Kick The Can

Lyrics

(1)

Lies are all
You are flying
You are flying
You are flying
By sailing babe
Come outside
Come out to town

You gotta kick the can or abseil in some foreign land (2)

You are sailing
And finish up a bird I guess
You're in the heart of France

A place very accustomed to your visage
A place very accustomed to your visage

(3)

You are flying
You are flying
You are flying

Visage
Commence descent 
Over Madagascar
Over Madagascar

You gotta kick the can or descend in some foreign land
You gotta kick the can or descend in some foreign land
You gotta kick the can or descend in some foreign land

You gotta kick the can 
You gotta kick the can 
You gotta kick the can 
You gotta kick the can 

You gotta kick the can
You gotta kick the can

You gotta kick the can or descend in some foreign land

You are landing on a supporter of a swear word
Wholly entrenched
Entrenched

You gotta kick the can 
You gotta kick the can 
You gotta kick the can
You gotta kick the can 

You gotta kick the can or descend in some foreign land
You gotta kick the can or descend in some foreign land

You gotta kick the can 
You gotta kick the can 

You gotta kick the can or descend in some foreign land
You gotta kick the can
You gotta kick the can 
You gotta kick the can or descend in some foreign land

 

 

Notes

1. Kick the Can is an old children's game and, what is probably more relevant here, the title of a Twilight Zone episode from 1962. It is about a man at a rest home who thinks he will become youthful if he acts like a child; he begins playing Kick the Can and, sure enough, is tranformed into a young boy. If the lyrics are rendering a similar account, which is possible but doubtful, the "foreign land" may refer to Shakespeare's "Undiscovered country, from whose bourne no traveler returns" (Hamlet). I am unsure about a good many of these lyrics.

Ben Pritchard wrote the music. 

Ben Pritchard on Twitter, 1 May 2020 (from Dan):


I wrote Kick the can for that album, first song I ever wrote. I wasn’t too keen on it at first, we had to write the whole album in a rush and recorded it in an unfinished studio underneath a body builders gym with the sounds of dumbbells dropping every few minutes. Many takes!

^

2. "An abseil (/?æbse?l/ or /???pza?l/; from German abseilen, meaning "to rope down"), also called a rappel after its French name, is a controlled descent of a vertical drop, such as a rock face, using a rope. Climbers use this technique when a cliff or slope is too steep and/or dangerous to descend without protection," according to Wikipedia.

^

3. The music changes here, to the extent that it's almost like an entirely different song. Paul Saxton notices that the drum part here is quite similar to Can's "Oh Yeah," which could be one reason for the title "Kick the Can."

"I Am Damo Suzuki" also uses the drum part from "Oh Yeah." "Kick the Can" made its debut on the 8th of October, 2001, at the Cockpit in Leeds. "I Am Damo Suzuki," from This Nation's Saving Grace, was retired after 1987, but it reappears in April of 2001, after which it was played 66 times before being finally retired (so far) in May, 2004. So the writing of "Kick the Can" appears to be contemporaneous with the revival of "I Am Damo Suzuki."

^

Comments (21)

Paul Saxton
  • 1. Paul Saxton (link) | 17/07/2016
Would it also not be called Kick the Can because the second section is a bit of a homage to Can - specifically to the final section of Oh Yeah (a song to which, of course, they'd previously paid homage to with I Am Damo Suzuki)?
bzfgt
  • 2. bzfgt | 19/07/2016
Urgh, not sure of some of those "sailing"s. Anyone got an idea about "finish up a bird"? Eating turkey or something? Or that a technical "kick the can" term (not according to the internet, though)?

And thanks, Paul, the drum beat is reminiscent of "Oh Yeah," good call.
Andrew Sutherland
  • 3. Andrew Sutherland | 04/10/2016
Pretty sure the 8th line is; 'you gotta kick the can or abseil in some foreign land'
bzfgt
  • 4. bzfgt | 15/10/2016
I don't think I ever knew "abseil" is a word. It accords with my memory that he sounds like, he's saying that. But I'm listening to "Bug Day" right now and I'm not inclined to turn it off or to revisit this after it ends. So I'm going to take your word for it, don't let me down.

