(The) Harvey Danger Database

I had visions
I was in them
I was looking into the mirror
to see a little bit clearer the rottenness and evil in me
Fingertips have memories
mine can’t forget the curves of your body
and when I feel a bit naughty I run it up the flagpole and see who salutes
(but no one ever does)

I’m not sick, but I’m not well
and I’m so hot ’cause I’m in hell

Been around the world and found that only stupid people are breeding
the cretins cloning and feeding
and I don’t even own a TV
Put me in the hospital for nerves
and then they had to commit me
you told them all I was crazy
they cut off my legs
now I’m an amputee, goddamn you

I’m not sick, but I’m not well
and I’m so hot ’cause I’m in hell
I’m not sick but I’m not well
and it’s a sin to live so well

I want to publish zines and rage against machines
I want to pierce my tongue
(it doesn’t hurt, it feels fine)
the trivial sublime
I like to turn off time and kill my mind
You kill my mind

Paranoia, paranoia
everybody’s coming to get me
Just say you never met me
I’m running underground with the moles
digging holes
Hear the voices in my head
I swear to god it sounds like they’re snoring
but if you’re bored then you’re boring
the agony and the irony, they’re killing me

I’m not sick, but I’m not well
and I’m so hot ’cause I’m in hell
I’m not sick but I’m not well
and it’s a sin to live so well

Sean: The title of "Flagpole Sitta" was a malformed attempt at referencing Pavement and NWA in one fell swoop—if we'd only called it "I'm Not Sick (But I'm Not Well)" we'd all be billionaires!; line one references "Scotty's Lament" by my high school heroes The Connells (we opened for them in 1996 at the Backstage, they were unmoved by this tribute); "fingertips" line is about someone specific; chorus lyric (made up in studio) unconsciously references "Amplitude" by college heroes Guv'ner, cf. "I'm not healthy, I'm not ill" (singer, an acquaintance, shamed me for it in front of Brownie's in NYC, later phoned to apologize at behest of his wife/bandmate, who said "it's not that original, anyway"); there are seven unpublished verses to this song, most in the spirit (if not the league) of Cole Porter's "dirty" verses to "You're the Top."^10A

Aaron: I think it took us nine nerve-wracking takes, punctuated by smoke breaks and walks around the block, to get this one right. In retrospect, I guess it was worth it.^10A

Jeff: I have to admit I never "got" this song. I just wanted to write a song with a bouncy rhythm like "Viewmaster" by the band Erie's Trip. The signature drum roll at the start was a last-minute idea we came up with right before we were to record it. We only ever meant that recording to be a demo, but fate had different plans...^10A

Evan: I know, it's so uncool for me as co-writer to say, but screw it: I think "Flagpole Sitta" is an absolutely pitch-perfect artifact of the time and place in which it was written. Contradictory, guarded, intimate, sneering, cheering, feeding back, bouncing forward: I think people heard it and understood its realness instantly and intuitively. The fact that it was never meant to be an anthem for anyone only makes it better.^10A

Sean: Chorus ("I'm not sick, but I'm not well," etc.) was more or less written at the microphone during recording. Prior to that it was all "bop bop ba"s. I didn't realize I was unconsciously referencing "Amplitude" by the great NYC band Guv'ner (though they later told me so). Nor did I realize I was rhyming "well" with "well" later on. No harm, no foul. Author cited: Aldous Huxley ("To make this trivial world sublime, take half a gram of phanerothyme / to suffer hell or soar angelic just take a pinch of psychedelic.")^P&F