Toad the Wet Sprocket was formed in 1986 at San Marcos High School just outside of Santa Barbara, California, when singer-songwriter Glen Phillips was just a 14-year-old freshman, and the other members were 17-year-old juniors. The band drew its name from the Eric Idle monologue "Rock Notes" on Monty Python's Contractual Obligation Album from 1980. Their first public appearance was at an open-microphone talent contest in September 1986 (which they lost).
Toad the Wet Sprocket's first album came out in 1989. Named Bread and Circus, it was their first effort for Columbia Records, who had signed them out of high school. The album spawned the singles "Way Away" and "One Little Girl," which made the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart, but did not receive much attention.
The follow-up, Pale, was released in 1990 and saw their sound mature. Featuring the singles "Jam" and the Modern Rock Chart hit "Come Back Down," the album was still not a massive success.
The band finally achieved fame with their third album, Fear (released in 1991), which became the band's first RIAA certified platinum album. Also, the singles "All I Want" and "Walk on the Ocean" reached the top twenty on the Billboard Hot 100.
In 1994, after years of heavy touring, the band released their follow-up to Fear, Dulcinea. This album spawned the hit singles "Fall Down", which reached #1 on the US Modern Rock charts as well as #5 on the Mainstream Rock chart, as well as "Something's Always Wrong", which also charted. This album was also certified platinum by the RIAA.
A compilation album of b-sides and rarities, In Light Syrup, was released in 1995; it included the single "Good Intentions", which was featured on the soundtrack for the television show Friends. Largely due to the strength of the single, this compilation was certified as a gold album in 2001.
The release of Coil in 1997 acted much like a follow up to 1994's Dulcinea. Featuring a more electric, rock sound, it contained the Modern Rock and Mainstream Rock hit "Come Down", as well as the radio hit "Crazy Life" (which did not chart). The album, despite the success of "Come Down" as a single, failed to reach any sales benchmarks.
Toad the Wet Sprocket formally broke up in July 1998, citing creative differences. Since breaking up, the band performed together in 2002 at a Rape Crisis Center benefit and opened up for Counting Crows. In 2006 they began touring the United States as a band in small-venue, short-run tours each summer.
In 2009, bassist Dean Dinning said Toad the Wet Sprocket was now something each member considered an active project, and though they had not released a new studio album since 1997 and only did small summer tours, they no longer considered themselves "broken up". In May 2010, the band gathered at a California studio to begin re-recording some of their older hits for licensing reasons. Columbia Records owns the masters to the band's albums. Therefore, the band makes little money from them, so to be able to make a living off their own talent again, they made these re-recordings with the goal of having them used in film and TV.
On December 7, 2010, Toad the Wet Sprocket released their first new studio track in 11 years. The holiday track "It Doesn't Feel Like Christmas", a cover of a Sam Phillips original, was posted on their official site, available via Bandcamp, for free download just in time for the holidays, along with a new message on their site: "We're that band that did 'Walk on the Ocean', 'All I Want', 'Something's Always Wrong', and "Fall Down'. The one with the weird name. We're back from a long slumber and look forward to saying hello some time. Keep in touch…" The band had recently signed a deal with Primary Wave to handle their back catalog and any future releases, and on December 11, 2010, the band mentioned, both on stage and in an offstage YouTube interview, that they are currently writing songs for their first new studio album since 1997's Coil. In addition, they began playing two new songs, "Friendly Fire" and "The Moment", which were being worked on for the new album.
On April 12, 2011, Toad the Wet Sprocket released a new greatest hits album titled All You Want in digital and disc form via their official website. The 11-track CD includes brand new studio versions of their hits. The band does not have access to some of the versions they did for Columbia Records in the '90s. However, they did regain full control of the songs from their first two albums, and they planned to re-release them in remastered form on their own label, Abe's Records, following the release of their upcoming studio album.
On March 22, 2013, it was announced via Toad the Wet Sprocket's Facebook page that recording of the new album had been completed. The album was produced and mixed by Mikal Blue at Revolver Studios in Thousand Oaks, California. On June 5, 2013, the band announced the first new single in 16 years on Rolling Stone's website titled "New Constellation". An album of the same name was released on the band's own Abe's Records on October 15, 2013. The band marketed the new album via the crowdsourcing website Kickstarter. The band initially set a fundraising goal of $50,000, expecting it to take about two months to raise that amount. Instead, fans contributed more than $50,000 in less than 20 hours. When the Kickstarter campaign finally came to a close, they had raised a total of $264,762.
In 2014, Toad the Wet Sprocket resumed touring and opened a number of shows for Counting Crows. They showcased some of the new material from New Constellation, the Kickstarter-funded album, including "California Wasted" and the album's title track while playing a number of their earlier hits. During summer 2015, the band went on tour with fellow '90s acts Smash Mouth and Tonic. The band released an EP called Architect of the Ruin on June 16, 2015.
In 2018, Toad the Wet Sprocket announced that they had reissued their albums fear and Dulcinea on a deluxe remastered vinyl LP available through their online store. The same year, they also released a limited deluxe 5-LP box set of colored vinyl for their albums fear, Dulcinea and Acoustic Dance Party.
