Thanks to Cory from Indiana for sponsoring Strain.

The tension of rob's foray into the world of teaching - a friend was getting out as he was getting in. This is about the stress (and strain) we place on ourselves and others and partially about the effect of an hour-long commute on an '81 Volkswagon Bus.

About the Song

"Strain makes me laugh. It's not a funny song. It's a pretty angry song, but it's creation is a bit bizarre. Originally the words were part of a performance piece I did in school (I minored in performance art at the Maryland Institute College of Art) and only became a song years later while I was teaching at Suitland High School. It was originally recorded on a 4-track in my bedroom with a barking terrier in the background."

-rob

Lyrics

incomplete and left undone
the chord fragmented
left unsung
city-born and city-bred
I'll be lucky if I end up quick city dead

the rats all mutter in the gutter
in the sewer and the rush
as they rat race home
as a beast of burden I can carry my weight
maybe I try too hard

Back in the woods on a wood-lot trail
working hard like an animal should be
I write my songs in a backwoods bedroom
I ignore the snore of the clockgear
and I've been dead for the past six days
that's more than Lazarus ever could claim
back from the dead now look at me
I'm as strong as I ever thought I could be.

some people are better off dead
some people shouldn't try so hard
if they could then they would
but they can't so they won't
so you know you can rest here
so you know you can rest here
don't let them step on what these others
now could become
no no no!

maybe it's the clock gear
that keeps my blood going
and here I thought it was my anger or my rage
or my father or my sex drive, SOMETHING
but maybe it's the fear of the gear
and accompanying arm
and the passage of time
age and life, vitality, strife
maybe it's the blood that keeps the heart pumping

some people can't be left behind
now that they've tried so hard
Just cause they haven't doesn't mean that they won't
so you know you can rest here
so you know you can rest here
don't let them bring down the bird
that you now have become
no no no!

so they think they can break you
maybe you believe that they can
I know that they tried so fucking hard on me
but I found the direction I was headed
when I took a left turning
at the wrong right turn
spent a year light-headed
now I'm better threaded
together we will overcome

this isn't what you're here for
you were meant to go somewhere
never what you were meant to do
you never should have had to deal with all this
STRAIN

incomplete and left undone
the chord fragmented
but at least it's sung
city-born and city-bred
looks like I'm dying
that slow suburban death

the rats all mutter in the gutter
in the sewer and the rush
as they rat race home
as a beast of burden I can carry your weight
maybe I can help you
home

© rob hinkal