Modest Mouse - Doin' The CockroachAlbum: The Lonesome Crowded West
"the lonesome crowded west", the third album from modest mouse, has something for just about everyone. they can do quiet, brooding acoustics like "bankrupt on selling," dark and pounding thrashers like "cowboy dan," and funky jump-around emo like "jesus christ was an only child". throughout the whole album is a sort of down-to-earth analysis of the state of the world, without sounding pretentious. giving a song like "doin' the cockroach" the time of day can be sure to get you singing rambling, catchy vocals in no time. it's a song about how one life is no different than any other with a very negative existential point of view. it's important to note that a cockroach is a prehistoric insect that has been around forever just doing the same thing throughout it's existence. isaac brock is saying that everyone is just "doin' the cockroach" by just living for years and years and never really changing what they're doing. when he says "this one's a doctor, this ones a lawyer, this one's a cash feed..." he's expressing that all these people are no different from each other because life is meaningless and they're all going to end up in the same place. the first line, "i was in heaven, i was in hell / believe in neither but fear 'em as well" shows that he is unsure of the existence of heaven and hell but lives as if they exist. lyrically, it's a lot to take on and a bit of a downer, but the mood of the music is anything but. one of those great modest mouse songs that flew under the radar before they became a household name in the indie (and popular culture) realm.
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