The Flavor Is Gone
“The Flavor Is Gone” is the purest example of what’s best and worst about this record. It was initially left off the demo we sent around LA and I released it on the “As Far As You Can Go Without Leaving” compilation we put out in ’94.
The lyrics were improvised once in a rehearsal, and I improvised them a second (and final) time during the recording session. As with so many songs on the record, in pursuit of my own voice I’m aping the style of another, in this case David Lee Roth which, combined with the id-driven improvisation reveals something kind of ugly about me as a writer and singer at the time. The lyrics strike me as violently misogynistic and the performance takes the subtle minstrelsy of my attempt to emulate less obvious cultural appropriators like Tom Waits, Bruce Springsteen & Van Morrison to a naked place that reveals the depths of my ignorance as a person when I made this record. I just thought I was being funny.
On the other hand, I think this iteration of the band, particularly Billy Lincoln, sound as good on this song as anyplace else on the record and if I had taken it more seriously I could have written something much better for Billy’s music here.
Lyrics
THE FLAVOR IS GONE
I walked up to ya
in a restaurant
I looked right through ya
I said, “What do you want?”
Had something hidden behind my back
I was coming for a frontal attack
Back in those days
you were old and I was young
when we blew bubbles on our bubble bubble gum
but the flavor
the flavor
the flavor is gone
Flavor’s gone
Flavor’s gone
And so we drove all over the town
with our jaws going up and down
I do not know if you could call it love
but that was what I was thinking of
Sitting in the light of that old setting sun
blowing bubbles on our bubble bubble gum
but the flavor
the flavor
the flavor is gone
Flavor’s gone
Flavor’s gone
I got something to say to you
Better listen closely cause you know it’s true
I know it might hurt a little bit
but you’re gonna have to get used to it
‘Cause those days are over and done
I’m getting rid of my bubble gum
’cause the flavor
the flavor
the flavor is gone
Flavor’s gone
Flavor’s gone
Credits
Written by Andras Jones & Billy Lincoln
Andras Jones – Vocals & Acoustic Guitar
Billy Lincoln – Lead Guitar
Clay Goldstein – Harmonica
John K. Hench – Bass Guitar
Michael G. Silvester – Drums
Produced & Engineered by Billy Lincoln
Purchase
$1.50