It's been a long, strange trip for this outfit, which formed from the ashes of various collegiate bar bands in and around Berkeley, CA in 1994. The band has since released 7 albums on 5 different national labels, had 12 different members, logged over 50,000 miles, played hundreds of shows, contributed music to numerous film and television projects, and generally endured all manner of threats and pitfalls that haunt any band who dares to shoulder the Mantle of Rock. However, some things have never changed: Kelly on the skins, Scanlin on the wires/mics, and an unswerving dedication to and obsession with writing Songs. For Actionslacks the melody is key. It doesn't always have to be pretty, but if you don't have one, you don't have a song.
The penultimate album, Kids with Guitars, was an EP the band produced over the course of seven days in May of 2008, following a year of songwriting, demoing, and practicing (though never in the same room). It was initially released on-line (http://slacksaction.com/) on a pay-what-you-want basis, but is now available through iTunes and similar digital retailers or, more recently, as a CD release available through CDBaby.
The self-titled Actionslacks was recorded in mid-November 2009 and while it was slated for a Spring 2010 release, delays resulted in a release in early-October 2012.
33 1/3
Actionslacks Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
A small suburban home
Mom and Dad asleep
Two boys sit up all alone
A stack of records to devour
They sit and watch them spin for hours
Pick up the needle and do it again
They went up
And down
Spun around
And around
Those boys are men
But still I miss the days when it was
33 1/3 honey
Sound moves in revolutions
33 1/3 baby
Pick the needle up and spin it again
There is a song by a man you'll never hear
It's 3 minutes long
But it stayed with me for years
It goes up
And down
It spins around
And around
But it makes me see
Why this is air to me
33 1/3 honey
Sound moves in revolutions
33 1/3 baby
Pick the needle up and spin it again
And again and again and again...
33 1/3 honey
Sound moves in revolutions
33 1/3 baby
Pick the needle up and spin it again
33 1/3 honey
Sound moves in revolutions
33 1/3 baby
Pick the needle up and spin it again
And again and again and again...
The lyrics to "33 1/3" by Actionslacks paint a picture of two brothers in their childhood sneaking into the living room late at night to listen to records. The scene is set in a small suburban home where the parents are asleep while the boys indulge in a stack of records for hours, picking up the needle to spin the records all over again. The song captures the innocence of the moments that are long gone, which makes the listeners nostalgic for the good old days.
The lyrics also reference a song that left a lasting impact on the singer's life. The song is three minutes long, and while the lyrics do not reveal the name of the song or the artist, this moment is important to the singer. The song comes in, goes up, and down, spins around, and again, and it explains why music is Air to him, leading to the conclusion of the chorus explaining the importance of the sound of the record moving in 33 1/3 revolutions per minute.
The theme of the song is the enduring power of music in our lives, especially how it creates lasting impressions and memories from childhood to adulthood. The chorus repeatedly emphasizes the phrase, "Pick the needle up and spin it again," suggesting that the music will always be there for us. The nostalgia that permeates the lyrics ensures that the song will stay memorable and gives a sense of a lost time that humanity will never get back.
Line by Line Meaning
Fade into a scene
The song opens with the description of a scene being set as the song's speaker paints a mental picture in the listener's mind.
A small suburban home
The singer describes the setting as an ordinary middle-class home in the suburbs.
Mom and Dad asleep
The parents of the two boys are sound asleep in their beds.
Two boys sit up all alone
The two brothers are awake, sitting up, and looking for something to do.
A stack of records to devour
The boys have a collection of LPs and are about to play them and listen to music.
They sit and watch them spin for hours
The boys spend long hours sitting and listening to music, watching the LPs spinning on the record player.
Pick up the needle and do it again
When one record is finished, the boys lift the needle and put it back at the beginning of the record and play it all over again, and they repeat this process for several hours.
They went up, And down, Spun around, And around
The artist describes the motion of the record on the turntable as going up and down, spinning left and right, and going around and around.
Those boys are men, But still I miss the days when it was
The boys in the song have grown up to become men, but the song's speaker still remembers the days when they were young and all they did was listen to music.
33 1/3 honey, Sound moves in revolutions
The song's title and refrain are explained as the speed at which the record is spinning, and the way sound travels in revolutions.
33 1/3 baby, Pick the needle up and spin it again
The refrain is repeated, emphasizing the nostalgia and the repetitive action of lifting the needle to play the record all over again.
There is a song by a man you'll never hear
The artist alludes to a song, the details of which will never be known to the listener.
It's 3 minutes long, But it stayed with me for years
The song mentioned earlier might have been very short, but it has remained in the singer’s memory for years to come.
It goes up, And down, It spins around, And around
The song referred to earlier is described as having a fluctuating melody that shifts up and down, while also having a constant and cyclical rhythm which makes it spin around and around.
But it makes me see, Why this is air to me
The singer's love for music is highlighted, and how the song's melody affected them emotionally alludes to how fundamental music is in their life.
And again and again and again...
The song repeats the refrain again and again to underline the endless cycle of playing and listening to music.
Contributed by Max T. Suggest a correction in the comments below.