Without Me - Intellectual

The FCC (Federal Communications Commission) regulates interstate and international communications, including radio. The FCC won’t let him play his songs; they edit and censor them.

Notice the beautiful I assonance here, beginning 4 verses earlier, “the fCC won’t let mE bE/or let mE bE mE, so let mE sEE/they try to shut mE down on mTV/but it fEEls so emptY wIthout mE”.

Most rappers are told to self-edit their lyrics when performing on live TV, but Eminem refuses, saying that it’s the censors' job to bleep it out. So occasionally a few words will sneak by the censors and you’ll hear Eminem swear on national TV. The FCC doesn’t take too kindly to this, and Em claims that they are trying to sabotage him by not allowing his music to be played, to try and get back at him. They have issued fines for playing unedited Eminem songs on the radio.

Eminem playfully analogises the millions of other rappers inspired by him to an ex’s potential other lovers – the phrase “there’s plenty of fish in the sea” is a cliché used to console people after a breakup. It’s obvious why this analogy was on his mind, as much of the material on The Eminem Show deals with the fallout of Eminem’s divorce.

It should be worth observing that the title of the song, “Without Me”, is a play on “Without You” – one of the most frequently used titles for pop songs in history, usually used for melodramatic breakup songs. Eminem flips the concept round, playing the lover who left, jeering in the face of his miserable ex who wants him back, itself an analogy for the audience. (Personifying the audience as a lover is a theme Eminem will return to extensively starting from his 2010 album, Recovery – although he’ll have a much more explicitly masochistic relationship with her there.)

One particular song called “Without You” was a big hit for Mariah Carey in 1994 – an over-the-top torch song in which Mariah sings that she can’t go on living without her lover. Eminem had some kind of relationship with Mariah after splitting up with his wife, but it’s unclear how serious it was, with contradictory stories told by both musicians. Is one of the themes of “Without Me” to be a gloating answer song to Mariah after having broken up with her?

Even though Eminem has written incredible verses since 1993, everybody just seems to care more about arguing that he’s a bad influence.

Not the first time that Em gets brought up that subject, in fact, it may be one of the things he raps about the most. The subject of the song Who Knew is basically to mock people who believe that his music causes people to make crazy stuff. Also in Role Model, through sarcasm, he says kids that he is not a good “Role Model” and they shouldn’t make the things he makes.

“A-tisket, A-tasket” is a nursery rhyme, which was also the basis of a song by Ella Fitzgerald.

The reference to the nursery rhyme is a sarcastic diss, saying that when confronting him, they’re like little kids.

This might be a stretch, but “tisk-it” could be a homophone for the sound that someone makes when they’re disappointed, usually written as “tsk.” It could be heard as “I tsk it.” In this light, Em could be saying that he’s looking down on the artists he’s about to call out.

Irony. Everyone kisses it, but no one wants to look at it. He says that everyone gives him attention by being offended by him and complaining, which is ironic as well.

Also notice the words he uses to describe it. He puts emphasis on the ass in the words making them sound like “disASSter and catASStrophe”

Three plausible meanings here: 1) The catastrophe is America’s because Em is offending their sensibilities. 2) The catastrophe is that Eminem gives them so much of his ass for them to kiss that they’re all reduced to being ass-kissers, which is embarrassing. 3) The catastrophe is for Eminem because when everyone kisses your ass, no one will keep it real with you.

He’s rapping again, and this time he’s just gonna complain and PMS

11 Years later, Rappers are having a Rough time period and his rhymes are still on the rag.

Rap was once only considered a “fad” (up until the Beastie Boys), and many older people did not like the idea of this new genre. Rap also often has lyrics that weren’t very family-friendly and wouldn’t be repeated in a household, especially not with older folks in it, many of which Eminem is responsible for. He’s saying how these families can’t talk about him without someone feeling discomfort or some negative feeling associated with Eminem’s music.

Lynne Cheney, as the wife of Vice President Dick Cheney, was the second lady of the United States when this song came out in 2002.

During her husband’s campaign in 2000, she spoke out against violent and sexually explicit lyrics in popular music, most notably those of Eminem, with quotes like:

He has taken hatred of women and depictions of degrading and violating them to new levels.

