This is the song that started the band really and that got me in front of the microphone – I would have felt very self-conscious asking someone else to sing something this mad.
The song was inspired by watching a documentary series ‘Tribe’ and watching episode after episode of ancient first peoples being appropriated, subjugated or wiped off by ‘progress’ and ‘civilisation’. It was a shocking dose of reality. The episode in Malaysia, where Indigenous people watched their rainforest home being cut down for palm plantations and saying to the camera ‘we’re dying’ haunts me forever. This is what the song is about but on reflection, I feel that the meaning is a little too lost in the metaphor and wilful obscurity.
Nevertheless, the nucleus of the new sound was all here. Eschewing verse, chorus and common sense for fractured, discombobulated mood swings and sudden scene changes. The song is largely a whirlwind inspired by Tom Waits’ ‘Bone Machine Music,’ Throwing Muses’ ‘In A Doghouse’ and, once again, early Hole.
I still remember walking along the river in Pinjarra when the song came together in my head. I still remember practising it over and over again until my hands could actually play the time signature in what would eventually pass as the ‘chorus’. I still remember feeling very sorry for Scott, our new drummer. For all effects and purposes this song should never have worked and yet somehow, this struck a nerve in our live shows and quickly become a signature song and a band favourite.
- Michael Bayliss
Shock Octopus
lyrics
Beyond the sprawl
Beyond the blight the neon lights
Beyond the sea
Under the trees
Our secret garden
We have to go a little further
That they’ll never find us here
Can you hear the chainsaws near
You and me
We need the dirt beneath our feet
Need the green within our reach
To think we’re another race
Darwin drawls
Your darling days are drawing near
Pull the hearse beyond the green
Disillusionment falls here
And when it’s gone
We’ll float up high
And when it’s gone
I hear your cry
And when you’re gone
A kiss goodbye divine
There is nowhere to run
Like a deer…caught…in the headlights a
Deer…caught…in the headlights a
DEER! CAUGHT! IN THE HEADLIGHTS A
DEER! CAUGHT! IN THE HEADLIGHTS!!
Boom time make me wanna holler
Boom time drawn me down to pallor
Boring new holes through my wood
Boom time make we wanna holler
Boom time drawn me down to pallor
Boring new hole through my wood
They’ve found all the holes to your womb
Losing, I’m losing it
Losing, I’m losing you
Losing, I’m losing it
Losing, I’m losing you
(Burn black for him baby
Big black, she burns for him
Burn black for him baby
Big black she burns for him)
Termite people make me holler
Termite people drawn me down to pallor
They ate all the holes in my wood
Termite people make me holler
Termite people drawn me down to pallor
They ate all the holes in my wood
Ate through my holes to your womb
Losing, I’m losing it…
(Burn black for him baby..)
My dear, she's caught in the headlights my
Dear, caught, in the headlights she
Plays, dead, in the floodlights we
Play dead in the floodlights
credits
from A Deer! Caught! In The Headlights!,
released May 28, 2021
Music and Lyrics: Michael Bayliss
Drums: Scott Andrews
Keyboards and Vocals: Michael Bayliss
Bass and Backing Vox: David Blair
Guitar: David Sayers
A sprawling, 25-song set from Pete Yorn complete with covers of Springsteen and The Smiths capture him at his unguarded best. Bandcamp New & Notable May 16, 2020