There's some charmin' little farmers livin' up in the hills
They're pickin' lots of grapes, but they can't pay their bills
The owner of the farm likes to play with their heads
He wants to burn it down and build a condo instead
Well, little Davy Joe is the old farmer's boy
He's got a little woman and a whole lot of joy
But then he gets bitten by a demon from Hell
And according to the doctor, he don't feel very well
'cause he's the thing...that...sucked from below
He doesn't use a shovel and he don't have a hoe
The thing...that...sucked from below
One minute you get bitten, and the next, you're hollow
There's a couple gettin' lucky in the back of a car
But when the creature gets 'em, they won't get very far
Then a gang of Hare Krishnas meditate in the woods
The creature doesn't like 'em, but their organs taste good
Now there's six or seven bodies pilin' up on the floor
And it's seemin' that the demon's gonna come back for more
The doctor and detective wonder what it could be
But judging from the bludgeoning, it's looking to me
like it's the thing...that sucked from below
It digs in like a shovel and it hurts like a hoe
The thing...that...sucked from below
In winter time, I like to write my name in the snow
So Papa Joe the farmer and the young Baby Joe
Are stuck inside the living room with nowhere to go
The owner's got a pistol and he's shootin' to kill
But first, he's wantin' Davy's girl to give him a thrill
So here comes little Davy, and he's makin' a wish
The owner tried to kill him, so his liver went squish
Since Davy was the monster, they shot him like a duck
And when you see the film, you're gonna say it really sucked
'cause it's the thing...that...sucked from below
A cheesy little movie someone shot on video
the thing...that...sucked from below
The minute that you see it, you'll jump out a window
It's still the thing...that...sucked from below
It's not about a shovel and it's not about a hoe
The thing...that...sucked from below
I've got a piece of toilet paper stuck to my toe
Stuck to my toe!
My...toe!
Suck...my...toe!
HISTORY: This was the theme song Adam and I had written for a film I was trying to do that summer, a B-movie parody called "The Thing that Sucked From Below". I'd shown him the script (and my previous film) when I first met him (May 4, 1998), and he liked the script so much that not only did he offer to play a role in it, but he also wanted to provide the music for a possible theme song.
To my best memory, he had long ago composed the music for this song about religion or death or something, but he didn't like the lyrics, so he decided to offer the music to my song instead. He played the music to me on May 21, when we and a few friends attended a chorus concert at Elmira Free Academy.
The next day in Corning, I wrote lyrics for the song, after which Adam and I spent the midnight hour demo-ing the song in the public parking lot near the Soul Full Cup coffeehouse.
On July 4 (exactly one month after I first met Adam), I performed the song with Adam and his girlfriend Amelia during a concert at Soul Full Cup. Adam later called it one of the concert's highlights. I performed the song with them at a second SFC concert on July 30, before leaving Corning in August. Between May and August, Adam and I had played countless different versions of the song in front of friends and their families. Nearly all of these private performances and off-the-cuff runthroughs (including the original demos) made it onto the hand-held tape recorder I would often bring with me whenever I ventured outside the house. Adam, Amelia, and I cut two takes of an additional recording of the song (produced by Kevin Hurley, at the radio station where he was working) on the late night of August 20.
As for the film the song was supposed to be for, I could never get things and people together when I needed them, so it was never made that summer. But at least I had gotten a neat song out of it all.
PHOTOS:
* Our first Soul Full Cup performance of the song (with Kevin taping) (photo by Rebecca Cowan)
* Recording the song in the studio (photo by Kevin Hurley)
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