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This is a U.K.-exclusive bonus track on the album Fight With Tools. Its title betrays the theme that will play out, which is the war in Iraq.

The style of this song is very different from the rest of the album. It begins and ends with clips from an interview about why the war was probably not as morally necessary as it was made to sound. The stanzas are erratic in length and rhythm, and the overall effect is a sense of chaos.

Though if the flows are a little fucked up, it’s made up for by some mad violin skills by Mackenzie Gault, who is on most every track rocking the strings and gets far less credit than she deserves.

Whats lyrically amazing about this track is that if you look at the first letter of each word in a verse it spells out IRAQ
as well as in the hook (Its Really A Quagmire ),(except in the last line of the first verse where “Cue” makes the “Q” sound it still makes lyrical sense.)

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Grand Master Flash is the emcee who first spit the famous lyrics “Don’t push me ‘cause I’m close to the edge” in his song, The Message.

In saying this, Brer says that he was close to his breaking point, and it was friends like Jonny that kept him on his feet and moving forward.

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This song’s narrative is looking back at the formation of Flobots as a group. More specifically, it’s about the circumstances that led to their meeting each other, and how if things were only slightly different, how it may have never happened. What a sad world we’d live in without Flobotics.

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This song deals with the phenomenon of infatuation, which is a baseless projection of positive attributes onto a person or thing because you don’t know enough about it to see its or their bad side.

Jonny 5’s verse deals with infatuations he had with women, mostly ones he lusted over for one-night stands and hookups, which caused him to miss a chance at a meaningful relationship at least once.

Brer Rabbit’s verse is more abstract, dealing with the infatuation young people have with gang culture, which is elevated to mythical grandeur in popular culture, when in reality it’s not a happy lifestyle.

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This song serves as an interlude in the middle of Fight With Tools, featuring only 2 short stanzas of actual rap, and sung vocals throughout.

The theme of this track is that apprehension one often feels when faced with the possibility of positive change. In many cases it’s more attractive to deal with the status quo, even if it’s bad, because then it’s an evil that you know.

The challenge the track makes is to go out and try to improve your situation even if it’s terrifying or if you’re unsure of success.

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One of the hardest parts of finding romance is the anxiety of not knowing if your feelings are requited.

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Jonny has been given signs and clues to follow, but didn’t realize that they were leading him to this lady until now.

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The hook’s sample is chosen to give the listener a sense of nostalgia with regards to love. When the Turtles were dropping songs, love was “easier,” and the rest of the song is about how complicated romance is in the modern era.

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“Degrees” refers to degrees of separation, where the number of degrees is the number of people you know somebody through. Jonny and his soulmate weren’t very far apart socially, but somehow kept missing each other.

Compare to “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon

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References Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

If you don’t know the lyrics by heart, find your parents and demand a childhood.

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