Zeroes And Nones.

Hey.

Thanks for tuning in again.

Below you should find the lyrics to the 13th track on our cd. As usual, words come first, blether a close second.

Zeroes And Nones

If you add my parts together

I won't make an even number

I'm an equation with one side

A fraction that won't divide

Please God, let me see

There's a plan in store for me

Algebra, arithmetic or geometry

Please God, help me see

I'm an actor corpsing my lines

Playing a cat fast running out of lives

I'm a card shark playing blind

Hustling kingpins out of my mind

Please God, help me see

There's a road leading home and free

Out of all this loss and melancholy

Please God, help me see

I can't decipher all these green

Zeroes and ones raining down the screen

I'm a number past my prime

I'm a number past my prime

Please God, help me see

There's a plan in store for me

Algebra, arithmetic or geometry

Please God, help me see

I can't make this choice that I'm offered

Between drowning and treading water

This is another song that I wrote in a burst of uncharacterstic creativity at the end of 2003. And yes, it is yet another about feeling disillusioned and devoid of direction. On this occasion, however, there is the added spin of my total lack of mathematical skills. One of the many things that I disliked about school was being forced to study maths when I had neither the talent nor the inclination to do so.

The lyrics pretty much spiralled out of that way of thinking: it is a rare occasion when the world makes sense, for most times life is as baffling to me as quadratic equations, long division and probability. One of the things with which I really struggle is trying to figure out where exactly each one of us (translated: me) is meant to fit. George Harrison once said (and while he was not being particularly original in this, it does hit home) that everybody asks the same 3 questions: 'who am I?', 'why am I here?' and 'where am I going?'.

Essentially, that is what 'Zeroes And Nones' is about.

I think...

Some useless trivia:

'Zeroes and ones' is the common name for the binary system, in which information is expressed by combinations of the digits 0 and 1.

'Corpsing' is a theatrial term for when actors cannot stop laughing during a take.

'Playing blind' is a technique favoured by either ver clever or very brave poker sharks whereby they guess what cards their opponents are holding. 'Kingpin' is the title for the head of a mob, gang or some other mafia style organisation. I had just watched John Dahl's fantastic poker movie Rounders when I wrote this song, so this whole verse is a reference to that.

‘I can’t make head or tail of all these green zeroes and ones’ is, of course, a reference to The Matrix. The first one, that is. The sequels are rubbish with a capital rub.

And that's about it for now.

See you later.