The band achieved their greatest critical and commercial success in the mid-nineties when they signed with the influential indie rock label Matador Records. It was during this time that Thinking Fellers produced their most prominent albums, Lovelyville, and the critically lauded college radio hit Strangers from the Universe. Despite its relatively poor production values, Mother of All Saints is considered by many fans the group's masterpiece. In 1996 they toured briefly as an opening act for the then-popular band Live but were not received well by the Live fanbase. Thinking Fellers has been largely dormant since 1996. They have toured sporadically and released only one full album, Bob Dinners and Larry Noodles Present Tubby Turdner's Celebrity Avalanche, which received mixed reviews. They toured Holland, Germany, Switzerland and the U.K. in 1994 and made an appearance on the John Peel radio show on the BBC.
In 2001 author Jonathan Franzen referenced the band in his widely-acclaimed bestselling novel The Corrections. The character Brian, a snobbish fan of "west coast underground bands," listens to the albums of Thinking Fellers Union while writing the music software that will make him a young millionaire. Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 is inactive as of 2007, although band members have not ruled out the possibility of further albums and touring. Their song "The Piston and the Shaft" is frequently used as background music for announcements on National Public Radio stations.
Noble Experiment
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And the failures of man make you sigh
You can look to the time soon arriving
When this noble experiment winds down and calls it a day
Time has come now to stop being human
Time to find a new creature to be
Be a fish or a weed or a sparrow
All the gardens are sprouting with flowers
All the treetops are bursting with birds
And the people all know that it's over
They lay down all their airs and they hang up their tiresome words
The lyrics of Thinking Fellers Union Local 282's song Noble Experiment speak to a collective weariness with the present state of humanity and a desire for something new to emerge. The first verse acknowledges the sadness and failures that can weigh us down, but also suggests that there is an end in sight for what is described as a "noble experiment." This could be interpreted as a reference to human civilization as a whole, which has been an ongoing project since its inception. The second verse takes this idea a step further by suggesting that it is time to stop being human altogether and find a new form of life to inhabit. This can be seen as a radical and perhaps even nihilistic view of the world, but it also carries a certain sense of optimism in the sense that it sees life as an ongoing process of evolution and adaptation. The final verse suggests that this new world has already begun to emerge, with gardens and treetops bursting with life, and people laying down their "airs" and "tiresome words" in recognition of the new reality.
Overall, Noble Experiment can be interpreted as a call to embrace change and let go of outdated modes of thought and being. It suggests that there is a deeper current of life and evolution at work in the world, and that we should be open to the possibilities that this presents us.
Line by Line Meaning
If the sadness of life makes you tired
When feelings of melancholy have worn you out
And the failures of man make you sigh
And the incompetencies of humanity make you disheartened
You can look to the time soon arriving
In the near future, there will be a time
When this noble experiment winds down and calls it a day
When this admirable endeavor reaches its conclusion
Time has come now to stop being human
It is now time to relinquish humanity
Time to find a new creature to be
And instead become a different life form
Be a fish or a weed or a sparrow
Become either a marine life, a plant or a bird
For the earth has grown tired and all of your time has expired
As the Earth grows exhausted, your time is up
All the gardens are sprouting with flowers
The gardens are blooming and flourishing
All the treetops are bursting with birds
All trees are teeming with birds
And the people all know that it's over
Everyone is aware that this is the end
They lay down all their airs and they hang up their tiresome words
People abandon their vanity and dispose of their trite expressions
Contributed by Mackenzie M. Suggest a correction in the comments below.