"Even Rats" by The Slip, Monday, November 29, 2021

"Even Rats" comes from Boston's rock band The Slip and was a featured playable track on Playstation's Guitar Hero. Formed in 1989 and releasing their first album in 1997, the band was known for an "avant-rock" sound, often creating a jazz fusion sound. The band's 2006 album, Eisenhower, produced by Matthew Ellard, shifted the band's direction to indie rock. The band never got very popular. They performed on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and opened for indie rock band My Morning Jacket. Just as their indie rock career was taking off, the band went on hiatus until 2015. They released a new record earlier this year.

I HEAR SPRING'S NICE IN CANADA. "Even Rats" is a fun grungy, guitar jamming song. After being mesmerized by the ending guitar solo when I first heard the song in college when my roommate put it on his driving mix and we listened to it every time our friends would go downtown, I started to pay attention to the lyrics. It seemed like a weird song, and it sounded political. It seems to be talking about being dissatisfied with the outcome of an election. The language of the song seems like the band has a more liberal bent in their lyrics, so perhaps the election lost was when John Kerry lost to George W. Bush in 2004, which Jimmy Eat World also wrote about in their song "Futures." Ironically, the two close friends that I had in college were Republicans. Jim often complained about the liberal biased of celebrities. Listeners on the songs page for SongMeanings.com suggest that the song hints at gay marriage, the out of touch politicians who would improve if they "have my stereo," legalization of marijuana, and the Iraq war. One commenter states, "Bush is sinking our battleship. The rats are always the first to know when the ship's going down." The album title, Eisenhower, is a throw-back to the general-turned-elected president, Dwight D. Eisenhower. According to an interview with history and grand-daughter of the president, Susan Eisenhower, the former president was raised by a mother who was a pacifist, and though he became a war hero, he always looked for the best solution that would cause the least harm. He was often criticized for getting little accomplished, but he wielded most of his influence behind the scenes. According to his granddaughter, "In [Dwight D. Eisenhower's] mind, the middle way was the middle ground where people could come together from both sides and compose their differences and find compromises that would lead to progress."

A LITTLE LESS JACK AND A LITTLE MORE JILL. I remember having a conversation with a former coworker when things were really bad at a school where I was teaching. She had gotten out the year before when the situation looked dire, only to find that the school where she was teaching at the time was in a similar or worse situation. Meanwhile, things were starting to work out for the school I was at the time. I said, "It's like you jumped from one sinking ship to another." She chortled and said, "It's okay as long as you keep jumping." I really don't like that. I don't want to think that everything seems doomed, and that I'll be jumping ship to a better situation, but it seems that usually it's about staying above water. The moment when I think the glory days are here, something comes to mess it up. In college, my senior year, so many of my favorite literature professors left, leaving me taking so many courses with the department chair--the intimidating Dr. Esso. When I went to work for the private institute, the glory days were long past. So often there were talks about that institute in that city shutting down, so I worked my tail off to make sure my students were happy and signing up again. There was never a moment of rest. It seems that working short staffed in Korea is the norm, and the higher-ups always want to see just how short-staffed they can run things. I say this because I wonder if I'm going to be too desensitized to see the rats running through the streets. I wonder what the final straw will be? 

https://genius.com/The-slip-even-rats-lyrics