Em responds here by telling her to focus on other things, like her husband’s compounding heart issues. Dick Cheney had already had four heart attacks before this song’s 2002 release (and he had a fifth in 2010), and he had at least three heart procedures done between November 2000 and July 2001.

This lyric targeting the second lady drew media attention, and within days of this single’s release, it was reported that the album would include a song called “White America” with the following more explicit attack:

Fuck you, Ms. Cheney

Eminem rhymes disgusting by syllable, so that it sounds like discuss-ting. He figures that all this talk about him being disgusting just means that people like to talk about (“discuss”) him.

Eminem depicts himself as a visionary; he is very intelligent and has a plan for the future. The problem is, the vision that he has is going to upset a lot of parents, so the idea that someone like Eminem is going to control the future scares them.

EMINEM clowns the way he “gets under people’s skin” which is a way of saying something irritates/annoys you

Eminem was probably in the studio goofing around as he made this outro. He has also done this in another song admitting that he was goofing around in the studio.

Call Eminem what you want, but he is damn creative at inventing clever insults, and they never seem to stop coming. Even in 2014, he still continues with ease.

Since he’s discussing censorship, Em references his own argument about Tom Green doing nastier things than he does on television

Eminem sets the next bar by using this line to mock the media’s attempt trying to censor him, so he censors himself. This line is intentionally very PG rated compared to next line; (when has Eminem ever held back from swearing), but then immediately corrects himself in the next line.

Furthermore, Eminem also sings similar lyrics on his track “The Real Slim Shady”:

‘My bum is on your lips, my bum is on your lips’
And if I’m lucky, you might just give it a little kiss

He is addressing the controversy surrounding his music and persona. This line reflects his acknowledgment of being viewed as a provocateur in the music industry, particularly due to the explicit nature of his lyrics and the themes he explores.

The term “obscene” has often been used in media to describe Eminem and his work.

For example, in 2001, people protested Eminem and Elton John’s appearance at the Grammys after Eminem included anti-gay lyrics in his album. In response, the rapper gave the audience the finger. The gesture was defined as obscene by the newspaper, it came right after his duet with Elton John and it was typical of Eminem, who is known for rejecting and mocking his critics.

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There was a 2 year wait between Em’s last album, The Marshall Mathers LP and this one, The Eminem Show. The MMLP was huge, but some critics doubted that he would ever be able to pull anything off close to that caliber again. They figured the 2 year wait meant he was out of ideas. But now that he’s back all over the airwaves and running the rap game again, it’s time to stop debating if Eminem fell off.

This refrain interpolates Malcolm McLaren & The World’s Famous Supreme Team’s November 1982 track, “Buffalo Gals.”

Two buffalo gals go around the outside
Round the outside, round the outside

Malcolm McLaren was a trailblazer for Caucasians in hip-hop, like Eminem himself.

Eminem substitutes “buffalo gals” for “trailer park girls” to reflect his White trash upbringing. Interestingly, one of the illustrations artist Skam2 did for the booklet of Eminem’s major label debut, The Slim Shady LP (1999,) featured two “trailer park girls” chasing after Slim Shady—Eminem’s alter ego—whom was depicted as a mummy, which was typical at the time.

This refrain was originally—and still is—a reference to square dancing, which is an American folk dance that dates back to the 1700s. For the dance, couples pair up and a “caller” tells them what moves to perform along with the music. One of the staple moves of square dancing involves women taking their male partners arm and parading in a circle with men on the inside, hence women going “round the outside.”

While McLaren’s “Buffalo Gals” has been sampled more than 100 times, it is believed Eminem interpolated it in part due to Canibus interpolating it on his November 2001 track, “Box Cutta’ Blade Runner,” which referenced his ongoing beef with Eminem. Notably, Eminem disses Canibus multiple times on another The Eminem Show track, which was “coincidentally” entitled “Square Dance.”

Additionally, it appears Eminem is imitating some of the opening scratches from “Buffalo Gals” after each couplet of this refrain.

This shows a total disregard for his own safety, which is pretty standard behavior for Slim Shady. This is just one of several songs where he’s made medical/doctor references, one notable being “I Need a Doctor”.

“The Doctor” is also a symbolic reference to Dr. Dre, who “operates” on turntables that Eminem starts rocking while not “cooperating” during a recording session. In another one of Em’s famous singles, “My Name Is”, people plead Dr. Dre to operate on Eminem (i.e. fix him, make him normal).

