Part I: The Making of the Song
I wrote the lyrics to 'Generic Mayhem' on the same afternoon I wrote 'My Tiny Bride.' I worked for a landscaper in Northfield, MN. I was assigned to finish up a planting on the outskirts of town, and then take my lunch break. I was there alone, with just my tools and my backpack. My boss would come back and pick me up. The owners weren't even home.
I finished the job, at my lunch and then sat in the grass and wrote. I have no idea why I wrote down the words 'generic mayhem,' but I liked the idea of a sort of tedious chaos that didn't have much character to it. 'Sound and fury, signifying nothing,' if you will. It sounded like a good name for a band with lead singer Jerry Mayhew. I figured it would be a punk band. But, not being a punk fan, not being literate in lingua puncci, I didn't know where to go from there. So, I wrote some stuff. That sounds off-handedly dismissive, but it really was pretty casual.
I don't remember how much Memphis contributed to these lyrics, but I know he did most of the guitar. I've never played anything other than percussion on this song. There is a story behind the keyboard introduction but I'll leave that to Memphis.
Part II: Interpretations
There's a lot of disparate stuff tied up in this song: little references to true things that happened, hopes, dreams, self-doubt... Somehow it holds together.
Generic Mayhem, Generic Mayhem
Bastards always seems to be the kind of guys you almost like
Until they take you up to their place
And then you realize they're living in
Generic Mayhem, Generic Mayhem
This verse refers to a guy Memphis and I knew back in college, and right afterwards. We'll call him Andre. Andre Morely. This isn't is real name. Actually, his real name isn't his real name. And maybe even that name is fake.
Andre was a musician, a friend of some friends who we got to be I-guess-you'd-call-it friends with. He was one of those guys who seems on top of everything, seems like he has a plan for his life. The more you got to know him, though, the more you realized he lived in some sort of strange adolescent fantasy-world. He had plans, but none of them made much sense. Plus he never seemed to get at them.
When Andre moved out of his apartment, Memphis rented it. Andre took us up to check it out right before graduation. I don't know exactly what was weird about it, but I remember not being particularly impressed. Maybe there was nothing exactly wrong with it; it just wasn't very cool. And I kind of wanted it to be cool.
Later, when Memphis had trouble getting his utilities turned on, we discovered that Andre hadn't been much concerned with paying his bills. Memphis had to appear in person at the phone company's office to prove he was not Andre. I think the electricity was about to be cut off, as well. We theorize that this was one reason for Andre's change of identity. I must stress this is only a theory. It is equally likely that he got a local teen pregnant, or that he passed bad checks, or the he was in trouble with the mob over a string of bad drug deals. Andre himself claimed that his new name was more euphonious.
Perhaps I have overstated the character of Andre's life. I'm okay with that. It makes for better reading.
Andre's current whereabouts are unknown. I assume he got his act together and is living a comfortable life somewhere in the Twin Cities, or perhaps Portland. He seemed like the kind of guy who might move to Portland. Who knows? Maybe he got to work on his plans and is now a successful avant garde composer on the Coast. If you read this, Andre, get in touch and tell us your story. Maybe you'll get a more flattering mention in some future song.
All I ever notice is the people who annoy me
Are undoubtedly the ones that I hate
Undoubtedly as worthless as me, but I sincerely hope
That no one ever catches on
Generic Mayhem, Generic Mayhem
We hate most in others that which we see in ourselves. So, while I will lambast people such as Andre, I realize fully that I am fraut with imperfection. In fact, that self-awareness is 'all I ever notice.' Indeed there have been times I've fought feelings of worthlessness. Still, I hope the stupid jerks don't look down on me the way I look down on them. I mean, that's what the song says. That's not my true feeling at all. I swear. No, really, I like people...
Someday they'll hit the Top 40
A red letter day for me
Someday the punk band Generic Mayhem will hit the big time. That will be a great thing for me, because I'm such a fan of this band! (see below) Also, this is one of the worst rhymes Memphis and I have come up with. '40' = 'for me.' The stress is all wrong. It's so bad, it's good.
I have no idea what lyrics Memphis sings under this. He told me once, I think, and I know it's good. I just don't know what it is.
Generic Mayhem, Generic Mayhem
We're Generic Mayhem, Generic Mayhem
Ah, well, here it is. The key to the song. We're Generic Mayhem. We are Jerry Mayhew. So it will be a great day indeed when Generic Mayhem hits the Top 40. Or does it mean that GUH lives in a state of generic mayhem? The truth of this could certainly be argued.
I definitely remember that small, subtle 'we're' was an addition from Memphis. Another example of tiny things he sometimes does to a song that make such a huge difference.
Exactly how these two final sections relate to the original two verses is a little unclear. It's all about pride in being first-rate writers and performers. At the same time it is about the shame that we hold ourselves higher than others. (We Scandinavian-Americans are notoriously self-abnegating) Plus the shame of not fully realizing our talent. Not to mention the economic shame of spending more on our music than we take in. The shame of never putting ourselves out there courageously and fully enough to really see if there is an audience for acoustic geek-rock. I guess we live in our own sort of adolescent fantasy-world.
That's a lot of stuff to be hidden in such a slight song.
Memphis Evans' Essay About Generic Mayhem
Order the CD Generic Mayhem featuring the song "Generic Mayhem"
Read lyrics for Generic Mayhem