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Don't Overdose on Common Sense (The Polar Bear Song)

from From the Mixed Up Files of Mr. Matthew T. Schindler, Volume 5 by Faux Jean

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about

I first sketched an idea for this song in 1997 on a cassette recorder. I noticed folks using polar bears as a barometer for how the environment was doing. At one point, I read something about polar bears resorting to cannibalism.

I played this song out live with Brian Engel when we were performing as Echt Engel vs Faux Jean around 2010.

More recently, I got my son to sing the opening of this version, just before his voice changed.

Plus, I mellowed it out and laid down some Moog sounds as a bed.

People are still talking about polar bears.

Evergreen content?

lyrics

...And these polar bears

Don't overdose on common sense
'Cause fear of death drives most, hence
Eternal war, religion, cops and pros, and liquor stores.

I want eyes that cry like yours
I want my own ajar glass doors
The wider world eludes me
And sometimes, me, I's elides ease (E's?)
I's elides,
Yeah, I gotta work

And now there's these animals
And people are saying they're cannibals,
Talking 'bout the polar bears
Talking 'bout the polar bears
Talking 'bout the polar bears
And people are saying they're cannibals...

And these polar bears
Polar bears
And they don't care
They're polar bears
Yeah, we're the ones that are cannibals

Don't overdose on common sense
'Cause fear of death drives most, hence
Don't overdose on common sense
'Cause fear of death drives most, hence
Don't overdose
Don't overdose
Don't overdose
Don't!

credits

from From the Mixed Up Files of Mr. Matthew T. Schindler, Volume 5, released June 27, 2023
Written and performed by Faux Jean, aka Matty Schindler
addtional vocals by Hankie Jean, aka Henry Schindler

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Faux Jean San Diego, California

Faux Jean is singer-songwriter from Duluth Minnesota who currently resides near the border of Mexico. He is kind of a stay- at-home dad slash dilettante coming out of hibernation and releasing music with greater frequency as time speeds up. Faux Jean cut his teeth in the fertile Minneapolis music scene in the early aughts before settling down to family life. He likes to draw and dance and and and!! ... more

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