Though not officially broken up, the band has not performed together in public since the early 1990s. In 2005, they were invited by Isaac Brock of Modest Mouse to perform at All Tomorrow's Parties but respectfully declined the invitation.
The band met while attending The Evergreen State College and began recording in 1983. The band's basic lineup was drums, guitar and vocals, though when they formed their only instruments were a pair of maracas and a Sears Silvertone guitar purchased at a thrift shop. Heather once joked in an interview that the history of the band could be told through a list of the various people they'd borrowed drums from. Heather and Calvin had been members of a previous band and approached Bret, who had no musical experience at the time, saying they ought to start a band and go to Japan. Indeed, it was on a trip to Tokyo that the band members recorded Three Tea Breakfast, an EP that established the band's reputation.
Calvin Johnson was one of the founders of seminal indie rock label K Records. The label achieved modest success and continues to hold its independent integrity, claiming to have been "exploding the teenage underground into passionate revolt against the corporate ogre since 1982."
Beat Happening (1985), their full length debut, was critically acclaimed, as was Jamboree (1988). By the release of Dreamy in 1991, Beat Happening was one of the most popular bands in the indie rock community, leading to their pivotal role in the International Pop Underground Festival, which brought anti-corporate rock its earliest mainstream acceptance. Their last full-length album was 1992's You Turn Me On, which represented the band breaking many of their established conventions from earlier albums, most notably on Godsend, which runs 9 minutes in length and features blatant use of multitrack recording. The album was described by allmusic.com as "A masterpiece." Though never announcing a break-up and claiming at one point to still practice once a month, the members of Beat Happening have moved on to various other projects. In 2000 they released the Angel Gone single, their first new release in eight years.
A Beat Happening box set, Crashing Through, which collects all of the band's officially released music except for two of their tracks from a live cassette split with The Vaselines, was released in 2002. The box set included a booklet containing a lengthy essay on the history and impact of the band by Lois Maffeo, as well as rare photos of members Calvin, Heather and Bret.
http://www.krecs.com
I Let Him Get to Me
Beat Happening Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
How come they haven't seen me around town
'Cause I let him get to me but you don't let me get to him
I let him get to me, he don't let me get to him
I let him get to me but he don't let me get to him
I let him get to me, he don't let me get to him
And I feel like such a fool
'Cause I let him get to me but he don't let me get to him
I let him get to me he don't let me get to him
I let him get to me but he don't let me get to him
I let him get to me he don't let me get to him
I think about how I feel this way
I think about it most every day
I try to change the way I feel about you
But when I try I see that I'm not being true
'Cause I let him get to me but he don't let me get to him
I let him get to me but he don't let me get to him
I let him get to me but he don't let me get to him
I let him get to me he don't let me get to him
In Beat Happening's song "I Let Him Get to Me," lead singer Calvin Johnson describes how his feelings for someone have affected his overall mood and behavior. The song starts off with Johnson's friends noticing his melancholy state, questioning why they haven't seen him around town. Johnson then admits that these emotions stem from his feelings towards someone, and confesses that he has let them affect him. He feels like a fool whenever he sees that person, but he cannot seem to control how these emotions affect him.
The chorus of the song repeatedly says "I let him get to me, but he don't let me get to him." This highlights a power dynamic in which Johnson has given someone else control over his emotions, while that person remains unaffected. Johnson recognizes this inequality and realizes that he needs to change the way he feels. However, he struggles to do so, and in the end, he admits that he is not being completely honest with himself.
The song portrays a common struggle - the difficulty in controlling emotions and trying to change them in response to someone else's actions. Johnson's honest vocals and the simple catchy melody make the song relatable and almost cathartic to listen to for anyone who has dealt with similar situations.
Line by Line Meaning
My friends asks me how I look so down
My friends wonder why I look unhappy and unsatisfied
How come they haven't seen me around town
They haven't seen me around in public because of my emotional state
I let him get to me but you don't let me get to him
He affects me emotionally and mentally but you are not affected by me in that same way
I let him get to me, he don't let me get to him
He has a strong emotional control over me but I don’t have the same effect on him
I let him get to me but he don't let me get to him
I am affected by him emotionally and mentally but he is not affected by me in that same way
I let him get to me he don't let me get to him
He has a strong emotional control over me but I don’t have the same effect on him
I see him walking around so cool
I see him walking around confidently and calmly
And I feel like such a fool
I feel foolish in comparison because of my emotional state
I think about how I feel this way
I think deeply about my emotional state and how I feel about him
I think about it most every day
I think about him and my emotional state regularly, almost every day
I try to change the way I feel about you
I attempt to change my emotional and mental responses towards him
But when I try I see that I'm not being true
But when I try to change, I realize that I am not being honest with myself
Lyrics © SC PUBLISHING DBA SECRETLY CANADIAN PUB., Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: Bret Lunsford, Calvin Douglas Johnson, Heather Lewis
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind