The Meaning Behind “100,000” by Kevin Morby and the Poetry of Shirtless Dudes, Metallica, and Engines in the Yard

Kevin Morby returned in May with his eighth studio album, Little Wide Open. And if you want a glimpse of the little things Morby pries open on the record, look no further than his song “100,000”. On Morby’s website, writer Rachel Kushner documents hanging out with the indie rock musician as he dips his fries in ranch, a kind of cozy condiment-souvenir from his Midwest home. Something borrowed to carry him forward in Los Angeles.

It’s that sort of epic routine that he describes in “100,000”.

You’re Gonna Write Poetry, Babe

Here, Morby writes about small-town life and, in his chronicles, finds the beauty in ordinary experiences. This isn’t weepy nostalgia. It’s an enduring poetry, which remains a through line in Morby’s songwriting.

Pretty girls, pretty sisters,
Twirling batons, blowing penny whistles.
You’re gonna swan dive,
When you kiss her.
You’re gonna write poetry, babe,
When you miss her.
Southern Baptist,
Father, mister.
Pretty girls, pretty sisters.

The “ugly” boys and brothers are based on Morby’s Kansas City neighbors.

He told Stereogum, “They’re probably, like, good-looking young men. It’s so hard to describe people that you talk about in a song, calling them ugly. But they just look like some good old boys, some good old Midwestern boys who always have their shirts off, working on their f***ing cars. And in my mind, I like to think that they’re listening to Metallica, but I think in reality they’re probably listening to something more modern.”

Still, the characters Morby sketches of real people, he imagines, are shirtless under the hood cranking Metallica’s Master Of Puppets and Kill ’Em All. And if the shirtless dudes are micro neighbors, then the fiction-boys form the macro deep-time iterations of something Bruce Springsteen might have penned about the beautiful losers on the outskirts of Jersey who just want to kiss their girls under the boardwalk Ferris wheel.

Ugly boys, ugly brothers,
Die for your country,
Or one another.
Muscle cars,
In the front yard.
Master of puppets,
And kill ’em all.
Don’t question God,
Don’t question Mother.
Ugly boys, ugly brothers.

Common People

Morby wrote “100,000” with Meg Duffy of Hand Habits fame. (Duffy, a virtuoso shredder, used to play in Morby’s touring band.) They wrote the song shortly after Television’s Tom Verlaine had died. And Morby wanted to write something in the style of the post-punk legend.

The track echoes Television’s harmonized punk but also brings to mind Wilco’s Verlaine-and-Richard Lloyd-inspired work on “Impossible Germany”.

I grew up in the Midwest too. And Morby’s not the only musician ordering a side of ranch in some diner far from home.

100,000 people,
100,000 lives.
100,000 teardrops,
Right behind their eyes.

Photo by Jim Bennett/Getty Images