Mystery Machine
Nostalgic sickness: pre-pandemic beach runs and garage band local bars: can't afford to see friends, steal a van, Mystery Machine back to what you're missing.
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ISRC QZES82028822 (soundexchange)
Track seventeen on Masks and Monsters. Luke solo, North Park lockdown, August 2020. Penultimate before Derrida Makes a Différance closes the LP; Last Day Deaf tied the naming story to this title. The Mystery Machine works here as van, as band vehicle, and as time machine pointed backward.
It opens in pre-pandemic San Diego freedom (summertime / dropping by your house, burrito everyday / pick up all of our friends) and a teenage ritual the lockdown can’t reach: stir crazy need to see my dudes / jam after school / why can’t we run it back? (the second pass has tir crazy, the DistroKid spelling preserved). Same stir crazy vocabulary as Pandemic Blues, aimed at the missing crew rather than moldy bread. The reunion turns into a fantasy priced out, self-deprecation as planning: need money to afford to see ya / need a sugar daddy / too ugly to get paid to make out.
The chorus names the condition (oh I got the nostalgic sickness) and lets it stack at the end, a before-times ache on a pandemic record. Verse two is band biography and Luke’s actual lane: toured local bars / tried to keep playing but playing was all it was, stars dreamed and bars stayed, I guess I never grew my way out of it. The closing scheme escalates the capitalism satire into cartoon theft: work for a bank for twenty years / forget that I had friends to start with / I could steal a van / mystery machine.
Same friend-yearning as Quarantine and Chill and the Happy Birthday drive-by; same cartoon mask as Snuggle With Shaggy and Shaggy’s Anthem. It hands off to Derrida for cosmic nihilism, but this one is local myth first.
Written, performed, mixed, and mastered by Luke Francis Walton. Album art by Gentle Giant Illustrations.
Lyrics
Summertime Dropping by your house Nothing to do now And I know that You're down To go down to the beach with me Anytime Grab you on the way Burrito everyday Pick up all of our friends And we'll pick up another day Stir crazy need to see my dudes Break in the church Jam after school Why can't we run it back? I wanna take a trip to see ya Though I know you're busy Maybe I could get all of our friends To join and force your hand Though I know I Need money to afford to see ya Need a sugar daddy Too ugly to get paid to make out Need a better plan Oh I got the Nostalgic sickness The nostalgic sickness We made a band Jammed in your garage Toured local bars And we tried to keep playing But playing was all it was We wrote a song Dreaming of the stars But we stayed in local bars And I guess that I never grew my way out of it tir crazy need to see my dudes Break in the church Jam after school Why can't we run it back? I wanna take a trip to see ya Though I know you're busy Maybe I could get all of our friends To join and force your hand Though I know I Need money to afford to see ya Need a sugar daddy Too ugly to get paid to make out Need a better plan Oh I got the Nostalgic sickness The nostalgic sickness Why would ya wanna know the future Why learn the way it gonna hurt ya Time machine made for reminiscing Let's head on back to what you're missing now I wanna take a trip to see ya Though I know you're busy Maybe I could get all of our friends To join and force your hand Though I know I Need money to afford to see ya Need a sugar daddy Too ugly to get paid to make out Need a better plan Maybe I could Work for a bank for twenty years And save a ton of money Forget that I had friends to start with I could steal a van Mystery machine I wanna take a trip to see ya Though I know you're busy Maybe I could get all of our friends To join and force your hand Oh I got the Nostalgic sickness The nostalgic sickness Nostalgic sickness The nostalgic sickness Oh I got the Nostalgic sickness Nostalgic