Thing a Week 48 – The Big Boom
Last weekend when I was staying with some friends in Pennsylvania, there was a very loud noise that woke me up. It was thunder. But it was crazy thunder – it seemed to last about a minute and a half, and it wasn’t a bang, it was this huge, diffuse roar. And after it stopped all the car alarms were going off. It sounded like the end of the world.
At least that’s what I thought when I sat bolt upright in bed and reached for my car keys and a weapon. My first thought, probably before I was fully awake, was that someone or something had scraped Philadelphia out of the Earth, and that I was going to have to grab some provisions, get in the car and head north. I don’t know why this would be my default explanation for a loud noise. I suppose it means I’m a little on edge.
At first this was about a loud boom that led to nothing, but it didn’t take long before I realized it would be better if it was about a loud boom that really did signify the end of the world. The Big Boom. And then I changed Philadelphia to Michigan because there are too many syllables in Philadelphia. The rest of it writes and records and mixes itself!
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Comments
John Trussell says
You are a strange, strange man.
(I mean that in the nicest possible way.)
LoRe says
I remember those storms in Maryland. We'd run outside to see if we could spot the mushroom cloud.
I'm not sure the car keys would have helped much.
Glenn says
I think that was just M. Night Shyamalan making his latest movie.
Spiff says
My first time listening to it, I started to worry that it may be some kind of a 9/11 song, which would mean I'd have to figure out how I felt about it, blah, blah, blah. A comical ditty about the end of the world is much easier to take. ;)
Randy Finch says
When you talked about Phillie being scooped up, it reminded me of one of my favorite SciFi books: Manhattan Transfer. It's about aliens carving out the island of Manhattan and placing it on a huge ship along with cities from other planets. It's a great book if you have a chance to read it. The author is John Stith, who is my current favorite SciFi author.
Mike says
I was near Philly this past weekend (I have attended events at a boyscout camp mere miles from the Philly Folk Fest for the past three year, so so close yet so far. Also, I was about forty five minute's drive from your show on Saturday, but couldn't leave the darn camp). But I digress.
At around 3:30 am Saturday, the storms rolled over the camp. Crash! Boom! And then the hail. Woke up everyone in the room and most of us went outside to watch and play in the hail. Good times.
Ooooh, another beachish boysish song. Cool.
Joe Coughlin says
Okay, replacing Philly with MI is fine, but you do realize that now probably owe Philadelphia a song. Otherwise you won't balance at the end of the fiscal year or something...
glych says
Why north?
-glych
Eric Ginsberg says
You're insane. And I love you for it.
-Eric
Keith says
Manhattan Transfer? Didn't they do that song "Boy from New York City"?
The Big Boom is a great song, JC. It sounds a little like you've been listening to OK Go lately (http://www.okgo.net/), not that there's anything wrong with that. That MTV theme lick in Code Monkey rules.
When the big boom does come, I'm leaving my car keys behind and grabbing my Dead On framing hammer while the family saddles up the Ponkeys (half pony, half monkey).
We'll head north since there are fewer people up there.* Unless you're Over There, in which case you'll end up at IKEA.
* Offer void in South America.
Math is hard.
Rob says
With that sudden ending I was really expecting to hear a big explosion!
webjones says
Yep. We live high up in our neighborhood with the Chattahoochee River valley just to the SouthEast. Thunder always sounds like that here. And it seems to always happen at around 3 AM.
Dave says
I love all your songs, but once in a while you strike gold. This song is great. If I were sitting on a large amount of cash and a record company I'd sign you as soon as possible.
Tabby says
Contentwise, it reminds me of the Talking Heads' "Life During Wartime."
Dianne says
Nice work, JoCo. I thought that it was a neat song. Sorry. I don't really have anything to add other than that. :( Nothing constructive. Just cold, hard praise...
Andry says
Autor, Respect!
XRumer569 says
Abnormal program termination.
Rizu says
For some reason, this brings to mind any number of Stephen King novels... albeit a really HAPPY version of them. It's hopeless and we're all gonna die but we sure are happy. :D
alex says
thanks for helping me with my homework