The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day: SKAugust

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, "The Impression That I Get" from Let's Face It (The Last Angry Rude Boy)

Skammentary: "The Impression That I Get" & Reel Big Fish's "Sell Out" are the first two ska songs I knew, encountered on the same momentous night back in the Summer of Ska, the Summer of '97. "The Impression That I Get" was also, on 1 April 2011, the first R.B.D.S.O.T.D. of the first SKApril. This song remains & ever shall be a song of great significance to your humble narrator.

Of course, "The Impression That I Get" isn't just "significant," it's also a wicked good time.

"Have you ever been close to tragedy?
Or close to folks who have?
Have you ever felt a pain so powerful,
So heavy you collapse?

"No? Well—

"I never had to knock on wood,
But I know someone who has,
Which makes me wonder if I could,
It makes me wonder if I—
Never had to knock on wood
And I'm glad I haven't yet,
because I'm sure it isn't good,
That's the impression that I get.

"Have you ever had the odds stand up so high
You need a strength most don't possess?
Or has it ever come down to do or die,
You got to rise above the rest?

"No? Well—

"I never had to knock on wood,
But I know someone who has,
Which makes me wonder if I could,
It makes me wonder if I—
Never had to knock on wood
And I'm glad I haven't yet,
because I'm sure it isn't good,
That's the impression that I get.

"I'm not a coward, I've just never been tested,
I'd like to think that if I was I would pass,
Look at the tested and think, 'There but for the grace go I,'
I'm afraid of what I might find out…"

We're getting old, ladies & gentlemen, we're getting ancient, because even the twentieth anniversary of Let's Face It was two years ago; that'll be another twenty years in the blink of an eye.