American rap rock group Limp Bizkit and Eminem were originally on good terms. They collaborated on “Turn Me Loose”, which was recorded for but ultimately cut from Limp Bizkit’s 1999 album, Significant Other. Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst cameoed in Eminem’s “The Real Slim Shady” visuals, and Limp Bizkit and Eminem co-founded the mammoth Anger Management Tour, which featured 36 of the most notable rap and rock acts of the time.

Pictured: Fred Durst and Eminem

However, this changed when Eminem beefed with Limp Bizkit affiliate Everlast. According to Eminem, Limp Bizkit members Durst and DJ Lethal sided with him in confidence, even agreeing to collaborate on a diss track. However, they pulled out at the last minute and went on to appear on MTV’s Total Request Live and, during their appearance, Lethal alleged that if Eminem were to fight Everlast physically, “Everlast would definitely win.”

This resulted in Eminem recording the diss track “Girls”, which was the unlisted bonus track on D12’s 2001 album, Devil’s Night. Eminem gave a detailed account of his side of the story during a promotional interview for said album:

On July 21, 2013, Fred Durst did a Reddit AMA and was asked “are you and Eminem on good terms again these days??” He replied:

I haven’t heard anything from Eminem since he turned on LB. I don’t speak much about it, but it really hurt my feelings at the time because I thought we were better friends than I suppose we were. I understand why he was upset, mainly with Lethal, but over time, I’ve learned there are better ways to deal with things that upset us. I have remained a loyal fan of his and choose to remember the good times we shared. He is definitely one of the very few best rappers of all time.

Kids feel trapped by their parents and their old school customs, so something new and vulgar like Eminem motivates them to rebel.

The “Bitch” excerpt is sampled from N.W.A’s 1987 track “A Bitch Iz a Bitch”.

Vodka can get his heart pumping fast, much like a thousand volts of electricity from a defibrillator. Another famous Eminem extended metaphor, he doesn’t just say vodka gets his heart pumping like a defib, he describes a full scene that gives the imagery of doctors trying to shock him back to life, but he is still fighting them off because he doesn’t care about his health.

He’s also using the rhetorical device, assonance, using the vowel “O” and “A” continuously to emphasize his “shock” and craziness.

The way that the media describes Eminem’s fans. In the music video, the main plot is Eminem and Dre dressing up as Batman and Robin and trying to stop a “rebellious” little kid from buying The Eminem Show, parodying how critics view preventing kids from hearing his music as a “heroic” act.

The backlash against Em’s lyrics included many attempts to censor his music, including MTV (this was when MTV played music videos).

But, without Em, even the critics feel the empty space he used to fill. They hate to like him, but even Em’s harshest critics know he means a lot to the rap game, so they can’t just completely shut him down.

Elvis Presley, like many white musicians of his time, is frequently accused of stealing elements of black music and selling it to the masses. It was also fairly common in Presley’s day for white musicians to rework songs originally created by black musicians and make much more money from them than the original artist.

In fact, white songwriting duo Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller wrote the song “Hound Dog” and gave it to the black singer Big Mama Thornton. Thornton’s recording of the song went on to find success selling over 500,000 copies, and spending seven weeks at the number one spot of the R&B charts following its release. Despite this, Presley’s recording of the song that he recorded four years later is the version of the song that is most recognized today, despite being a cover.

Similar to Presley, Eminem has taken a black cultural product (hip-hop music) and sold it to a predominately white audience while making millions of dollars in the process.

While Eminem jokes about his and Presley’s stealing of black culture, both of these artists have had a lot of support from black musicians.

Little Richard said of Presley:

He was an integrator. Elvis was a blessing. They wouldn’t let black music through. He opened the door for black music.

Similarly, Eminem has benefitted from a close working relationship with rapper/producer Dr. Dre, who has co-produced almost all of Eminem’s albums.

Similar to how Elvis Presley appropriated black music and was subsequently embraced by the masses, Eminem plans integrate hip hop music even further. Some felt Eminem should stay away from the genre entirely, but can you really argue with more diversity? Rap is still predominantly black, but hip-hop culture today is generally more accepting of white rappers then it was during its formative years.

This line also refers to the copycat white rappers who tried to come up in the wake of Eminem’s success such as Asher Roth.

