The overall sentiment and several of the lyrics here were lifted from a piece in "Bite the Hand That Feeds You: Essays and Provocations" by Henry Fairlie, one of the few conservative writers who ever made us think, “Hmm, he has a point.”
It probably helped that Tim read the essay as Jay was working on a (sadly, never aired) reality series about real live human beings who dress up like superheroes and fight crime -- so every time Fairlie extolled the virtues of Ordinary Man, Tim pictured a middle aged dude in a mask and a cape with a big O on his chest.
Extraordinary People are the bad guys here -- Ordinary Man finds himself doing battle with them over and over again.
lyrics
LYRICS
Extraordinary people with extraordinary plans
Must always be resisted by Ordinary Man
Beguiling in their vision and impressive in their speech
But extraordinary men will often overreach
Extraordinary people versus Ordinary Man!
Extraordinary people versus Ordinary Man!
He’s somewhat drab and foolish and he’s easily confused
He’s bumptious and he’s brazen, but he should be excused
He stands for truth and justice and the little liberties
That mean you and I can do what we and not they please
Extraordinary people versus Ordinary Man!
Extraordinary people versus Ordinary Man!
Extraordinary people can lead us all astray
The elements of freedom are so easy to betray
There’s virtue and there’s value, even glory to be found
In ordinary houses, in ordinary towns
credits
from Super,
released September 11, 2015
Recorded by Johannes Luley at Studio SQ, San Francisco. Assistant engineer: Justin Weiss Mixed by Johannes Luley at My Sonic Temple, Los Angeles, CA
Daniel Fabricant: Bass
Chris Brague: Drums
Ken Flagg: Furious piano
Jay: Acoustic and electric guitars, Vocals
Tim: Vocals
supported by 5 fans who also own “Extraordinary People”
It's the essence of TMJ to follow up a smart song about the need to forge new memories with a killer that grooves on everything great and awful about the 1970s. Brash, confident, and deeply pleasurable -- and its vibe is punctured by the new old b-side's warning "living backwards in time/losing your mind." As always, TMJ has it all ways, beautifully. Alan S