Many moons ago, when you were still at your mother’s teat, we played an outdoor show somewhere in Iowa. It was at a college and like all outdoor shows at colleges in Iowa this outdoor show also featured a pig roast. Normally, this would slide under the radar as an inconsequential detail, but at this time in 3 Minute Hero history, we had a member of a non-Christian monotheistic religion in our retinue. He was (and probably still is) of the Jewish persuasion. This was fascinating to us, for some reason. We would lurk about wagering whether or not he would take part in the ursine feast before him. This particular instance came after a handful of other pig roasts. Had he not taken part, he would have been reduced to the non-existent 3 Minute Hero per diem or, even worse, an emergency sandwich from my cooler consisting of a bread-like substance and off-brand apple butter. He ate the pig. One of our number yelled out, “Release the bats!” and it was hilarious, because, as everybody knows, the releasing of the bats is one of the best parts of the whole entire Pentateuch.
An interesting part of this story that has no relation to what I’m trying to get at is that earlier in the day, Eric Johnson made a heroic frisbee catch, but when he landed, he crushed a baby bunny. Explain THAT to God, Eric.
So, bats. That’s where I was. “Release the bats,” became, over time, a battle cry in the face of the absurd. That’s what this song is to me. We head out on these fool’s errands, we get side-tracked, the side-tracks become the main spurs, we go to Iowa, we eat pigs, we defy our Maker, we crush bunnies.
lyrics
With his cape made of wind
And a crown fashioned from junk
He joins the cattle,
Their romance for battle
He is an antique marching band steam punk.
He’s drowning in sweat
From a nightmare more crushing than debt:
He wants a future
All stitched and sutured,
The past on his feet
And the future on his
Head, shoulders, knees, and toes,
Shoulders, knees, and toes,
You know how it goes
So we say it again.
I can.
Amen.
Release the bats! Flip the switch!
Release the bats! Ring the bell!
Release the bats! Upon my signal…
Unleash hell!
Release the bats, the kind that live beneath our hats,
Won’t somebody please think of the children?
And when he comes home
He is broke, but not broken or alone:
He has stories,
A chest pinned with glories,
And a shell shock fear of the telephone
Ring Ring Ring Ring
Don’t touch that thing!
It’s a relay station
For echolocation
Evasive maneuvers: one and a two and a
Sing. Sing a song. Make it last. Your whole life long.
Sing. Sing a song.
credits
from Jumbo-Jet Whispers & Thunder-Lizard Serenades,
released April 13, 2018
jonny - drums/perc/vox
dave - bass
jay - gtrs/vox
jeff - bone/ld vox
salty - bone
paul - sax/clarinet
bryce - trumpet
al - piano/accordian/synth/farfisa
crista - violin
zak - cello
annika - vox
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