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.
Rumor Has It
The Honeydogs Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
But I could tell if I could get a bit nearer to you
Now you're lying on a hard wood floor
You know you're alive but you can't be sure, it's true
You got your cake and you got your brass ring
Now you're friends are the next big thing, it's true
Rumor has it, it's true
In the deep, deep blue you'll be swimming along
With your concrete shoes and a straitjacket on
We don' know that you're gone
Rumor has it, it's true
Rumor has it, it's true
The sun and the moon, the other planets and the earth
Separated from each other at birth, it's true
Bits of wood and an old cloth shroud
The man in the temple's kicking out the crowd, it's true
Rumor has it, it's true
In the deep, deep blue you'll be swimming along
With your concrete shoes and a straitjacket on
We don't know that you're gone
Rumor has it, it's true
In the deep, deep blue you'll be swimming along
With your concrete shoes and a straitjacket on
We don't know that you're gone
Rumor has it, it's true
Rumor has it, it's true
Rumor has it, it's true
Rumor has it, it's true
Rumor has it, it's true
In "Rumor Has It," The Honeydogs sing of the destructive nature of rumors and fame. The lyrics mention someone who seems put together on the outside but is struggling internally, possibly with addiction or mental illness. They suggest that this individual is living a life of excess, achieving all their goals, and becoming friends with important people. However, they are also spiraling out of control, drowning in their own addictions, and losing touch with reality. The lines, "In the deep, deep blue you'll be swimming along with your concrete shoes and a straightjacket on," seem to allude to someone who is so weighed down by their issues that they are no longer truly living. The song suggests that we can never really know what is going on in someone else's life, especially when they're in the public eye, and that rumors and gossip surrounding public figures can be incredibly damaging.
Line by Line Meaning
You look good with your lights and mirrors
You seem impressive with your façade and gimmicks
But I could tell if I could get a bit nearer to you
I can see through your guise if you let me close
Now you're lying on a hard wood floor
You find yourself on the ground, defeated
You know you're alive but you can't be sure, it's true
You're aware of your existence but have little confidence in it
Rumor has it, it's true
The speculation is correct
You got your cake and you got your brass ring
You obtained all your desired accomplishments
Now you're friends are the next big thing, it's true
Your associates are the new sensation
In the deep, deep blue you'll be swimming along
You'll continue to progress in dire circumstances
With your concrete shoes and a straitjacket on
You'll face restrictive obstacles
We don' know that you're gone
We're unaware of your absence
The sun and the moon, the other planets and the earth
The celestial bodies were separated in creation
Separated from each other at birth, it's true
They were all divided from the start
Bits of wood and an old cloth shroud
A crude coffin and burial materials
The man in the temple's kicking out the crowd, it's true
The priest is expelling the people from the site
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind