nurgh's Greatest Songs of Our Time #4: "Midlife Crisis" by Faith No More (1992)

Written By: Mike Patton (Music & Lyrics,) Roddy Bottum, Mike Bordin, & Billy Gould (Music)
Released: May 26, 1992
Album: Angel Dust
Single?: #1 on Billboard US Modern Rock Tracks, #10 UK Singles Chart, etc.

A brief history of my interest in music: I grew up on AM country, 50's Rock n' Roll (especially Elvis,) and only the most mainstream of pop (Michael, Madonna, etc.) During one of the worst periods of my life, my year living outside Vegas, I abandoned the entirely too depressing western music for a deeper appreciation of pop (still the 80's) and rock (mostly 60's.) Going into my teens, I started to diversify somewhat with hip-hop and metal, but I was still too milquetoast to plunge very deeply into those waters. My brother was very into both those forms however, so he heightened my exposure to bands like Metallica and Faith No More, even while I tended to keep them somewhat at arm's length. While I enjoyed quite a few tracks off their masterpiece, "Angel Dust," it was many years after initial exposure before I recognized it as a work of art. Matter of fact, I'd pretty much forgotten the spotlight single of the day, only to have revisitation elevate it to one of my favorites of our time.



Go on and wring my neck
Like when a rag gets wet
A little discipline
For my pet genius
My head is like a lettuce
Go on and dig your thumbs in
I cannot stop giving
I'm thirty-something
Sense of security
Like pockets jingling
Midlife crisis
Suck ingenuity
Down through the family tree
You're perfect, yes, it's true
But without me you're only you
Your menstruating heart
It ain't bleeding enough for two
It's a midlife crisis...
What an inheritance
The salt and the kleenex
Morbid self attention
Bending my pinky back
A little discipline
A donor by habit
A little discipline
Rent an opinion
Sense of security
Holding blunt instrument
I'm a perfectionist
And perfect is a skinned knee
You're perfect, yes, it's true
But without me you're only you
Your menstruating heart
It ain't bleeding enough for two
It's a midlife crisis...............