Songwriting Diary: Psychopaths In Lukewarm Baths

A series about my lyrics and their backstories

Well it is Hallowe’en after all

When I write songs for Expanda Fuzz, I write from a different persona. 

I take the point of view of a fictional character, in the same way that Will Oldham approaches his Bonnie Prince Billy songs.

It is a fascinating approach for me because I've usually written from my personal experiences.

I also love the creative freedom it brings.

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"Psychopaths in lukewarm baths"

This is an early Expanda Fuzz song. The title came first, which isn't my usual way of writing: usually it's melody, then lyrics. And the title often comes from the lyrics. 

The concept of a psychopath in a lukewarm bath has an immediate dark, comedic tone. It makes me giggle just before it starts to haunt me.

Only someone who is deeply hurt or messed up would sit in a lukewarm bath.

It puts me in mind of Billy Bragg's version of 'Walk Away Renee', a story of someone going through a breakup and dealing with an ex-lover moving on: "I went home and thought about the two of them together, until the bath water went cold around me". I always loved that line as you can actually feel the distress the main character is experiencing. 

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"They hold out hope with hearts for stealing, while trying to belong"

I really like this line. It’s a favourite of mine. The alliteration rolls off the tongue and there is deep beauty, open to interpretation. Those are my favourite kind of lyrics. The ones that make you pause and wonder.

This line is also a sweet set up that stands in contrast to the darkness of the rest of the song.

 "And the hippie girls go do do do, do do, do do...do do, do do do do"

When I was writing this, I imagined a group of girls dressed like hippies as the chorus, similar to what would be in a Greek play. They are singing and hovering over the bathtub and it's kind of creepy.

Of course the structure of this line comes from Lou Reed's 'Walk On The Wild Side'. I wasn’t sure if that was obvious to listeners, but it’s a fun Easter Egg.

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"She retired from beach-like feeding, the daylight was too strong"

This is the core of the song as it’s ultimately a tribute to the Lost Boys, a camp vampire movie that I’ve always loved.

I imagined a reboot version of the film in which gender roles are reversed and it's ‘The Lost Girls’. In this scene, the vampire girls attack the surf punks on the beach, like in the movie. Then they fly home to their lair. Yep, that’s what’s in my head. (For the record, I think the cheesy sax guy shouldn’t change in my reimagined film, but I digress). 

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"The girls with you had Hüsker Dü on cassette decks in their cars"

When I was in high school, all my cool friends had Hüsker Dü cassettes playing in their cars. Candy Apple Grey was the soundtrack of my late teens. Don’t Want To Know If You Are Lonely was an anthem.

The girls in this case are the vampires, but in a scene similar to the moon tower party in Dazed and Confused. And their car is a white 70s Camaro. That detail is not in the song, but it’s in my head. For some reason this is the imagery I experience when I play this song. I can completely escape into this scene as I sing it, which is powerful and comforting to me.

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"And the Captain Crunch and Let's Do Lunch"

Like Hüsker Dü, another important soundtrack of my teen years was from the Montreal underground music scene. OG, En Guard and Pipeline records were labels that had many of my favourite bands at that time. Captain Crunch and Let's Do Lunch were a more obscure indie act from that vibrant scene. I could have said Ripcordz or Gruesomes, but there wasn’t enough syllables. And Jerry Jerry and the Sons of Rhythm Orchestra had too many. Songwriting 101 I guess, lol.

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You can hear a solo acoustic version of Psychopaths here:

The original Expanda Fuzz version is here:

Would love to hear your comments.