In a January 2020 interview with ChicagoNow, Glen Phillips stated that "Toad has started recording again." In addition, he confirmed the band's first official lineup change, and that drummer Guss had left the band on good terms. Previous occasional touring member Josh Daubin replaced Guss.
On September 25, 2020, they released a new song entitled “Starting Now”, followed by another new song "Old Habits Die Hard" on October 23rd, from their upcoming album, set to be released in 2021.
There's another band with the same name:
2. Toad The Wet Sprocket was an NWOBHM (New Wave of British Heavy Metal) band active from the mid-70s to 1982. They released two singles, "Pete's Punk Song" and "Reaching the Sky", before their breakup. Their song, "Blues in A", was included on Metal for Muthas compilation (1980).
Butterflies
Toad The Wet Sprocket Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
gigantic
out on the water
I asked my dad for a nickel
He gave it to me
It was kind of misty
I couldn't be sure what it was
And of course, he wouldn't tell me)
the eggs and wings of butterflies i love the wings
of butterflies
a man drove up in an ugly car
and he flashed his lights at everything he saw
and his eyes were red
and his stereo was so loud you couldn't hear the engine's roar
and he yelled at everybody in the road
and did not notice all the moths he'd massacred
spread across the open road
(weird when you get close
to something that BIG
you can't see anything at all...)
in time i will
collect the world
the eggs and wings of you who fall on
butterflies calvary
had you wings of i give my children
butterflies
a moth had settled upon his arm and he looked at it with a lazy eye
and he lifted up a gigantic hand
and he spread his fingers towards the sky
and he nudged the moth to make it fly away
but moths are fragile things
and he just wiped its ody down across his shoulder blade
he's a wonder, he's a little black-wing boy
oh my daughters
he'll fill you with joy
in time i will
collect the world
the hearts and limbs of
butterflies you who soar o'er
calvary
had you wings of
butterflies oh father, i offer
butterflies
The song "Butterflies" by Toad The Wet Sprocket is a beautiful yet slightly mysterious song that is up for interpretation. The lines in the song narrate two stories giving different angles and perspective, both of which revolve around a similar central theme. The first story revolves around a child who is excitedly asking his father for a nickel after seeing something gigantic over the water but his father refuses to tell him. The second story tells of a man who is driving around recklessly, killing moths and damaging their wings with the wind caused by his car. Despite the arrogance displayed by the man, we see an element of wonder in humanity by his reaction when a moth lands on his arm.
The lines "in time I will collect the world" and "the eggs and wings of butterflies" repeat several times throughout the song, creating a peaceful and reflective tone that reveals the central theme of the lyrics. The singer seems to be acknowledging the importance of delicate and fragile things like butterflies and has a desire to collect them. The lyrics also suggest that this is a metaphor for something else in life, perhaps experiences or emotions, as the singer also collects "hearts and limbs."
Overall, the song is about appreciating the delicate and fragile things in life that are often overlooked, while also acknowledging the forces that can be destructive towards them. The songwriting is poetic, and the metaphors used throughout the song give an element of mystery and intrigue that leaves listeners enthralled.
Line by Line Meaning
I saw something
Gigantic
Out on the water
I asked my dad for a nickel
He gave it to me
It was kind of misty
I couldn't be sure what it was
And of course, he wouldn't tell me
As a child, I saw something big in the distance and asked my dad to give me what little money he had. It was hard to tell what the object was, but he refused to tell me.
In time I will collect the world
The eggs and wings of butterflies I love the wings
Of butterflies
I plan to collect and appreciate the delicate and beautiful wings of butterflies, as well as their eggs.
A man drove up in an ugly car
And he flashed his lights at everything he saw
And his eyes were red
And his stereo was so loud you couldn't hear the engine's roar
And he yelled at everybody in the road
And did not notice all the moths he'd massacred
Spread across the open road
A man with a terrible car and poor attitude recklessly drove down the road, blasting loud music and failing to notice the harm he causes by killing innocent moths.
(Weird when you get close
to something that BIG
you can't see anything at all...)
It's funny how something so big can be hard to see up close.
In time I will collect the world
The eggs and wings of you who fall on
calvary
Had you wings of butterflies
I give my children
Butterflies
Eventually, I'll gather everything that falls, including those who've suffered, and use it to teach my children the beauty and fragility of butterflies.
A moth had settled upon his arm and he looked at it with a lazy eye
And he lifted up a gigantic hand
And he spread his fingers towards the sky
And he nudged the moth to make it fly away
But moths are fragile things
And he just wiped its ody down across his shoulder blade
The same man carelessly brushed a moth off his arm, showing no regard for its fragility and gently nudged it away, effectively killing it as he wiped it off his shoulder.
He's a wonder, he's a little black-wing boy
Oh my daughters
He'll fill you with joy
Despite the callousness of some men, the beautiful butterflies can fill one with joy and beauty, particularly the little black-winged boys.
In time I will collect the world
The hearts and limbs of
Butterflies you who soar o'er
calvary
Had you wings of
Butterflies
Oh Father, I offer
Butterflies
I'll continue to treasure the delicacy and beauty of butterflies, and offer them up in prayer to a higher power.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: TIM N BAXTER, KLAUS ULRICH N DERENDORF, KATE N ELSWORTH, THOMAS MARK HARMER NICHOLS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind