We a Famly

Album: Oczy Mlody (2017)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • The Flaming Lips teamed up with frequent collaborator Miley Cyrus for this dreamy track. The "Wrecking Ball" hitmaker features on the chant-along chorus, before taking over from Wayne Coyne to sing the second verse.
  • The Flaming Lips first presented this song to Cyrus back in 2014, when she was on the South American leg of her Bangerz World Tour. "It sounded a little different, a lot slower. It didn't have the little hook that's on it now," Lips frontman Wayne Coyne recalled to Billboard magazine. "She sang a little demo of it. A good bit of the vocal you hear on the track is from that very first take she did the very first time she heard it. Through the marvels of technology now you can speed up and slow down and change things without really damaging the quality of the recording that she'd done."

    "It took us a few times before we knew we were going with it," he added. "We finally took it to (co-producer) Dave Fridmann; He said, 'No wonder nobody likes it. It's too f---ng slow!' so we spend it up and there you go."
  • Cyrus first hooked up with the band when she provided guest vocals on "With A Little Help From My Friends," which was part of the Flaming Lips' track-for-track tribute to the Sgt. Pepper album. In 2015, she teamed up with Wayne Coyne and co for her 23 track album that was released under the name Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz.
  • This song is the closing track of Oczy Mlody and it ends the album on an optimistic note.

    "It's just dorky enough and just simple enough that you can walk away liking it and not worry about the depths of its meaning too much, and that to me is a great triumph," Coyne told ABC Radio. "Sometimes I think music and songs do that, where they wanna tell you something that's so important, eh, you just don't care that much. And sometimes music is not trying to be important at all and it just resonates with you, and you can sing along all day."
  • The song title is not a typo, nor is Wayne Coyne's keyboard missing a few letters. The misspelling is intentional.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

David Clayton-Thomas of Blood, Sweat & Tears

David Clayton-Thomas of Blood, Sweat & TearsSongwriter Interviews

The longtime BS&T frontman tells the "Spinning Wheel" story, including the line he got from Joni Mitchell.

Devo

DevoSongwriter Interviews

Devo founders Mark Mothersbaugh and Jerry Casale take us into their world of subversive performance art. They may be right about the De-Evoloution thing.

Timothy B. Schmit

Timothy B. SchmitSongwriter Interviews

The longtime Eagle talks about soaring back to his solo career, and what he learned about songwriting in the group.

The Punk Photography of Chris Stein

The Punk Photography of Chris SteinSong Writing

Chris Stein of Blondie shares photos and stories from his book about the New York City punk scene.

Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath, Heaven And Hell

Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath, Heaven And HellSongwriter Interviews

Guitarist Tony Iommi on the "Iron Man" riff, the definitive Black Sabbath song, and how Ozzy and Dio compared as songwriters.

Benny Mardones

Benny MardonesSongwriter Interviews

His song "Into The Night" is one of the most-played of all time. For Benny, it took him to hell and back.