Songfacts®:

• This song is a hypochondriac anthem of sorts, with lead singer Brad Roberts singing about old age and a series of ailments. In a Songfacts interview with Roberts, he said: "'Afternoons & Coffeespoons' is a song about being afraid of getting old, which is a reflection of my very neurotic character. I have always been preoccupied with death. It's kind of a morbid preoccupation, I'll admit. I always struggled with severe clinical depression, suicidal thoughts, high anxiety levels - ever since I was a little kid. I got extremely good marks at school, but my emotional life was a wreck. And I don't think I understood that I had a psychiatric illness, I just was constantly terrified of things that nobody else seemed to be worried about, like my death."
• Some of Brad Roberts' grandparents died slow, unpleasant deaths in hospitals, which informed this song. Another influence was an early visit to the hospital to get his tonsils out. He was three years old and placed in a crib the night before the operation. His parents weren't allowed to be there, so he spent the night tormented before the surgery. Later in life, the thought of dying in a hospital was rather distressing.
• In America, this was the follow-up to Crash Test Dummies big hit "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm," a tough song to follow because it's so unusual. "Afternoons & Coffeespoons" was a tougher sell, and only reached #66. It was their last charting entry in America, but they did place several more songs on the chart in their native Canada.
• The video, directed by Tim Hamilton, plays out Brad Roberts' worst fears, as he is taken to a hospital and taunted by death.