Carjack Fever [original version]
Recorded
Release history
- Fuel: A Compilation
- Unreleased Stuff [CD-R]
- KJV Bonus Material
Also known as
Carjack Fever (Theme From)
Alternate version of
Credits
- Recorded, mixed by David Dubh Black at Private Radio (Seattle, WA)
- Aaron: bass
- Jeff: guitars
- Sean: lead vocal, harmonies
- Evan: drums
Lyrics
There’s a bright white light
To shine on all the dim bulbs in the crowd tonight
And there’s a thin yellow line to separate the fast laneAnd there’s a man I know
He’ll take apart your engine if you ask him right
Let’s fire all the publicists and leave L.A. in flamesHey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey oh
Hey hey hey hey hey hey oh
Hey hey hey hey
You don’t need a passport
To know what state you’re inShe wore barrettes of many colors in her many-colored hair
It doesn’t matter, they don’t notice what you wearIt’s getting old now, there’s dissension in the ranks
The fish are growing legs and walking out of their tanksHey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey oh
Hey hey hey hey hey hey oh
Hey hey hey hey
You don’t need a passport
To know what state you’re inYou are an ill wind and you blow no good
Santa Ana Winds, a hundred-acre wood
Earthquake survivors, swearing youngsters smoking tea
Spit in your hands and you can splinter every treeHey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey oh
Hey hey hey hey hey hey oh
Hey hey hey hey
You don’t need a passport
To know what state you’re in, you’re in
Quotes
JJL: This is the original version of Carjack Version [sic] which was recorded in either ’94 or ’95. It’s the only publicly-available recording that wasn’t done with John Goodmanson.CDR
ECS: The first “Carjack Fever” made me dance in the rain outside our house. It started life as a slow and stately thing whose chorus was,
Hey hey hey hey hey hey heyayayy…and it made me glad to be alive, and I jumped up and down on the sidewalk and sang my joy to all Ravenna.10A
SCN: This was one of three songs we brought to the first weekend session we did with John Goodmanson. The others were Private Helicopter and Terminal Annex. Why did this one not make the record while the others did? It just didn’t feel finished. I was (and remain) unconvinced by those hey hey hey heys, especially since I was also on the fence about
you don’t need a passport,etc. Still, there was something powerful about the song, right from the first time we played it. Probably it was because we all wanted to be able to get our hands around the challenge of playing slow and stately songs. This was the first time we came close, but not quite. (And technically it did appear on Merrymakers, but only backwards, in the long “hidden” section at the very end of Radio Silence.)25B
Notes
- Originally released on the Arena Rock compilation Fuel to accompany a cross-country touring exhibition of independent films.AR
- At least sometimes referred to as “Carjack Fever (Theme From)”HDW, though the 1996 demo tape and both versions of the Fuel CD list it only as “Carjack Fever”.
- The Unreleased Stuff liner notes date this recording to
either ’94 or ’95
,CDR while archived versions of the band’s website statesometime in 1995.
HDW - Incorrectly labelled as “from 1996 demo tape” in the KJV Bonus Material—that version has never been released anywhere else.