Inaction

Album: With Love and Squalor (2005)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • "The ultimate distillation of the overriding theme" of With Love and Squalor, this song combines the subjects of sexual terror and the "social ramifications of suddenly being a viable band, 'viable' meaning that other people actually know you exist and give a sh*t about it, no matter how small a sh*t that is," as Keith Murray tells it. "I think this song spends a lot of time worrying about why people that know me and recognize that it's sort of a cyclical thing in their mind, which I get totally bent out of shape over active behavior so much that it might become sexual about anything."
  • Regarding the line, "I'm sick of waking up on your floor for the sixth or seventh night in a row" Murray explains, "That is largely delivered in total degrees, and an obscurity. But that is actually a pretty literal line. There was a girl that I was in a relationship with, a relationship that really wasn't happening, we were just totally hanging out and flirting without even acknowledging it was flirting. But she was just a very, very good friend. So I would be in Manhattan or somewhere, out drinking until five in the morning, and then obviously not want to drive or take a 40-minute subway ride home. So it legitimately involved consistently sleeping on the floor of somebody's apartment with whom I should have been in bed with, or just gone home, and make a decision one way or the other about how it was going to go, rather than go to her house and be like, 'Oh, well, I guess I'll lie here on the floor then, and I'll see you tomorrow.'" (read the full interview with Keith Murray)

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Loreena McKennitt

Loreena McKennittSongwriter Interviews

The Celtic music maker Loreena McKennitt on finding musical inspiration, the "New Age" label, and working on the movie Tinker Bell.

James Williamson of Iggy & the Stooges

James Williamson of Iggy & the StoogesSongwriter Interviews

The Stooges guitarist (and producer of the Kill City album) talks about those early recordings and what really happened with David Bowie.

Amanda Palmer

Amanda PalmerSongwriter Interviews

Call us crazy, but we like it when an artist comes around who doesn't mesh with the status quo.

Band Names

Band NamesFact or Fiction

Was "Pearl" Eddie Vedder's grandmother, and did she really make a hallucinogenic jam? Did Journey have a contest to name the group? And what does KISS stand for anyway?

Bob Daisley

Bob DaisleySongwriter Interviews

Bob was the bass player and lyricist for the first two Ozzy Osbourne albums. Here's how he wrote songs like "Crazy Train" and "Mr. Crowley" with Ozzy and Randy Rhoads.

Melanie

MelanieSongwriter Interviews

The singer-songwriter Melanie talks about her spiritual awakening at Woodstock, "Brand New Key," and why songwriting is an art, not a craft.