Starting with 2001's brilliant day darkener, Here's Luck, the band charted a course of, as Paste magazine said, capturing "the Zeitgeist of this anxious era." The follow-up, 10,000 Years, was hailed as the bands' masterpiece—a concept album based on Levy's experiences in social work telling the story of a poor urban test tube kids’s rise and fall during a genocidal apocalypse in the not-so-distant future. In 2006 the band released Amygdala, a record thematically exploring fear in its varied forms—abandonment, losing children, war & death, aging, social decay.
In 2009 the band emerges with an offering considerably more hopeful in these desperate times. The tracks on Sunshine Committee reflect a complex, often nuanced intersection of art and humanity while marking a return to a more live, rocking sound.
Once featured guests, Matt Darling on trombone and Steven Kung on trumpet have now become integral core members of the band, adding a vintage Stax/Volt-Muscle Shoals unctuousness to the record. Bass player Trent Norton’s writhingly hooky parts almost singularly define the new improved sound. Levy and Brian Halverson have further perfected their guitar matrimony, playing off each other and swapping leads and obbligatos. Peter Sands, given extra real estate space, layers clavinets, harpsichords, pianos, Hammond organs, Chamberlains, and various odd keyboards from his museum of myriad electronic instruments. Drummer Peter Anderson directs traffic like an empathic inner city principal, alternately slamming and playing with great economy, sensitivity and restraint.
As always, the band refers to the traditional soul and rock touchstones while creating something interesting, unpredictable, insightful, and moving: shades of the Stones' Exile on Main Street, Fresh-era Sly Stone, twilight Hendrix and Revolver-esque Beatles, all with Levy's surreal, evocative and enigmatic lyrics winding sinuously through the savory mix.
Sunshine Committee is the band’s first truly self-produced effort, with the entire band involved in the conception, engineering and editing of the record. Granted permission to record this and his children’s record (Bunny Clogs) at the Institute of Production and Recording where Levy is a teacher, the EP's production provided top students with a “laboratory” environment in which to experiment with various mics and recording techniques, comment on arrangement and performance, and assist in the editing process.
Capping off the roster of contributing talent, friend and mainstay John Fields, freshly finished with recording the Jonas Brothers, offered up his mixing expertise to the band.
On the eve of this, the Honeydog's 10th release, with solo projects and new records percolating, the band emerges confident in their ability to reinvent their sound while keeping alive the best musical and thematic features that have been their trademarks for nearly 15 years.
Freakshow
The Honeydogs Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Carnie says he's from Nepal
Take a look if you dare
Scabs, on his clubbed feet
Smell of fish and chips in the air
Alone in his trailer, people come to pay and stare
For a couple dollars
You can see the freaks at the fair
Stand and laugh
Or you can just stare
'Thank god my kids don't look like that!'
Freakshow at the fair
Freakshow at the fair
Lobster boy, found half-way round the world
Modern science, keeps alive
A beautiful headless girl
Siamese twins
Or child in fins
Makes you cry
Doo-doo'doo..do
[See her] turn into an ape before your eyes
For a couple dollars
You can see the freaks at the fair
Stand and laugh
Or you can just stare
'Thank god my kids don't look like that!'
Freakshow at the fair
Freakshow at the fair
Where have all the freaks gone
We don't see them at the fair
Have doctors found a cure,
Are they all locked up somewhere'
I saw the abominable snowman at the fair
Connie says he's from Nepal
Take a look if you dare
Freakshow at the fair
Freakshow at the fair
Freakshow at the fair
The Honeydogs' "Freakshow" is a song that laments the disappearance of the sideshows that once filled carnival fairs across the United States. The lyrics paint a vivid picture of some of the legendary oddities that were once commonplace in the circus and the carnival circuit. The song communicates a sense of nostalgia for the time when these shows were popular, as well as a sense of sadness for what has been lost.
The lyrics of "Freakshow" describe some of the oddities one could encounter in the carnival freakshow. They were presented as curiosities that people could come and see for a few dollars. The chorus of the song, "For a couple of dollars, you can see the freaks at the fair," drives home the point that these shows were once commonplace but have disappeared from the modern circus and carnival. The song also points out the callousness and cruelty of some of the people who visited these shows. Phrases like "Thank God my kids don't look like that" and "stand and laugh or you can just stare" drive home the point that some of the people who attended these shows were not there out of a sense of wonder and curiosity but rather to ridicule and demean those who were different.
Line by Line Meaning
I saw the abominable snowman at the fair
The singer witnessed a supposed mythical creature at a carnival or fair
Carnie says he's from Nepal
A carnival worker claims that the creature is from Nepal
Take a look if you dare
The singer is being dared or challenged to view the creature
Scabs, on his clubbed feet
The abominable snowman has rough skin and scarred feet
Smell of fish and chips in the air
The atmosphere is filled with a combination of greasy food scents
Alone in his trailer, people come to pay and stare
The creature is on display in a trailer, where people pay money to observe him
For a couple dollars
It only costs a small amount of money to see the freaks at the fair
You can see the freaks at the fair
Various unique individuals are exhibited at the carnival
Stand and laugh
Some people treat the freaks as objects of entertainment and amusement
Or you can just stare
Others quietly watch in awe or shock
'Thank god my kids don't look like that!'
Some parents are relieved that their own children do not have to suffer from such abnormalities
Freakshow at the fair
It is a carnival featuring people with physical differences
Lobster boy, found half-way round the world
A man with claw-like hands that resemble lobster claws, who was discovered in a different part of the world
Modern science, keeps alive
Medical advances are keeping him alive
A beautiful headless girl
A girl with no head who is viewed as beautiful
Siamese twins
Conjoined twins who share a body
Or child in fins
Possibly a child with webbed digits, like a mermaid
Makes you cry
Seeing these individuals in such a state can evoke an emotional response
Doo-doo'doo..do
Musical filler, unrelated to the overall theme of the song
[See her] turn into an ape before your eyes
A transformation is presented as part of the spectacle the carnival offers
Where have all the freaks gone
It isn't clear where people with physical differences have gone or why they are no longer exhibited at carnivals or fairs
We don't see them at the fair
The lack of presence of people with physical differences at the carnival is noticeable
Have doctors found a cure,
There is a possibility medical professionals have found cures for such physical differences
Are they all locked up somewhere'
Another possibility is that people with anomalies are hidden away or institutionalized
Freakshow at the fair
A repetition of the title and chorus of the song
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: ADAM L. LEVY, NOAH LEVY, THOMAS BORSCHEID, TRENT NORTON
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind