Goin’ On Explained Songtext
von The Flaming Lips

Uh, this is, uh, a song that we did at the very end of, uh
I think it was, uh, a- a pret- a pretty long session
I thought it was, the- the one we did about two weeks or somethin′, um
And we- we cut most of this track, if you remember
We cut most of it in about six hours
Which for us, is- is- is just nothing, ya know?
That's just simp- simply setting up microphones
Singin′ and bam, um
We went back in and did one other
Short session that just added a little bit of s-
Of sparkle dust, ya know, to it, um, in the end but, um
Yeah, it was- it was a fairly quick song, um
And it's kinda sparse, I think, we sometimes, we'll just get lucky
And every instrument that you play is the perfect "thing"
You′ve touched the exact sound it should be, um, eh
Cause usually it′s the other way around
Usually we play around with ten thousand different sounds
And finally say, "Oh, that one'll do"
And, you know, we- we- we′ll record somethin'
But on this one, I remember you going out on the porch


This was a v- a v- a reasonably cold night
In in, um, in uh (Cassadaga, New York) Cassadaga, New York
(We′re talkin' like the 20′s, the 20's, right now)
I- i- in the winter and this- this organ
I had taken it up to Dave's, uh
Studio at the beginning of the session, um
And his "hint" that it was time for us to take it back home
Was, that he actually put it out on the porch, like
"When you leave could you take the trash out
And take that organ back home with you?"
(Sweep that porch, too, please)
And it′s, uh, it′s a very strange, uh, unique sounding organ, uh
Our, one of our roadies, um, Justin Doodah
I don't know wha- where he got this thing from, some garage sale
He picked like about six years ago (I think it′s an old Lowry)
And it has, yeah
It has a, it has some, o- obviously some problems with it
But the, but some of the- the oscillation of the notes on there
Is, is, it's really unique
But anyway, so we sent, uh, Steven out onto the porch
And- and said, y′know, "Pick a sound"
He- he obviously picked a g- a- a great sound
The very first thing he touched
And, luckily for him, uh, it only took a couple minutes to record
Cause it was, like I said, it was freezing cold out there and, um
Yeah, and I think this song hints at that sort of
Again, that sort of acceptance that we talked about earlier
There's elements of "We′re not-
We're not trying to fight our way through the despair anymore"
There's just an element of darkness, eh, uh, um
A, you know, some element of- of anxiety that you just accept
And- and hopefully just sorta move on from there
(Well a lot of people ha- have made the point to me
That they think it′s "interesting"
That this is the last song on the record
We get all these things that happen and then
Oh, it′s supposed to be this downer record
But then you get the "uplifting" sentiment at the very end)
Oh, I see
(Which actually happens at the very end of the song
Cause it's all minor key, all minor key
And then, y′know that last chord is a bit of a "lifting" there)
Oh, gosh, you're right!
I- I mean I never thought of that, uh, the very-
(Your thoughts?)
The very, very last note (The ver-
The very last chord it goes up to the D major and)
There you go, well that′s probably why we thought that
That'd be a great last song on the record
So, anyway, it′s been, um
Wonderful getting able to talk to all of the, uh
The great Flaming Lips fans out there, uh, again
And, uh, on behalf of the, everybody that works with us
This is Wayne (and Steven) (and Michael)
And, uh, hopefully we'll see you somewhere out there in the world
(Have a better one)