Freak Show Lyrics

What if I
I can't move around?
(Around)
What if I
I can't move around?
(Around, around)

If people can share a collective illusion, then why not a collective mondegreen? The 'waterfall' section of No Association certainly qualifies. The lyrics are missing from the cd foldout and the chairpage; they're reprinted above per Gracenote. Were they a late addition or omitted on purpose? They seem to be driven by feelings of claustrophobia, no doubt generated by overzealous fans and media.

The song is the best testament, IMO, to Daniel's confusion and anger during the early years. It never quite takes aim, but spatters the music industry, media, fans and maybe even classmates.

No one seems to like you

Abuse Me churns the same theme, but with a bit more finesse. Daniel stated that the song was about learning to discard criticism, which would point to the media - certainly, they weren't his favourite people. Brave words, but I don't think Daniel followed his own advice.

Lost my soul, lost my confidence in me
Can't be something but I'll try

The third in this subset of 'angry young man' songs is Slave. Like 'No Association', it suffers from drama overload in parts, but rescues itself with difficult, fragmentary passages like the one above. Musically, the song speeds to an ending that is pure grunge, perhaps a joke on us - he's giving his audience exactly what it wants.

Here's your warning
I'll give you click, click, boom

With Cemetery, he finally gives us the complete story. To become something of his own, and more importantly, discover who and what that is, is the yearning behind the song. This was his warning, as the lyrics state, of the unravelling that took place over the next few years. Like 'Ana's Song' on the NB tour, 'Cemetery' seemed to be intensely emotional and difficult in performance for him.

I'm alone while you're having fun
You have faith while I feel none
Sleep till late to waste half the day
But I'm happy to live this way

----------

Now I gotta dump you
Continue my life too
I tried to help you
Don't care what you do

Along with 'Petrol & Chlorine', The Closing was one of the last songs written for the album, apparently following a period of depression that was, according to Ben, at least partly caused by Ben's new girlfriend. You, then, is almost certainly Ben (which must have made it as much fun to perform as No Doubt's 'Don't Speak', if you know the history of that song).

In that light, Pop Song for Us Rejects becomes rather ironic; much of the co-dependency described could easily apply to the people around Daniel (and perhaps he realised it; silverchair hasn't done this song in concert since March 1999). Some of Ben's comments during the NB tour ("All you could say was, well, I hope he works it out") indicate a load of frustration and anger with his friend, and that's exactly what Daniel describes in 'Pop Song'. As a side reference, the song became associated with a friend who died in 1997, evidently due to drugs or possibly suicide (I've read fan chatter about the latter, but I don't know if it's true or simply a misunderstanding).

Finally, a bit of trivia: the original title of 'Pop Song', as it was setlisted for the show at the Paradiso in Amsterdam in March 1996, was 'Out of Tune'.

Next stop: Neon Ballroom