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Contrarian is track 2 on 2013’s Keep Your Jazz Hand Strong! and I think it’s a really fun, upbeat tune. When I was recording it (here at my Brooklyn HQ) I was having a hard time really getting the energy up where I wanted it. I knew I had the right tempo but something was missing. Then I realized: I needed a hype man!

Every good ska band has a hype man! I was pressed for time though so I had to step in and be my own hype man (Be Your Own Hype Man is going to be the title of the self-help book I write in my retirement). I know I must have looked a fool jumping around my apartment trying to hype up a band that was also me, but it was a lot of fun and I hope that comes through on the track.

Lyrics-wise it’s a subject I’ve always wanted to tackle as I’ve had many friends over the years who have relished the role of contrarian, of finding out what everyone likes and decided to dislike it and like something else. Not because they truly like things, they just like liking what others don’t like.

O.K., now I’ve confused myself. Here are the lyrics:

Come on!

You always disagree!

I know a guy, he makes me quite irate
Anything I like he automatically hates
He’s a contrarian,
You can never be right!
He’s a contrarian

If all of his friends say they like a flick
He’ll say it was lame just to be a dick
He’s a contrarian,
“I don’t have to see the movie.”
He’s a contrarian

He’ll argue for days on end
Just because to him that’s fun
Never ending!
He’s a contrarian

He’ll say the opposite thing just to egg you on
If the whole room is pro, you know he’s gonna be con…
Khan!!
He’s a contrarian,
Everybody’s always wrong!
He’s a contrarian

He never takes time to think things through
Automatic!
He just disagrees because he thinks he’s better than you
He’s a contrarian,
“Pfff, yeah, you’d think that.”
He’s a contrarian

He could score less points than you and somehow say he won
“I played smarter.”
He’s a contrarian

Watch him now!

None of his beliefs are held deeply
It’s all on the surface!
Blindly choosing the opposite takes no thought
It’s so predictable!
If all of his friends became contrarians like him
He’d say, “oh, that’s what you are? Then I’m not.”

He’ll spend all day quoting useless facts,
All of his videos are Betamax
Betamax!
He’s a contrarian,
“It’s a superior technology”
He’s a contrarian
“It’s not that inconvenient.”

Any agreement just makes him tense
So he’ll argue things that don’t make sense
He’s a contrarian,
“I just don’t think puppies are that cute.”
No!
He’s a contrarian
“Sunshine? Bah!”

He would join the NRA just to say he doesn’t like guns
Bwoh! Bwoh! Bwoh!
He’s a contrary…
He’s a contrary…
A very, very contrarian
Contrarian!