Eminem is presumably consciously making a goofy, fun little rhyme with this line (he didn’t write it to be the epitome of lyrical ability, although he is an excellent lyricist), and he is perhaps making fun of advertisements that excitedly encourage you to “tell a friend!” about the product or service being advertised.

Using the line “I’ve created a monster”, Eminem parallels his Slim Shady alter-ego to Dr. Victor Frankenstein’s monster from Mary Shelly’s novel Frankenstein. While the line “I’ve created a monster” is never used in the book, it is similar to “I beheld the wretch—the miserable monster whom I had created”.

Eminem states that he now feels like his fans prefer his evil twin, Shady, over him as a person (Eminem’s legal name is Marshall Mathers). This makes him feel that people value him solely as an entertainer rather than a human being. The expression “What am I, chopped liver?” is used when someone is made to feel like they are being overlooked.

Ironically enough, critics and activists have all bashed the Shady persona and its offensive lyrics, often directed towards women and homosexuals.

Eminem mentions these lines twice in his autobiography The Way I Am:

Once people heard Shady, they didn’t want Marshall or Eminem anymore. […] I say that in “Without Me”, but I’m not chopped liver. I’m the best thing that ever lived. Let’s get that right, for starters. (Kidding.)

I regret saying that in “Without Me” because I’m not chopped liver. When you get famous, fans expect you to act a certain way. I felt like I had to be Shady all the time. It wasn’t frustrating – I like being Shady. But I still wanted to talk about the issue in the song.

Although Elvis was controversial to many of the parents in the ‘50s and '60s, that controversy eventually died out. Now rock and roll is viewed as “old-people music” instead of the music for rebellious youth. Hip-hop inherited a lot of that rebelliousness, so Eminem points out the cyclical nature of controversy.

Also, Eminem is aware that a lot of people compare him to Elvis, and it’s an accurate comparison in some aspects. They both achieved superstardom in a predominately black genre, and were both accused of sending bad messages to the youth. Eminem often refers to himself as the new Elvis, and dresses up like him in his music videos.

Who doesn’t remember when Hulk Hogan bodyslammed Andre the Giant?

This line refers to the negative aspect of wrestling towards children. Which ties into the next line. Here, Eminem twisted the old saying “the best thing since sliced bread”. Not only is wrestling more violent, it dates back older than sliced bread! Many traditional parents would not want their kids watching wrestling; my mom didn’t.

This song was also created just after the WWF’s “Attitude Era” where they often cursed, displayed nudity, and much more adult material. Parents protested against them during this time probably as much as they have Eminem.

Obie Trice was one of Eminem’s protégés under his label Shady Records when “Without Me” dropped in May 2002. Thus, to promote Trice, Eminem sampled this snippet from his then-unreleased debut single, “Rap Name,” which was the second single off of the October 2002 Shady Records album, 8 Mile: Music from and Inspired by the Motion Picture.

As Trice confirmed in a ‘Making Of’ clip for the “Rap Name” visuals, Proof of D12—who was also Eminem’s best friend and concert hype-man—gave him his stage name. Trice further detailed how it happened in a The Guardian interview, sharing:

When I met [Proof] at the Hip Hop Shop, my name was Obie 1. Proof was about to introduce me and he looked at me for a while and said, “What’s your name? Your real name, no gimmicks.” He introduced me as Obie Trice. He gave me my name.

Notably, “Without Me” is sequenced directly after “Drips” on May 2002’s The Eminem Show, which features a guest appearance from Trice.

This is referencing an old saying about how Rap and Rock were ‘mind-control’, and how they had bad long-term impacts on the minds of people who listened to them. He is making fun of this old belief in this line.

Em sings along to the “Batman” TV show theme song.

In the music video, Em dresses like Batman’s sidekick Robin, while Dr. Dre looks at him thinking “this is my protégé?”

Also, on the na-na-na part, a harpsichord, the instrument that plays the melody on The Real Slim Shady, kicks in for a couple of seconds as a reference to the previous lead-single.

On his May 2000 album, The Marshall Mathers LP, Eminem directly dissed *NSYNC on three songs, namely “The Real Slim Shady,” “I’m Back” and “Marshall Mathers.”

During an appearance on MTV’s Total Request Live—which aired on May 2, 2002—Eminem stated that he singled out *NSYNC member Chris Kirkpatrick because he “was the only one who had the guts to say something back at him following ‘The Real Slim Shady’, plus his last name rhymed with ‘get your ass kicked’.”

