They Decided Not to Like Us

Album: Songs from The God That Comes (2013)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • "They Decided Not to Like Us" is the epilogue of Hawksley Workman's one-man show, The God That Comes based off of the Greek tragedy by Euripides, The Bacchae. The song serves as almost a modern-day version of the story because of the similar themes. The Bacchae revolves around the King of Thebes, Pentheus, being upset that his people are engaging in disgraceful activities involving alcohol consumption and coitus.

    "They Decided Not to Like Us" speaks about feeling badly about oneself after a night of partying and possibly being judged for partaking in those same kinds of events as in the play.
  • The idea of "They Decided Not to Like Us" being a present day version of the story is evident in the first two verses with the lyrics mentioning alcohol and worrying about people seeing revealing photos:

    Nudie pictures on your mobile phone
    Forgotten in the back of a cab
    You were just going home
    You were too drunk to know

    And you'll wake up at seven
    With your guts in a knot
    Wondering if the world has seen
    All the close-ups you took
    That you texted to me
  • The song is different than any other because it was the only one not written for the play. Workman wrote it with Hot Hot Heat's lead singer, Steve Bays, before they had started their Canadian rock supergroup, Mounties.

    In our interview with Workman, he revealed what inspired the song. "I sort of had a night of excessiveness and then the next day I had all the self-loathing and guilt that comes with those kinds of nights," he said. Hawksley went on to explain how some people did not like the tune included at the end of the play, but that the point of it was to bring the whole show into the present.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Concert Disasters

Concert DisastersFact or Fiction

Ozzy biting a dove? Alice Cooper causing mayhem with a chicken? Creed so bad they were sued? See if you can spot the real concert mishaps.

Female Singers Of The 90s

Female Singers Of The 90sMusic Quiz

The ladies who ruled the '90s in this quiz.

Philip Cody

Philip CodySongwriter Interviews

A talented lyricist, Philip helped revive Neil Sedaka's career with the words to "Laughter In The Rain" and "Bad Blood."

We Will Rock You (To Sleep): Pop Stars Who Recorded Kids' Albums

We Will Rock You (To Sleep): Pop Stars Who Recorded Kids' AlbumsSong Writing

With the rise of Kindie rock, more musicians are embracing their inner child with tunes for tots - here, we look at pop stars who recorded kids' albums.

Van Dyke Parks

Van Dyke ParksSongwriter Interviews

U2, Carly Simon, Joanna Newsom, Brian Wilson and Fiona Apple have all gone to Van Dyke Parks to make their songs exceptional.

Real or Spinal Tap

Real or Spinal TapMusic Quiz

They sang about pink torpedoes and rocking you tonight tonight, but some real lyrics are just as ridiculous. See if you can tell which lyrics are real and which are Spinal Tap in this lyrics quiz.