Annotating is like making sausages etc. etc....
Andrew Sutherland
  • 5. Andrew Sutherland | 18/10/2016
You're doing a great job!
bzfgt
  • 6. bzfgt | 21/10/2016
Thank you, Andrew! So are you, as long as "abseil" is correct...
Zack
  • 7. Zack | 21/02/2017
"[?]" - I hear "Business / Commence descent / Or Madagascar / Or Madagascar" in there.
bz
  • 8. bz | 25/02/2017
I have "visage" again rather than "business," but it could be "wizard" or God knows what. If you feel strongly about "business" I'll change it though.
dannyno
  • 9. dannyno | 29/04/2017
"abseil seems to be right":

From the October 2001 studybees.com interview by Penny Broadhurst:


What do you think of all the Nostradamus stuff that going round because of September 11th?]/b]

He actually did say bombers over Paris 2002. It's weird.

[b]Loads of people are buying books of his now out of paranoia. Does that amuse you?


Ha ha ha ha! On the new LP, yeah, it's quite frightening. 'Cause there's a track on it called Cropdust. Spencer the drummer wrote it. And what I'm saying on it...I can't, it's too weird...and there's another track as well where it says "You are flying, got to abseil into a foreign land". And you think about it and it's all a bit much. Because there's also one about twin towers...but it's too late now to change it because it's already pressed.

Does it scare you a bit?

It does scare me, very much. The band are like this (jaw drops).


https://web-beta.archive.org/web/20050205084123/http://pennybroadhurst.com:80/mesinterview.htm
https://web-beta.archive.org/web/20011214015820/http://www.studybees.co.uk/mes1.htm
dannyno
  • 10. dannyno | 29/04/2017
Don't suppose the bolding can be corrected, can it?
bzfgt
  • 11. bzfgt (link) | 13/05/2017
Nope.
PJ
  • 12. PJ | 25/03/2018
song always reminded me of dismissive refs to action sports on Code Selfish's 'so called dangerous':
"Think
Like mountain climbing
or skiing in the Alps
Think of it-
I don't."

.. just a thought - (and sense of it reminds me of Little Rebel, Sing Harpy / Hilary etc for some reason...?)
dannyno
  • 13. dannyno | 21/06/2020
Ben Pritchard on Twitter, 1 May 2020:

https://twitter.com/Benpritchard6/status/1256178976793546753


I wrote Kick the can for that album, first song I ever wrote. I wasn’t too keen on it at first, we had to write the whole album in a rush and recorded it in an unfinished studio underneath a body builders gym with the sounds of dumbbells dropping every few minutes. Many takes!
dannyno
  • 14. dannyno | 10/07/2020
Note #1. I don't think we can conclude from Ben's comment that he wrote the lyrics?
bzfgt
  • 15. bzfgt (link) | 12/07/2020
Not at all, I think it was just late at night and my brain switched words on me. I would in fact be very surprised if Pritchard wrote the lyrics!
Huckleberry
  • 16. Huckleberry | 13/02/2021
It reminds me a bit of part of Pere Ubu's song "The Fabulous Sequel":

It was a dream; it was a tin can
It was a dream
It was a dream; it was a tin can
It was a dream
Had he kick, kicked that dream
Kicked that dream down the street?
dannyno
  • 17. dannyno | 22/02/2021
I guess both songs use the same phrase/saying.
simx
  • 18. simx | 13/07/2021
'By sailing babe' should be 'my sailor mate'? and 'A place very accustomed to your visage' should be 'A place very accustomed to your visit'?
'You're in the heart of France' should be 'You're in the heart of trance'?
Isn't 'kicking the can' an americanism with two meanings: Kids kicking a can in the street because they're bored with nothing better to do and no money. Ready recruits for the army; 'kicking the can down the road' also means putting something off til later.
October 7th 2001 U.S. and uk invaded Afghanistan, blaming them for 9/11. Afghanistan is very accustomed to your visit. uk invaded twice in 19th century, then U.S. with us supporting. 'You gotta kick the can or abseil in some foreign land', could mean not many choices for poor kids. Or it could mean you can put off revenge until later, or invade now.
simx
  • 19. simx | 13/07/2021
Troops also abseil out of helicopters
dannyno
  • 20. dannyno | 16/08/2021
simx, comment #18

I agree with "my sailor mate" and "accustomed to your visit".

But I still hear "you're in the heart of France", not "trance".
dannyno
  • 21. dannyno | 16/08/2021
simx, comment #18

Unless we go with MES' pre-cog claim, which I don't, 9/11 can't be anything to do with the lyric.

The album was recorded mid-2001, according to thefall.org. The CD of Are You Are Missing Winner was on sale at a gig on 8 October 2001 (a month prior to official release), the same gig that saw Kick the Can's live debut.

While it's impossible to listen to lyrics about abseiling into a foreign land without also thinking of military action, it's a mistake to backwards engineer references to Afghanistan.

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