Quoth Mark Beissel <mbeissel@worldnet.att.net>:

It's like this these guys have killed someone and want to get to Brooklyn, because it's far from were they live and they'll be safe there or they are homeless and just lost there token back to Brooklyn, were maybe there family is and they can ask for the money they need and they cant call be cause they don't have a phone or money to do it, and they don't know the address and bill collector is going to tell they're parents what a mess they made of they're lives and the lighter fluid thing is maybe something about drugs. Well, that's what I think.

Quoth Lex Friedman <lexf@epix.net>:

Factory Showroom's bonus track has, amazingly enough, become my favorite track of the album. The seemingly meaningless song is surprisingly rife with allegory. Even its location on the album is of importance; more on that later.

In one sense, the lyrics must be taken literally; in another, some need to be examined a bit. Basically, this 1:03 ditty is about laziness and failure to take action. Line by line:

"The token back to Brooklyn fell between the grating,
And we're just watching it sinking."

The token has fallen - which causes an obvious problem - now they can't get the token back to get home. Instead of taking action, they're "just watching" the token fall. They don't reach for it, grab it, or anything else: they watch it fall.

"The fare went up to one hundred dollars,
"And we can never go home again."

Ticket price jumping to $100 can indeed be a problem, and a tough one at that. The singer(s), though, just give up. The price is very high for a ticket, and, that's it - BOOM! - there's no going home. They seem to be giving up quite easily.

"The bill collector's drinking lighter fluid,
And says he'll tell our parents."

The Johns are too lazy - or perhaps to intimidated by this not-so-serious problem of theirs - to call their parents. The bill collector, who has no obligation to them, says he'll take care of it. Why can't they do it themselves? They're not taking action!

"Our feet start running at a furious pace,
But we can't get away."

"The bill collector's drinking lighter fluid," and Mom and Dad aren't around to bail you out this time. Nor will the collector himself offer to get the singer(s) out of this bind. Finally, responsibility hits: they have to get away from this insanse lighter-fluid drinking man independently. They start running, as fast as they can, to get out of there - "but we can't get away."

They've avoided responsibility and have failed to take action their whole lives - and now they're unable to be anything but lazy.

You'll note the track is found by going backwards - "behind" track one. You can't go to the last track and just let it play silence for 15 minutes the way many bonus tracks work... you have to "dig" for it. And, if you're too lazy to do so, you don't get to hear the song. Only the lazy folks miss the warning about being "lazy." Ask Alanis how ironic THAT is.

Interesting tidbit: Each line in the song is a compound sentence in form of comma-conjunction.

Quoth Joe Kanowitz <rcougar@i84.net>:

Think about it. Two guys go somewhere. The just-murdered-someone interpretation is good, but they're using a cliched concept here; 'kids' go somewhere and get stuck...

Then it becomes a sort of dark, noir kind of thing, where they're trapped where they are; sorta like those kids in sweatshops that can buy their way out of it if they had the cash, but they end up deeper and deeper in debt because of the way the situation is set up? Then the bill collector says he will tell their parents. Tell them what? This can go both ways; one could see the bill collector as first trying to help, or as reporting to the parents that the kids are trapped wherever they are now, like notifying the next of kin, or a call a parent gets when they find out their kid has been arrested or whatever... Then he's drinking lighter fluid, which is a great image... first, it's a sort of caustic, hillbilly thing to do (remember the old guy who sucked Sterno in The Andromeda Strain?) and makes him look like this doddering abusive drunk, and it's LIGHTER FLUID, so it goes along with demons, breathing fire, that sort of thing....

Interesting song. I can't wait to hear how the music to it goes :) Also, the token falling down the grate seems like it has been pulled there, you know? Like an evil force draws it down into the depths of hell, and the kids can't get it back... and then they're trapped.. I've seen this sort of cliche before (it's a cool cliche if you pull it off, like they do here).. sort of Faustian, but there's an exact example I just can't remember... pooh. Oh well, if anyone thinks of it, post it.. where an evil guy tricks someone into a situation and then they're stuck.. Maybe like Deliverance? :)

I think the laziness doesn't come into play. It's not about being lazy, it's about hopelessness; the kids are like, "What can we do now?" I think the strange location was probably chosen because it -doesn't interfere with the 'total' time of the CD AFAIK, and -is just a cooler, weirder place to find a secret track.. Otherwise, true, in the first week the CD was out, everyone would know about it. But its location is probably more symbolic in the sense that here these kids are, hidden away before track 1... but I still think the location argument is probably seperate from the main symbolism...

Quoth Erik J. Chuss <echuss@notes.cc.bellcore.com>:

After listening to the song several times I came to the conclusion it is about a dream (whether it is an actual dream of J or J is not known, of course). Here's the interp:

The token back to Brooklyn fell between the grating
And we're just watching it sinking

They are going home but they lost their token for the subway. And now they are in a dilemma.

Side Note: This reminds me of a favorite movie of mine titled "After Hours". It is about a guy in NYC who goes through this surrealistic series of events trying to get home after losing his cab money on the way over to this woman's Soho apartment. Definitely worth checking out.

The fare went up to one hundred dollars
And we can never go home again

After trying to buy another token they find the fare has been increased by an incredible amount of money they will not be able to come up with. They are starting to get panicky and delusional.

The bill collector's drinking lighter fluid
And says he'll tell our parents

It is now getting surreal. A strange person drinking lighter fluid and is threatening them.

Our feet start running at a furious pace
But we can't get away

I'm no expert on dreams but I thought we had gone over this type of dream in a psychology class a long time ago. The dream involves running really fast but you don't go anywhere. It is kinda like running into a really strong wind.

Quoth chris nemec <quamp38@hotmail.com>:

The Token represents a way back to the past - and since they lost it, they can't go back to the past. It may be a commentary about how many stations were raving about them in the time of Apollo 18 but now won't touch them with a ten foot pole. The tour that supported Flood was called the "Brooklyn's Ambassadors of Love" tour. "The fare went to 100 dollars" is indicative that since they don't have the token, the fare might as well be 100 dollars. Also it could mean that every time they return back to Brooklyn the place has changed up - like Thomas Wolfe said, you can't go back home again.