Far from Modest

Saturday, July 3, 2004

Has anyone else really listened to the lyrics on the new Modest Mouse album? For lack of better words, they’re amazing.

The moths beat themselves to death against the lights. Adding their breeze to the summer nights. Outside water like air was great. I didn’t know what I had that day. Walk a little farther to another plan. You said that you did, but you didn’t understand. — The World At Large

Many of them take on religious themes and provoke thought regarding life and death.

If God controls the land and disease, keeps a watchful eye on me, If he’s really so damn mighty, my problem is I can’t see, well who would wanna be? Who would wanna be such a control freak? — Bukowski

Well that is that and this is this. Will you tell me what you saw and I’ll tell you what you missed, when the ocean met the sky. You missed when time on life shook hands and said goodbye. When the earth folded in on itself. And said “Good luck, for your sake I hope heaven and hell are really there, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.” You wasted life, why wouldn’t you waste death? — Ocean Breathes Salty

Some are just ironically uplifting.

Well, a fake Jamaican took every last dime with a scam It was worth it just to learn from sleight-of-hand Bad news comes don’t you worry even when it lands Good news will work its way to all them plans We both got fired on exactly the same day Well we’ll float on good news is on the way. — Float On

And some are just eerily true.

For every invention made how much time did we save? We’re not much farther that we were in the cave. — The View

It’s one thing to have an album with great beats and rhythms but it’s another to have rich, thought provoking lyrics. This is just the tip of the iceberg. [Modest Mouse]((http://www.modestmouse.com/) put something really powerful out there. Good News For People Who Love Bad News will instigate pondering and keep your foot tapping.