Covert Discretion
| "Covert Discretion" | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Song by Freeman | |||||
| from the album Freeman | |||||
| Released | May 23, 2014 | ||||
| Recorded | 2014 | ||||
| Length | 4:54 | ||||
| Label | Partisan Records | ||||
| Freeman track listing | |||||
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"Covert Discretion" is a song by Freeman from the 2014 album Freeman.
Song Details[edit | edit source]
On January 24, 2011, Ween performed at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. While the rest of the band performed as expected, Gene Ween (Aaron Freeman) was visibly intoxicated and out of it.
Ween disbanded shortly after, with this being the event that caused Freeman to go into rehab. This meltdown and the subsequent media publicity inspired Freeman to write the song "Covert Discretion". The song was written in a hotel room a week after the Vancouver incident.[1] The event sparked an epiphany in Freeman: "You don't blow it on stage, lying on your back, screaming nonsense in front of 5,000 people and not try to change something. Chances are when you're doing something like that, you've got to do something differently."[2] The lyrics are meant to be direct and head-on, the reasoning for the song being the first on the album. In a Rolling Stone interview, Freeman was asked if the lyrics "Save your judgments for someone else” and "Fuck you all, I got a reason to live." were addressed at Ween fans, and answered "yeah, I think so," and the song was "about addiction and people not recognizing that you're hurting so bad." Freeman added: "And yeah, it is clearing the air of the last couple of years, which is why I wanted to put it first."[3]
Live Performances[edit | edit source]
The song was performed live a few times by the band Freeman during July and September 2014.[4]
Lyrics[edit | edit source]
Covert discretion
In the hotel room
Ain't it always the same?
Another gig now
Got an aching head
And I'm back on display
Ain't no thing though
All the fans agree
We killed it tonight
Back at the hotel
Watchin' CNN
Still scared for my life
So where is the party goin' on?
It's no fair to make me stay alone
Down in the lobby
There's a couple left
Have them buy me a round
I'm your best friend
I'm your superstar
Yeah, I'm down with the brown
We in the bathroom
Let's be super cool
You got a little bit left
What a special thing
I'm your trophy boy
Get the fuck out of my face
Cause you will go home satisfied
I'll be blacked out for the night
In the morning
I can't remember
I can't remember a thing
I'm on the bus now
They won't look at me
Man, it's always the same
I'm a broken
Why can't you see?
Can't you give me your hand?
No, I'm the bad guy
Don't appreciate
Can't you see who I am?
I'm on my last leg and I can't see
I wasn't trying to blow your fantasy
Another chance now
I'm on the stage again
But this time I don't fly
You all just left me
Just walked away
Alone, up there to die
It was the next day
Got a couple calls
Makin' sure I'm alive
Man, you gotta end this
Just walk away
Your money or your life
So save your judgments for someone else
Be greatful I saved me from myself
Fuck you all
I got a reason to live
And I'm never gonna die
Song Themes[edit | edit source]
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ https://www.newsweek.com/coming-clean-gene-ween-weens-former-frontman-talks-sobriety-and-miley-cyrus-250774
- ↑ https://chicagoist.com/2014/09/23/there_was_a_time_when.php
- ↑ https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/gene-ween-no-more-aaron-freemans-new-life-as-a-solo-artist-243024/
- ↑ https://brownbase.org/every_time_played.php?band=Freeman&song_id=525