I Am Decided

Another in the continuing series of posts about the great songs left on the cutting room floor as Robert Pollard endlessly reconfigured albums. "I Am Decided" was cut around the time of the material that eventually made up the Under the Bushes, Under the Stars album. Along the way, various incarnations of those songs were called The Power of Suck (not to be confused with other, earlier projects with that name) and Mustard Man & Mother Monkey. Why it fell away while other tracks survived is unknown; suffice to say that it's inclusion on UTBUTS would have made a great album just a little bit better.

Perhaps the song was jettisoned because it sounds like a real transition between Alien Lanes and its successor. It's more lo-fi than much of UTBUTS, though it doesn't suffer from that presentation. Soundwise, its all one big hook. Lyrically, it almost harks back to Pollard's pre-Vampire on Titus work, with lines like "Grab yourself and stop from flying, you'll break my heart with all that crying" sounding fairly pedestrian when compared to what followed.

But the chorus is something else:

We will not begin another sin
Without you, rest assured
These aren't obligations, but I want to
Rub my fingers through your mangy mane
Your fingers 'round my belly
I am decided - the blind shall be lead
to the fire tonight

It's a friend indeed (or attentive lover) that assure you that no sin will be commenced without your involvement. Then again, I've had few friends who express the desire to rub their fingers through my mangy mane. What exactly do they do in that Monument Club, anyway?