(The) Harvey Danger Database

Diminishing Returns [demo]

Recorded

Release history

Also known as

Diminishing Returns (Origin Story)

Alternate version of

Credits

Lyrics

The king of the swinging moods is back in town
And everybody’s tiptoeing around him, surround him
as he pounds a silver hammer
drops revolutionary grammar
concerning the burning of city hall
and urban sprawl and decay

(bidding so long)
Farewell to the days of having it both ways
Hell is other people, some people never learn
When optimism fails and my cooler head prevails
I will meet you at the point of diminishing returns

Down in the abstract, looking for a concrete artifact
something to hold on to, not one more thing to believe in
Stuck in a fallback, and fighting off a heart attack
and you’re so tangible, like a nitroglycerine tablet under my tongue

(bidding so long)
Farewell to the days of having it both ways
The boom’s a bust-out, but thanks for your concern
When pessimism fails and my cooler head prevails
I will meet you at the point of diminishing returns

Progress shall be defined by your position on the bridge as it burns

When populism, activism, urbanism fail
my cooler head—my cooler head will prevail
When there are no more gods left to anoint
no more noses to bend out of joint
I will meet you at the point of diminishing returns

Quotes

SCN: The very last recording session we did before we broke up (and I mean right before) was a disaster that left us all reeling; the last song we had written before going in was a huge clusterfuck of unfocused, unfinished Weezerism beset by every member of the band—including Mike Squires and John Roderick, good friends who had been hired to play rhythm guitar and keyboards on tour and who, in the absence of a tour (or any solid leadership) joined in our collective dysfunction with a vengeance—playing overelaborate, undercooked parts that didn’t fit together all at the same time, and no one would stand down for the sake of the song, because everyone needed to feel equally important; a perfect illustration of the lack of focus that had overtaken the four of us, none of whom had any desire to chop through the thicket of non-communication, regret, resentment, and torpor that had set in when our label had abandoned King James Version.10A

SCN: Too alt rock? Too bad.DSS

Notes

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