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Twisty System

from Everybody's Going Away by The Late Joys

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Says Robi: Feeling particularly grim about the future of our planet, I wasn't finding any relief as I read Elizabeth Kolbert's three-part series on global warming in The New Yorker magazine ( www.wesjones.com/climate1.htm ). So I started to write this song. The melody for the chorus came first, rapidly, based on my mucking about with the line, "It's a twisty system, " which I misremembered from Kolbert's story. Some British scientist likened our atmosphere to a "twitchy system" but I thought I had read "Twisty System." It wasn't until the song was done and dusted that I started to wonder, dredged up the story and saw I'd got it wrong. Ah well. "Twisty" fit the spiraling, circular melody line better anyway. So there! Not too much later, a friend of mine thrust the demo version at poor Ms. Kolbert at a book signing; I don't know if she actually listened to the tune, but she did say that "twisty" is a better title than "twitchy." Indeed.

lyrics

It's a twisty system
It's a twisty system
It's a twisty system

Will we sink or swim
When the tide comes rushing in
When we're up to our necks
In our greatest mistake
Will we swim or sink
We're beyond the brink
We can't put on the brakes
When it accelerates

It's a twisty system
It's a twisty system
It's a twisty system
It's a twisty system

Once we had no cares
Now it's all up in the air
When it comes back down
We won't be around
Yet it's obvious
At least to most of us
We'd better change now
If we don't want to drown

It's a twisty system
It's a twisty system

What was glacial is picking up pace
Will we skate on this thin ice
And while deniers are buying their science
We're running out of time

The imperceptible is spinning out of control
Right before our eyes
So don't pretend that you can't comprehend
When the writing's on the sky

And if we project
Even ten or twelve years hence
We'll be feeling the heat
If we keep dragging our feet
It's ours to protect
If we're negligent
We may catch our death
Before we catch our breath

It's a twisty system
It's a twisty system
It's a twisty system
It's a twisty system

But it's our only one

credits

from Everybody's Going Away, track released June 12, 2009
Robi Polgar: guitar, vocals
Patrick Lopez: bass
Andy Macleod: drums
Shane Lewis: trumpet
Sacha Crosby: harmonies

Recorded, mixed and mastered at Alta Vista Recording, Austin, Texas with the help of Tom Johnson and Colin McDonald.
Words and music by Robi Polgar.

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The Late Joys Austin

With influences that include The Beatles, Elvis Costello and the Attractions, The Jam, The Clash and a slew of '80s and '90s Brit-pop guitar-based trailblazers, The Late Joys put on a high-octane show that's groovy, melodic and infused with fun.

The Late Joys play infectious sonic confections with literate lyrics, catchy melodies and unabashedly progressive political sensibilities. ... more

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