After the last operatic notes of Tonight is the Night I Fell Asleep at the Wheel fade out, leave the Barenaked Ladies' 2000 album Maroon playing. Ghostly piano fades in, like footsteps at the end of a hall, and the quiet singing starts. Given its spooky positioning after a song about death--and dying happy--it's hard to believe that this song could be about anything but the soul. What does it say? Not much; BNL were right to make this a bonus track. It has a simple--but pleasant--tune, simple and pleasant lyrics, and a wistful, quiet feeling that makes it a good ending to Maroon, or to any mix tape you make.
lyrics:
Suddenly
things become unsound,
stumbling upon
the shaky ground.
Given arrows to shoot tornadoes down,
shoot them down to the ground.
Saw a
falling leaf, for
good luck jumped to grab:
much to our surprise, a
butterfly.
Then it sunk in, this
injuration--
injuration in our lives:
Inside ourselves,
a hidden sun that burns and burns
and never does any harm to anyone.
A hidden sun that burns and burns
but never does any harm to anyone.
...anyone...
oh, anyone
a hidden sun
oooh, a hidden sun...