In the early 90s, my brother Andrew was in a band called Go Figure.
Unless you hung out in the seediest bars of Rogers Park during that
time, you probably haven’t heard of them, which is unfortunate,
because they had lots of cool tunes. This one was always a favorite.
Fellow Go Figurer
William Is
is now a Chicago-based recording artist of note. He wrote the music.
Andrew wrote the lyrics. I personally think of the song as an
argument, which is why I wanted to do it as a duet. If that cheesy
rhythm sounds familiar, it’s because it comes from the same toy
keyboard used in Trio’s “Da Da Da.”
-Tom
Listen
Guest Performances
| Andrew Weiss |
drums & percussion |
| Beth Bagg |
vocals |
| Geoff Kovarik |
bass guitar |
| Mike Parker |
trumpet |
Lyrics
Hold on to what you’ve got.
Hold on tight and don’t let go.
That’s two cents worth of sage advice.
...a two cent pill for the pain of change
...a solid foothold on a slip slide slope,
...a foothold named “consistency.”
Don’t hold on to that constant thing!
Don’t cling to your security!
Listen to me ’cause I have learned
that change is the one consistency.
What can be done with the time?
What is left that we can trust?
Life is a war of a special kind;
it’s a war that can... can be won.
We are the army and change is the enemy
or so that’s what we want to think.
Don’t get down! Don’t crawl around!
Don’t founder under the deep black sea!
Listen to me ’cause I have learned:
Life is Pyrrhic victory.
