Today contributor Bailey shared with us a very interesting 1993 article which finally reveals what inspired one of the band’s best songs, “On The Lie“.
Just mere days ago we posted an interview with John where he briefly talked about “On The Lie” and how it was penned taking inspiration from an Irving Berlin song. With this article, published in 1993, John offers more insights into the actual motivation behind the tune.
I had speculated for the longest time, after analyzing its lyrics, that “On The Lie” was basically a recreation of a news article that John had read back in the day. I pictured it was based on a dispute between two married individuals that generated a fight which ended up with their house getting burned. In a way, I was kind of on the right track. Bailey has some clarifications:
Hello! Well I did say I’d seen another article where John talks about On The Lie, and I found it! This is really interesting because it’s now being described as a “confessional” track which I have heard John say in the past. This is the quote, from the article:
“I’ve gotten really extreme about not drinking.” says Rzeznik
“because it’s deeply encoded in my DNA to be a lush.” Alcoholism is a subject addressed in “On The Lie,” a song centered around a conversation between hard-drinking parents and their six pack-swilling son
“I never got serious till everything went black,” sings Rzeznik on the confessional track.
To me this is just more of a personal song for John, but told from the perspective of other people.
Other than that, this article also talks about a dispute the band had when John began writing songs by himself, and less was written by the entire band. Which did cause issues in the future.
Here is the article! I haven’t read the entire thing yet, so maybe there’s more I’m missing.
To me, this is fascinating as after many decades we finally know what the tune was meant to shine a light on. I have always considered the song to be an extremely well-crafted one, demonstrating how ingenious the guys could get when they wanted to.
The rest of the article offers some nice trivia as well, especially in terms of how the tracks included within “Superstar Car Wash” had been crafted. The album, in fact, represented a deviation from their previous works as Robby Takac took more initiatives in the instrumental department, while John wrote four independent songs all by himself for the first time. It is also pointed out that former drummer Tutuska kept on working on lyrics, although no specific reference is made in terms of song titles. Like Bailey stated above, this ended up causing a bit of tension within the group: they were not writing all the songs together anymore in a cohesive way as John began doing his own thing.
Another interesting bit of info comes when the song “Cuz You’re Gone” is discussed. John implies that it was about romantic failure, and we now know it was written for his former wife Laurie Farinacci and dates back all the way to 1991, and possibly even 1990. Apparently the couple was not on the best terms when it was penned, though things clearly improved with time as they got married at the same time the band’s fourth release was issued.
Furthermore, some other insight worth mentioning. Apparently Paul Westerberg offered to write the lyrics for “We Are The Normal” for free. However, when he heard a final version of the song, he decided to involve his lawyer to obtain royalty payments out of it.
Lastly, some cool trivia about the actual production of the album, with producer MacKillop pushing John and Robby to more polishing in terms of singing as the recording sessions for the album were taking place.
You can read the full interview below.
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This one is completely new to me! Crazy how much more forthcoming the interviews were back then.
A lot of fans forget (or never knew?) that John made a great effort to quit drinking following the Hold Me up tour. He kept it up pretty well, too, until they fired George. And then after the divorce we all know he really hit bottom.
But it shows what a long fight this has been for him.
“He said, man, you want to be Elvis
I said, I ain’t dying face down
He said, you’ve got to die facing up in the world
‘Cause there’s too many holes around
He asked what was wrong with me
He said, I looked like a Hollywood girl
I said that Hollywood can fall into the ocean, man
‘Cause it’s the ugliest place in the whole wide world”
That really sounds to me like something John’s dad would have said to a young John, growing his hair out, practicing guitar, dreaming about being a rock star.
Nice analysis, it makes perfect sense with what that article discussed. I think On The Lie is one of their all-time masterpieces and I would have loved to enjoy it as a single with a music video
that’s actually such a good idea!! I love talking about song topics with you we really get INTO it haha! Like with just the way you are.
this song always gave me chills the way it was so angry and put-forth. I know he was still dealing with grief from his parents’ passing, it took him like 15 or 16 years before he started talking about it in public. You’ll never find an old interview where he mentions his dad or mom. Never seen one.
Wow that is just such a good analogy because John was getting all “punked” up then. Interesting.
I just sat her for a few minutes thinking and …… yeah youre right John never talked about his parents in the earlier interviews! In fact I can think of a few where he seemed to intentionally avoid the topic. hmmmm
But I can totally see where trying to quit drinking would dredge up some buried trauma. He started to see a therapist around this time too. And a personal trainer. He was trying so hard to sort himself out!
I bailed halfway thru an English Lit major so now I’m a frustrated critic who can dissect Rzeznik lyrics all day like he was Donne or Joyce. Dialogue as a literary device isn’t the easiest thing to manage, but John managed it here. On the Lie has always been one of my favs.
No I see what you’re saying about dialogue, it’s frustrating. I’m a writer, (not a songwriter, unfortunately) and can agree to that.
I love imagining what John meant in a line of a song, especially the ones I have no info about what they’re really about. I love On The Lie. Maybe it’s because every song I listen to is attached to a feeling or a memory I made when I first listened to it. This one always gives me an exhilarated feeling.
With the first thing you said, there was some lady in an old interview that made a joke about his mother, and man he could’ve made the interview really awkward but thankfully he played it cool.