Tyler

Album: Rubberneck (1994)
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Songfacts®:

  • Written by Toadies lead singer/guitarist Todd Lewis, this song is about a stalker in the town of Tyler, Texas, or at least the folklore about it. Tyler is outside of Dallas, near where the band is from. According to Lewis, his family would sit around and tell greatly exaggerated stories about local lore, and the Tyler stalker made a particularly intriguing tale. The story was that even though citizens had their guns ready for this guy, the stalker would go out of his way to make sure he was seen, even tapping on windows to get noticed. The song is written from the perspective of this peeping tom.
  • This song was released as a single, and while it did get a lot of airplay on Modern Rock radio stations, it didn't do nearly as well as their song "Possum Kingdom." Both songs were similar in their creepy subject matter and videos, which contained scenes that would fit nicely on CSI. Neither song mentioned the title in the lyrics, which was not a good marketing strategy in the '90s when there was no easy way to find out the name of a song you were hearing on the radio. Toadies may have followed up their Rubberneck album with a hit, but they never had the chance - their next album was rejected by their record company and the band broke up.
  • In the film Dark Secrets: The Stories of Rubberneck, Todd Lewis talk about coming up with this song. "My grandparents lived in East Texas where my dad grew up on a farm and we would go visit them for holidays. Inevitably, around the table, they would start talking about what's going on, and one of the conversations turned to some guy who had been spotted running around these farmhouses in East Texas and peeking in windows and how he's probably going to break into a house sooner or later and nab somebody or do something terrible.

    I look over at the window. Yeah, that'd be creepy if a guy peeked in. Then I look over the other way and there's a rifle rack with eight shotguns on it. I'm thinking, every one of these houses is armed to the teeth. These people stay alive, they hunt and they protect their property. And I just went, 'There's no way this guy's for real.'

    Then years later I was thinking back on that and thinking, 'Well, I think that was just some hysteria going on, but what if the guy was real and what would he be thinking and what would he do?' So, that's what I wrote 'Tyler' about: this guy, his thought process about being in love with somebody – so in love that he would go risk life and limb to just be with this person."
  • Why does the guy in this song rummage through the refrigerator and find a beer? Todd Lewis explained: "There's a moment sometimes when you're writing where you're like, 'I don't have any idea what this line is going to be. I've got these lines before it and these after it and I have no line to go in this one spot. I'm thirsty, so he's going to get a beer now, that's what he's going to do.'"

Comments: 21

  • AnonymousTyler was written in 88
  • No One Girl from ColumbusIs it awful that this song turns me on?!
  • Jenny Hendrix from On EarthBest stalker song ever written! Only the damn Toadies could make a song about a creeper so damn ANTHEMIC! You root for the damn stalker by the time the song's done, and the harmonized feedback -- UNTOUCHABLE. Only part that sounds like the Pixies exactly is that lead melody at the beginning.
  • Don from Texasi didnt know that they are from the same are as me right now, i just liked the song but when i actually listened to the lyrics i was like "wait oh crap what is he talking about?" also 'where is my mind' and 'tyler' are two different songs. but yeah crazy how i live in the same area as where this band used to be
  • Nomsalis from VermontThis is an amazing song and maybe it has a few nods to Where Is My Mind it is in no way a rip off. Enjoy it or not but STFU.
  • Jon from Austin Not a Pixies rip off to me
  • Metaloaf from IndianapolisHd, who cares what the two songs are about, the chords sound exactly the same, and "Where Is My Mind" came out 7 years earlier, hence this song rips that one off. You can change the lyrics, but that doesn't make the instrumentation suddenly original. If you took out the vocals and played this song for people, nearly everyone would go, "Oh, duh, that's the Pixies, but it's like a cover version."
  • Hd from AmarilloI don't understand the people saying this song is a rip off of The Pixies' "Where is My Mind". That song is about his trip to the Caribbean and a fish he saw when he was underwater. Tyler is about a peeping tom/potential rapist in Tyler, TX. Chill out guys....
  • Mike from DallasTyler is actually in East Texas & Toadies are from Ft Worth west of Dallas.
  • Joe Mudd from Ham Lake, MnGreat, underrated song. Creepy as it is. Yes it’s a Pixies ripoff. But in a great way! I’ve heard a live version where the band gives mad credit to the Pixies for their inspiration.
  • Phil from ConcordThe last verse should be a dead giveaway this song isn't romantic
  • Joe Doe from Outside Your HouseThis song is about me
  • Pat from TacomaI just can't believe no one talks about what an obvious rip off this song is of pixies - where is my mind.
  • Erica from Texas (dfw)SO, had nothing to do with Ezras (lead singer from Tabularasa) girlfriend, at the time, Tyler?
  • Bruce from Baytown, TxJeff from Az- same thing here, I can listen to this song forever. This is gonna be my song to the girl I can't have from now on haha. I will be with her tonight! Good comment.
  • Easygreen from Watertown, MaIt always makes me laugh when someone talks about how they think this song is romantic. Does anyone listen to themselves when they sing along?
  • Crayola from Knoxville, TnI think the song is about a teenage boy and teenage girl who are in love and can't be together because he's in a juvenile detention center or jail. He escapes and makes it to her house and intends for them to run off to Mexico and finally be together. At the end of the song when it says, "She pulls the covers tighter . . .", I think that means she thinks someone is breaking in the house, but she has no idea it's her boyfriend.
  • Rusty from Waco, TxThis song is about a rapist in Tyler. I thought it was always pretty obvious if you would listen to the lyrics.
  • Jeff from Casa Grande, AzI love this song. So different. Original. It keeps me wondering. And, I just love the music and beat, too. I like to listen to it after I have just seen an irresistably beautiful woman. Yeah, I will be with her tonight. In my dreams, yeah. But, I always think she would appreciate my passion and determination. Yeah!!!! Oh, yeah!!!
  • Bk from Ft. Worth, TxFrom the first hanging notes of the song, I put this in the Cd player when I want "everything to be alright"
  • Keith from Kyle, TxOne of my favorite Toadies songs, but man does it creep me out.
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