Eminem elaborated further on this lyric in his 2009 autobiography, The Way I Am, writing:

When I made fun of Chris Kirkpatrick […], it wasn’t genuine anger, I don’t think. It was entertainment. Even though The Eminem Show was my third album, I still felt like an underground emcee. I struggled with that: what can I say to keep my integrity as a respected emcee? Because I could say anything back in the day at The Hip Hop Shop. Nobody cared. Then you become somebody and all ears are on you.
—pg. 177

Kirkpatrick, who coincidentally shares his birthday with Mathers (October 17), spoke about the lyric and Eminem during a January 2021 interview, stating that he believes he was targeted because he compared Eminem to Steve Irwin, “The Crocodile Hunter”, while co-hosting an episode of MTV’s Total Request Live.

The music video shows Em and Dre dressed up as Robin and Blade, journeying through town trying to catch a kid who bought an explicit copy of The Eminem Show before he listens to it. In the end they catch him and Em yells out “kids!”, then shows the explicit content label, implying kids shouldn’t listen to him. But this was all done tongue in cheek, it was more of a parody of how parents think people should go through great efforts to keep their kids away from Eminem.

Em reveals that his alter ego is really just his personality when he’s drunk and high (curiously, also the reason most Rap Genius editors write under a pseudonym)

Since he has struggled with drug problems throughout his life, we have usually seen more of the “Shady” side of Marshall’s personality in his music

This is another yank of Canibus‘ chain, as it’s similar to a line from the song Buckingham Palace from the 1998 album “Can-I-Bus.”:

A little bit of weed and some Hennessy
Got me ready to set it with kinetic energy

He refers to his role as a central and controversial figure in pop culture and rap. He expresses his influence and ability to attract attention, inviting listeners to follow him both musically and symbolically. This line emphasizes his return to the music scene, asserting that the entertainment world needs him to stay interesting and that he can lead others through his rebellious and provocative style.

Many before him have broken barriers in music; he’s not the first to do so

Emphasis on the word “king” – Elvis was known as “The King.”

“Without Me” was the lead single of Eminem’s 2002 album The Eminem Show, his first solo album in two years. And as soon as we hear the Dr. Dre beats, nasally voice, and intricate lyrics, we know Slim Shady is back.

The number of rappers who’ve used the phrase “Guess who’s back?” in some capacity is astounding. For instance, Eminem associate 50 Cent has a pre-Interscope mixtape titled just that.

Eminem knows that his critics view his music as dangerous, so much so that they think putting it on the radio is “polluting” the minds of its listeners. It isn’t surprising that the airwaves never really gave Slim Shady much airtime, but that has changed in the 2010’s.

Possible reference to Gil Scott-Heron’s “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”

This might have something to do with tuning into a station to listen to Eminem. The antenna in question might be referring to a car’s antenna. Which is used to catch radio signals so you can listen to the radio while driving.

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Em’s commenting on how he’s considered overplayed and annoying by those who don’t appreciate his music, but the irony states itself in that it is the mainstream audience that causes him to be as played as often as he is.

In “Rap God” from MMLP2, he says, “everyone loves to root for a nuisance” – that being himself.

This is a reference to the line “May I have your attention, please?” from his early song “The Real Slim Shady”

The “two cents” refers to Eminem’s freedom of speech, so he expresses his opinions freely and frequently.

There has been a lot of confusion over what the “ten cents” parts mean.

Two Cents is a common saying referring to adding in a small un-requested opinion on something. He’s giving his “ten cents” meaning he is giving a lot of his opinion when no one asked for it, and his “two cents” is free because he always gives his opinion.

He’s been good at rap (“dope”) and captivating people with the lyrics he writes (“suspenseful with a pencil”) since 1993, when the musician Prince changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol

prince_symbol

The sound of a drumstick sliding along a cymbal (the musical instrument) plays here, but holds no significance other than a one-way pun on symbol-cymbal.

