{"id":4209,"date":"2026-07-22T19:01:33","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T23:01:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.songfacts.com\/articles\/?p=4209"},"modified":"2026-07-22T19:35:38","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T23:35:38","slug":"the-meaning-behind-100000-by-kevin-morby-and-the-poetry-of-shirtless-dudes-metallica-and-engines-in-the-yard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.songfacts.com\/articles\/the-meaning-behind-100000-by-kevin-morby-and-the-poetry-of-shirtless-dudes-metallica-and-engines-in-the-yard\/","title":{"rendered":"The Meaning Behind \u201c100,000\u201d by Kevin Morby and the Poetry of Shirtless Dudes, Metallica, and Engines in the Yard"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Kevin Morby returned in May with his eighth studio album, <em>Little Wide Open<\/em>. And if you want a glimpse of the little things Morby pries open on the record, look no further than his song \u201c100,000\u201d. On Morby\u2019s website, writer Rachel Kushner <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kevinmorby.com\/LWO\/little-wide-open\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">documents<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s that sort of epic routine that he describes in \u201c100,000\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Kevin Morby - 100,000 (Official Video)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/kLdxPjt1IR0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>You\u2019re Gonna Write Poetry, Babe<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Here, Morby writes about small-town life and, in his chronicles, finds the beauty in ordinary experiences. This isn\u2019t weepy nostalgia. It\u2019s an enduring poetry, which remains a through line in Morby\u2019s songwriting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Pretty girls, pretty sisters,<br>Twirling batons, blowing penny whistles.<br>You\u2019re gonna swan dive,<br>When you kiss her.<br>You\u2019re gonna<\/em><em>\u2005write<\/em><em>\u2005poetry, babe,<br>When you<\/em><em>\u2005miss her.<br>Southern Baptist,<br>Father, mister.<br>Pretty girls, pretty<\/em><em>\u2005sisters<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The \u201cugly\u201d boys and brothers are based on Morby\u2019s Kansas City neighbors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He <a href=\"https:\/\/stereogum.com\/2499019\/the-story-behind-every-song-on-kevin-morbys-masterful-new-album-little-wide-open\/interviews\/footnotes-interview\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">told<\/a> <em>Stereogum<\/em>, \u201cThey\u2019re probably, like, good-looking young men. It\u2019s 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\u2019re listening to Metallica, but I think in reality they\u2019re probably listening to something more modern.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Still, the characters Morby sketches of real people, he imagines, are shirtless under the hood cranking Metallica\u2019s <em>Master Of Puppets<\/em> and <em>Kill \u2019Em All<\/em>. 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Ugly boys, ugly brothers,<br>Die for your country,<br>Or one another.<br>Muscle cars,<br>In the front yard.<br>Master of puppets,<br>And&nbsp;kill \u2019em all.<br>Don\u2019t question God,<br>Don\u2019t question Mother.<br>Ugly boys, ugly brothers<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Common People<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Morby wrote \u201c100,000\u201d with Meg Duffy of Hand Habits fame. (Duffy, a virtuoso shredder, used to play in Morby\u2019s touring band.) They wrote the song shortly after Television\u2019s Tom Verlaine had died. And Morby wanted to write something <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=g4myghLPLZc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">in the style of<\/a> the post-punk legend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The track echoes Television\u2019s harmonized punk but also brings to mind Wilco\u2019s Verlaine-and-Richard Lloyd-inspired work on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.songfacts.com\/facts\/wilco\/impossible-germany\">\u201cImpossible Germany\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I grew up in the Midwest too. And Morby\u2019s not the only musician ordering a side of ranch in some diner far from home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>100,000 people,<br>100,000 lives.<br>100,000 teardrops,<br>Right behind their eyes<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Photo by Jim Bennett\/Getty Images<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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 \u201c100,000\u201d. On Morby\u2019s website, writer Rachel Kushner documents hanging out with the indie rock musician as he dips his fries [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":973477,"featured_media":4212,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"byline":{"profiles":[{"type":"byline_id","atts":{"term_id":316,"post_id":2139}}]},"savage_platform_role_ideator":[],"savage_platform_role_editor":[],"savage_platform_role_senior_editor":[],"savage_platform_role_photographer":[],"savage_platform_role_illustrator":[],"savage_platform_role_translator":[],"savage_platform_role_as-told-to":[],"savage_platform_role_reviewed-by":[],"savage_platform_disable_recirculation":false,"savage_platform_article_type":"news","savage_platform_vice_article_type":"article","savage_platform_article_intent":"","savage_platform_show_affiliate_disclaimer":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"wp_curate_deduplication":false,"wp_curate_unique_pinned_posts":false,"savage_platform_featured_image_caption":"","_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"savage_platform_subheadline":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[200,452],"byline":[316],"class_list":["post-4209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","tag-indie-rock","tag-kevin-morby"],"savage_platform_primary_term":{"category":{"term_name":"Features","term_id":12,"term_link":"https:\/\/www.songfacts.com\/articles\/category\/features\/"},"post_tag":{"term_name":"indie rock","term_id":200,"term_link":"https:\/\/www.songfacts.com\/articles\/tag\/indie-rock\/"}},"hide_from_homepage":false,"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - 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