I’m sure this has happened to you –
I was in my HEB (HEB is a grocery store chain in Texas) and, over the store speakers I hear Whip It. Yes, that Whip It, the one by Devo.
And something, something deep inside me, died. So I wrote a song about it.
Looking at it now, I’m not sure I stuck the landing, lyrically. Maybe other songwriters feel this way sometimes. I was trying to capture that sense of moral outrage that a song I love is now relegated to, well, background music (or Muzak, as we called it back in the day), but not sure I did. At any rate, the lyrics are below, you tell me.
Lyrics:
A party song!
Heard “Whip It” in the grocery store today
Won’t you please find something else to play?
I don’t begrudge them royalties
But can you pick something else please
That one’s from my youth and there it should stay.
That is a party song
It deserves a better venue
I might want to sing along
A party song
That is a party song
It deserves a better venue
I might want to dance along
A party song!
A party song!
Heard “Rock Lobster” while in Target today
Don’t you got something else you can play?
I don’t begrudge them royalties
But can you pick something else please
That one’s too good for this place wouldn’t you say?
That is a party song
It deserves a better venue
I might want to sing along
A party song
That is a party song
It deserves a better venue
I might want to dance along
A party song!
I heard Psycho Killer in Goodyear today
Surely you got something more apropos to play?
I don’t begrudge them royalties
But can you pick something else please
That one don’t hit the same in the garage bay
A party song!
It deserves a better venue
A party song!
That is a party song
It deserves a better venue
I might want to sing along
A party song
That is a party song
It deserves a better venue
I might want to dance along
A party song!
That is a party song
It deserves a better venue
We might want to sing along
A party song
That is a party song
It deserves a better venue
We might want to dance along
A party song!
A party song
It deserves a better venue
We might want to sing along
A party song
It deserves a better venue
We might want to dance along