Broken Joystick
Adam Green Lyrics

The first stanza of Adam Green's song Broken Joystick paints a picture of destruction and disaster. The image of a broken joystick, a symbol of failure or malfunction in video games, is used metaphorically to describe something gone wrong in real life. The skeleton of a smoking plane suggests a crash or catastrophe, while catching a train to an open vein implies an escape or a way out, perhaps from the disaster that has occurred. The lyrics suggest a world where even nature is affected by the chaos, as the catfish choke and the sky is gone. The forecast floats beneath the boats, further emphasizing the idea of a world in disarray.

In the second stanza, Green takes a sudden shift in tone and introduces the image of Mariachi clothes, a colorful and festive attire often associated with Mexican music and culture. The jarring juxtaposition of this image against the previous one of destruction creates a surreal, dream-like quality to the lyrics. The image of Klu Klux Klansmen dancing around the mountain adds to the surreal atmosphere, as the lyrics make little sense and seem to be evoking an absurd or fantastical world. The final lines of the stanza, “plugging up the holes in their harmonicas” adds to this sense of absurdity, as the image of Klansmen playing harmonicas seems both comical and unsettling.

Overall, the lyrics of Broken Joystick are cryptic and open-ended, leaving the interpretation up to the listener. The images presented are often surreal and fantastical, creating a dream-like atmosphere.