We're So Tough We're So

We’re so tough we’re so tough we’re so tough we’re so
We’re so tough we’re so tough we’re so tough we’re so
Got your cotton lined armor on paddling out receding into the distant sea now
I’m on the shore waving my trusty sword made from balsa wood and tinfoil
Shouting names kicking holes in the sand as you paddle faster with the palm of your hand now

We’re so tough we’re so tough we’re so tough we’re so
We’re so tough we’re so tough we’re so tough we’re so


I’ve got a horse in need of repair made of Boiserie paneling with fibrous insulation
He doesn’t float but I’m sure if he did, I’d paddle him out and have him kick you in the ass now.

We’re so tough we’re so tough we’re so tough we’re so
We’re so tough we’re so tough we’re so tough we’re so

Don’t wave that white napkin flag at me, you’ll take that mop handle off it and pop me in the knee. Yeah.
So forge ahead lost and thinking your free, I’ll always be here waiting, and wading, wasting my time on the shore of this Sea.


John: I originally wrote this song as a very serious short short fragment with just me on guitar. We had the idea on Fall Of The House Of Even to have short musical fragments in between the "normal" songs. We didn't have the time to get these recorded so some of them turned into songs for Thresholds. It originally was just the chorus done once, in a sad low voice, similar to how Romantically Inclined sounds on the new record (which you haven't heard yet.)When friends started to say that that chorus was very catchy I decided to try and make it a full length song. This is when I realized it was a humorous anthem. It is now the humorous counterpart to the song Castaway The Days That Run Upstream Through The Past. Thresholds is the theme of the record, and I began to think of the divide between the water and the land as a threshold. I also liked the idea of combining adult themes with childish themes. We're So Tough is basically a picture of a Quixotic character standing on the shore in a childish rage yelling at his just as Quixotic nemesis who is sailing away. Castaway is about looking out at the Sea and remembering vividly the one you love, so vividly that you can see and feel them sitting next to you. Love and Hate/Land and Sea. We're So Touch We're So could have easily been done with electric guitars, it is very straight forward, and is influenced by the Ramones and my former band. The song sounds like it should be done with distorted heavy guitars, but we liked mirroring the contrast within the song of tough, machismo, being described with things made out of cardboard, balsa wood, and tin foil, with the tense downstroking being performed with acoustic guitars. I love this song. At the living room shows this became an instant hit, I think because it is so easy to sing along to. One night, Liz skipped the whole middle verse, so the audience made us do it again to close the show. This version may make it onto the live living room cd recording, just because everyone was singing along. It was a pretty great moment.

Phillip Hill: This was a fun one to record, as you can tell by Liz and Bice goofing around at the beginning of the rough-mixed version. Bice's "HI-YA!" karate yell in the middle makes me laugh every time!

Lizzie: almost everyone that heard us play this song at our living room shows left singing it! my best friend still had it in her head a week after the last of the shows. late that night we started laughing, talking, and praising johnnys writing abilities and ended up directing the video in our heads. you just picture us blackouts and our little punk counterparts yelling, pointing, and waving our tin-foil covered nerf swords across "vast" puddles at stereotypical grade school bullies. were so fuckin tough! i couldnt help but pump my fists as i laid down the vocal track for this song. actually, that happens every time i play or listen to it. :)

Gub: This song brings me back to feeling like how it was to be a little kid and how clear your mind felt about making decisions. If you did not get your way "You would paddle out have him kick you in the ass now" feeling. It is so intresting how creativity and clarity go hand in hand sometimes.
The song makes me feel like we are all at the beach building sandcastles together.