Contributors:

bgreenst@miracosta.cc.ca.us

Jonathan Chaffer

Will Hines

Ellen Kao

Raw Bee the Special Yeast

Nathan Teske

Jay Tiedemann

Q

Xyclam

This song is pretty obtuse, and it is debatable whether it has any intended meaning at all. However, some pretty complicated interps have been offered. Before we get to them, it is worth mentioning that the first verse alludes to the song "MacArthur Park." This song has some pretty bizarre lyrics itself, but the ones worthy of mention are right at the end: "Someone left the cake out in the rain/ and I don't think that I can take it/ 'Cause it took so long to bake it/ And I'll never find that recipe again/ Oh no." You can find the specific references They make in INMB yourself. The other wordplay is in the line "I'm not the only dust my mother raised," which puns on the cliché "You're the only hell your mother raised."

The first interp to consider claims that the singer of the song is (a glass of) water. Thus the "drink tank" is a water cooler, and the keyhole is the spigot. Perhaps someone is blaming this water in the water cooler for the rain outside, and he is protesting, saying he did not fall with the rain today (it's not his birthday).

An alternate view is that a depressed man sings the song. He claims that he cannot do anything to change his luck (the rain falls, and he can't prevent it). The hope that he'll "never see that recipe again" might mean that he doesn't want to go through this again. The train reference could allude to the singer's train of thought. The chorus may simply mean that it can't be a special day for him, since nothing good is happening. Now we come to the bridge. In this interp, it is fairly easy to take this part as a drinking reference. The drink tank, rather than a water cooler, could be a rehabilitation facility of some kind. This works especially because of the "proof" joke (proof is a measure of the percentage of alcohol in liquor).

A variation on this idea is that the man is waiting for the Apocalypse. The world crumbling like a cake and the word coming down could be images of this cataclysm. He wishes "we were there" because he has had enough of his life, and wants it to be over.

One interesting thought is that the "lunge out at me" bit may refer to the actions of guests at a surprise birthday party (Tom Servo voice: "Surprise! Happy birthday to you...").

Another idea is that the reference in this song is similar to the one in "Lucky Ball and Chain" which says ". . . sure as you can't steer a train, you can't change your fate." In other words, the same way as a train has a set path which cannot be altered, so does one's life. INMB gives the opposite impression of this, as ". . . and this train keeps rolling off the tracks" suggests that this person's life is not following its predetermined path, and though he tries, he cannot seem to fulfill his destiny.