The Secret Base has changed a great deal over a decade & a half of publication, reflecting, one hopes, maturation & personal growth on the author's part. I used to grouse & kvetch about every little thing that roused my ire (this tendency to fury was why my Moonbase Studios colleagues nicknamed me "The Last Angry Man," though this was back when we called ourselves Blue Tree Whacking), airing all of my dirty laundry in this very public forum. I still do, to a sometimes unhealthy extent, but as I've begun to take my faith more seriously, I've become much more willing to extend to others the same benefit of the doubt I'd ask them to extend to me in my less-than-finest moments. Persons deceive, betray, & undermine other persons all the time; sometimes this reflects outright malice, but more often it reflects ignorance or indifference. To my mind, that's actually worse: We don't mean to harm one another, we're just so self-absorbed that we don't consider whom our words or actions might hurt, nor do we try to anticipate such "collateral damage" & mitigate the chance of it occurring. Straight-up villainy is relatively rare. I minister to the inmates of the local county jail; so, I know there are hardcore villains in the world—not just "in the world" but in our local municipalities & neighborhoods—but more common is the base villainy of indifference. We hurt each other all the time because we simply don't stop to consider how our actions or words might affect others; or, if we do pause for such reflection, we conclude that causing pain to others is a fair price to be paid for the all-mighty ego's desire to "express itself" in some banal & petty way.
All this is prologue to the following song. Maybe the man who inspired this selection didn't intend to do what he did, though that of course doesn't excuse the damage he wrought. I won't describe the circumstances, because I don't wish him to be identified, yet I am still so vile a sinner that this petty act of revenge helps to salve the wounds his duplicitous words & actions caused.
Mono Puff, "Back-stabbing Liar" from
It's Fun to Steal (The Last Angry Man)
Commentary: Mono Puff is (was?) a side project of John Flansburgh of They Might Be Giants."Hear the scream that the turning subway made,
Hear the screams of the people in your way,
They love you very much but they
Don't know that you're the one.
"Back-stabbing liar, and have been all along
Back-stabbing liar, has learned to write songs…
"Back-stabbing liar, and everyone's wrong,
Back-stabbing liar, has learned to write songs…
"Back-stabbing liar, says he's resigned,
Back-stabbing liar, will change your mind."
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