Music & Lyrics: The Lemonheads

Well, I’m quite sure many will question this post because my musical preferences tend to lean towards songs with a thicker groove and more complexity. I’ll admit, this song hooked me with the lyrics. They’re very honest and ‘human’. This is just a very endearing song that’s stuck with me for many years… perhaps I can relate to it (to a degree).

Artist: The Lemonheads
Song: Outdoor Type
Album: Car Button Cloth
Released: 1996

Always had a roof above me
Always paid the rent
But I’ve never set foot inside a tent
Can’t build a fire to save my life
I lied about being the outdoor type

I’ve never slept out underneath the stars,
The closest that I came to that was one time my car
Broke down for an hour in the suburbs at night
I lied about being the outdoor type

Too scared to let you know you knew what you were looking for
I lied until I fit the bill God bless the great indoors
I lied about being the outdoor type
I’ve never owned a sleeping bag let alone a mountain bike

I can’t go away with you on a rock climbing weekend
What if something’s on TV and its never shown again
It’s just as well I’m not invited I’m afraid of heights
I lied about being the outdoor type

Never learned to swim can’t grow a beard or even fight
I lied about being the outdoor type

Evan Griffith Dando formed The Lemonheads with two high school buddies in late winter ’86, in their senior year at Boston’s tiny Commonwealth School. A few months later, they spawned what is now one of the most sought-after punk relics of the 80s, the indie EP Laughing All the Way to the Cleaners. Boston-based Taang! Records immediately picked up on The Lemonheads, with three college radio pleasers to follow: the LPs Hate Your Friends (1987), Creator (1988), and Lick (1989). In 1990 Atlantic Records took notice of the massively expanding Lemonheads fanbase in Europe (where they toured in 1989) and America by signing the band and releasing their well-received (in Cambridge, Massachusetts) fourth LP, Lovey.