1/2/26 - Pick Up That Knife
The whole album this song is on is incredible but for some reason this song is just on another level for me.
First, addressing the songs leading up to it, tracks 1 through 3 come in heavy and hard, then Elderberry Wine takes it in a different, but also immaculate direction. Phish Pepsi is fun and kinda funky, then Candy Breath comes in, bringing a bit of a similar vibe before going back to hard and heavy territory. Then we get to Candy Breath which feels like the moment when you finally take a moment to breathe and think over everything and begin to overthink everything as well.
Then, we get to Pick Up That Knife. The opening instrumental is really something. It reminds me somehow both of a building tension, and the feeling of powering through mounting pressure. The instrumentals and lyrics complement each other incredibly well. The lyrics are incredible and to try to put words to them (other than the lyrics themselves) would be an injustice, so here are the lyrics:
Cracked my tooth on a cough drop.
Winter stuck around after it's gone.
Grocery store on Christmas.
Parked too close to someone to get out.
Foreign coins machine won't take.
Cash out what we could to pay the rent.
Drunken dark is broken.
Sometimes it feels like it will never end.
Did you think we'd make it?
Can't budge the water down the broken drain.
Firing the wedding band.
One day I'll kill the bitch inside my brain.
Threw up in the pit at a Death Grips show.
In a bottle spit dip and tell dirty jokes.
You keep on feeding that Afrin addiction.
Squeezing the bottle and burning from itching.
When you pick up that knife you're asking for a fight.
Mouthed off to those bikers at a vacant stop light.
They'll meet you outside.
They'll meet you outside.
They'll meet you outside.
They'll meet you outside.
Thought you'd get shipped home in a full body cast.
Never could get your head out of your ass.
Baptized to freedom and born in bondage.
Had to bury you deep to keep the dogs from digging.
They'll meet you outside.
They'll meet you outside.
They'll meet you outside.
They'll meet you outside.
They'll meet you outside.
They'll meet you outside.
They'll meet you outside.
They'll meet you outside.
They'll meet you outside!
They'll meet you outside!
They'll meet you outside!
They'll meet you outsiiide!