He is also referencing a line from 8 Mile, where Rabbit says:

Go home, write some shit, make it suspenseful.
And don’t come back until something dope hits you

With “suspenseful with a pencil,” he may also be alluding to Wu Tang Clan’s 7th Chamber, where RZA says:

Suspenseful force bein' brought through my utensil
The pencil, I bring strong winds up against you

Con-tro-ver-sy; [kon-truh-vur-see]; noun-singular; 1. a public dispute, debate, or contention concerning a matter of opinion. 2. Eminem.

A direct diss on Moby, saying his career is over. Ironically, this single was released May 14th, the exact day as the release of Moby’s album 18.

This line was also remixed into a ton of techno songs, and even made into a t-shirt advertised by no one less than Moby himself. It’s actually a further insult because Moby fans will go to great pains to tell you he’s not a techno artist.

Em commented on the line in 2002:

I hate techno music, I’m sorry but I can’t stand it. Like, when I used to be on drugs it used to blow my high and like now that I can’t be on drugs it blows my high even worse. So just for the record, I hate techno music, so no matter how good Moby is, it’s not going to change anything.

This anti-techno stance is somewhat ironic given how much Eminem reps Detroit: the birthplace of techno itself, and how the beat for “Rap God” would later borrow heavily from EDM influences.

There’s two things Slim brings up (that haven’t been mentioned in earlier annotations)

After releasing The Slim Shady LP in 1999 and The Marshall Mathers LP in 2000 – both received by some with serious controversy over lyrical content – Eminem waited a full 2 years to release “Without Me” as the lead single in 2002. During those 2 years, there were really no musical controversies worth mentioning, and it is this Slim Shady refers to, with a sly grin no doubt.

Furthermore, music got hit a real lull in 2001, the year without an Eminem album. Not just for hip hop, but in general. The top 5 selling albums in 2001 were an aging Michael Jackson, Shaggy, ‘N Sync, Enya(!?) and Staind(!?!?!!). Not only was the music boring, the musicians really lacked any charisma, humor, or distinct personality, the exact opposite for Marshall. When Eminem returned in 2002, he easily filled the void and took the number 1 spot for the entire year.

Fuck the FCC shit, now Em’s about to say one of the greatest things.

In the clean version of this song, the first line has been changed with “jump back, jiggle a hip and wiggle a bit”.

Em is casting himself as a superhero. He does this blatantly in the music video for “Without Me” when he dresses up as, of all people, Robin (Batman’s sidekick). But in this case, he is channeling his inner Superman since that is Clark Kent’s catchphrase when switching to the Man of Steel. Without controversy, everything seems to be really boring in his eyes. So he uses himself as a target of the FCC and censors to create some “controversy” because life “feels so empty, without [him].”

The bat symbol – Eminem and Dr. Dre dress up as Batman and Robin in the music video for this song

Only pop stars are worthy of direct assault, so Em symbolically sends a minion, rapper Obie Trice, to beat up the electronic music artist Moby.

The tension began when after the 2001 Grammys, Moby said:

I support Eminem’s free speech […and he’s] very good at what he does, but he’s also a misogynist and homophobe and racist and anti-Semite. I’m 33 and can see through it, but I can’t imagine that an 8-year-old in Idaho sees it as just a joke.

Moby was actually 35 at the time of his quote, so Em makes sure to note Moby’s correct age of 36 here when this song came out a year later.

Also of note is that Em responds to Moby’s homophobia allegation … by calling Moby a fag and demanding oral sex.

Rolling Stone asked Em about this line in 2011:

Do you think about aging? In your song “Without Me” – the one where you called Moby a fag and told him to blow you – you also said he was “too old” and to “let go, it’s over.” He was 36 at the time. You’re about to turn 38.
At the time that I wrote that, it seemed so far away. I do feel like I’ve grown up a lot. There’s always going to be that part of me that reverts back to immaturity, but I think that’s just my warped sense of humor.

In a 2014 AMA, Moby wrote:

my favorite eminem song is ‘mosh’. and ‘without me’, because he gave me some amazing free publicity.

Yet another insult directed at Debbie Mathers, Eminem’s mom. He was sued by her for the amount of $10,000,000 because of defamation, which was settled before he recorded this song. Thus, he feels free to swear at her, because she ended up only being awarded $1,600 or so in damages after legal fees.

Eminem has since made it clear that he regrets dissing his mom in “Headlights”, but, unfortunately, he made this line too iconic. Whenever he plays this song at concerts, he doesn’t yell “Fuck you, Debbie.” The crowd does that for him.