Unhinged Melody

This song is so completely stuck in my head tonight that I can’t even gripe about the news. It’s Michael Penn’s “Brave New World,” from his debut album, “March.” March was either the last great album of the ’80s, or the first great album of the ’90s. And this song is more true today than it was when he released it 13 years ago.

Baby’s busy hiding in the bassinet
Wondering if the Third World War’s started yet
I told her I was pulling up and heading West
She said she would have come but she was overdressed
I sent a picture postcard of a Midwest bank
She wrote me that she showed it to her new friend Frank
Who noticed in a window on the nineteenth floor
A guy my age about to prove that Man can’t soar
And he would also like to know
If I could just check around before I left this town
For slow-mo footage of the tumbledown

This may not be my best day
But this ain’t no Golden Age
You looked pretty on the freeway
Let’s drive into that Brave New World

A van pulls up and someone offers me a ride
The driver lost the map and he was terrified
Everybody whispering to save his pride
Say, “Son, would you be kind enough to be our guide?”
The driver yells, “The man in back already tried,
But his memory is rusty and his vision tied.”
Glasses and a lubricant were by his side
The Tin Man was inanimate, the Lion lied
They did not want to see me go
But I did not want to be another muskateer
Plus the gas runs out before the van’s in gear

Please don’t hit me if I do say
That this ain’t no Golden Age
You looked so pretty on the freeway
Let’s drive into that Brave New World

Buster and his company look good in black
Trying to find a way out of the cul-de-sac
Tearing through the phone book and the almanac
They all have dusty noses ’cause they sniff shellac
They finally found the number of a matador
Who rode in a Beemer with a pricey whore
But Buster wasn’t quick enough, he locked the door
And rode off saying he’d be back before the war
By then the night was falling slow
And I did not want to stick around and just look old
When I saw you pulling onto my soft shoulder

This may not be my best day
But this ain’t no Golden Age
You looked pretty on the freeway
Let’s drive into that Brave New World