit, there's no classier leper

I got an idiot stick cos I'm an idiot I got an idiot stick and I'm starting to abuse it

No fault, no foul Now I'm breaking new ground No you never ask how You're never choosy I use my brain It's the art of the game Cherry-picking new rules so I don't lose it

eeeeyy

Nor fish, nor fowl Now I'm tanking the Dow Still you never ask how You're never choosy First lie, then steal Just the art of the deal Cherry-picking whole worlds so you don't lose it

Comments

@namjunerobot 2025

Wicked! Really caught me off guard! Great energy and arrangement..

@n24 2025

'A day-glo Nebuchadnezar' is an amazing line! I love the idiot stick chorus. I think there are some melody choices that clash a little with the chords in the 'no fault no foul' (I know you often ask for constructive feedback) but I love the big doom rock feel!

@theenglishassassin 2025

Dirty, but in a goooooood way. Right now, the orange-one worms his way into pretty much everything I write, so I've decided to stop fighting it. Keep on rockin'

@cts 2025

I ain't mad at this nonsense. In fact, I rather like this brand of nonsense that you've got baking here. Dang those riffs are making do the "ugly face". This is freakin' whooping up so much dopamine in my head. Wow. I'm sold. This almost made me cuss.

@thedutchwidows 2025

Big, big guitars. Kinda gnarly. Cool lyric - writing them that way round gives them a lively, natural flow, rather trying to bend pre-music words to fit. Thumbs up from me!

@coolparadisoMod 2025

I love nonesense, which it never is because we make up the story anyway and I like doing that. I love it when people tell me the depths of my nonesense songs when none of it was in my mind! The musical bed all grisly is excellent! Nice one

@davidtaro 2025

Ok now it makes sense @richaaaay... yes definitely Tweedy. I was saying @brisk is a master of the art of nonsense lyrics that actually sound far more meaningful than most people's proper ones. Tweedy does something similar, mumbling nonsense to get the song melody/structure in place.

Anyway. This is utterly brilliant, isn't it. Particularly the chorus, which is - yes - very route one. Those pounding waves of guitars/drums are awesome. Love how much distortion you're piling on across the mix, it sounds squashed and massive at the same time. Squashy massiveness. 'You must admit, there's no classier leper' is one of my new favourite lines ever.

@anthonykapfer 2025

god damn i love this so much! it’s so heavy. the lyrics are cool as hell and those melodies man! so good. this one is going to be in my head all day. i listened to this one twice in a row. really excellent work on this

@billwhite51 2025

i love everything about this. the music is wild, the lyrics fun and unexpected..and the chorus apt. and isnt writing a song in many cases the art of interpreting the inspiration that engendered them?