about
This song goes clear back to 1989 or so when "numbers crunching" was a new buzzword. I was awakening then to the way statistics can be played with to make them say just about anything.
In this fictional text, I imagine some technocrat in power faced with a dire situation and his internal rationalizations as he looks for a way to play with the fatal numbers to find exoneration. Stats and figures to him are like toys. Like a breakfast cereal for kids. Crunchy Lil' Numbers. He's supercilious, but deep inside, a recognition of life's underlying mystery truly disturbs him.
This was a fun one. Breakneck pace for me to play, but the runs and fills are so fun. The drum guitar lays back on this one, doing a simple 4/4 rock thud-a-long, making for a real palette cleanser for the album.
lyrics
"Crunchy Lil' Numbers"
(vonHummer)
When the day gets long and I've finished my second cup, crunchy lil' numbers, I'll knock down will pick me up, when all hell breaks loose and the situation is tight, crunchy lil' numbers I'll write wrong til things look right,
Crunchy lil' numbers make the darkness bright, crunchy lil' numbers can turn a black man white, crunchy lil' numbers lend me credence and insight into problems that would make King Solomon scratch his head, crunchy lil' numbers put the pink in Code Red...
When the load gets heavy and I feel my stride has no bounce, crunchy lil' numbers make my ton seem like an ounce, When the heat comes down and the public wants action now, crunchy lil' numbers prove that sweat was on my brow,
Crunchy lil' numbers make one half a whole, crunchy lil' numbers can make one song a show, crunchy lil' numbers lift me deep into the know into mysteries that would make Sherlock Holmes scratch his head, crunchy lil' numbers bleed from turnips rivers red...
There's no end to what my crunchy lil' numbers can seem to do, statistics don't lie, at heart they're more like silver-tongued devils, everything's relative, after all: it's perspective and point of view that make "on the level" truly level...
When my life is done and these chicken bones rotting lie, crunchy lil' numbers on my tomb won't let me die, and when old Saint Pete dons his eyeshade to count my sins, crunchy lil' numbers will make his eyeballs spin,
Crunchy lil' numbers can make Heaven like Hell, crunchy lil' numbers, convince me all is well, crunchy lil' numbers can make Hell like Heaven, crunchy lil' numbers can make snake eyes seven, crunchy lil' numbers can make the can-nots cans, crunchy lil' numbers make dead men vote again, crunchy lil' numbers give me something to do with my hands, which helps me to avoid the temptation to scratch my head, crunchy lil' numbers go where angels fear to tread...
credits
from
Leftoverwhelming,
released July 31, 2002
vonHummer: vocals, bass drone, hi-guitar drone, drum guitar.
license