Fresh Tattoo[1]

Fresh Tattoo was released on August 23, 2023. There is an official lyric video.

Lyrics

Tattoo of the seventh shield[2]
Still wet on my skin
You're all crumpled up at the curb there[3]
I think I'm going to take you in[4]
Always had to follow my instincts
Usually I'm out on my own
You there by the road, wet and helpless
What happens if I take you home?

Well, you may forget the whys and wheres
Of an old tattoo on your forearm there
But usually you recall the day you got one
And usually it fades in the sun

Headed for a season in exile[5]
As the oracle predicted
According to reliable sources
In thirty days I'm getting evicted[6]
Trying not to scratch where it itches
It takes a certain level of discipline
Not even half a second by the light switch
Let the future flood right in

Well, you may forget the whys and wheres
Of an old tattoo on your forearm there
But usually you recall the day you got one
And usually it fades in the sun

Usually the lines grow faint
Like old house paint
Just a way to mark the years gone by
You lay on the couch three weeks
Until the color came back into your cheeks[7]
I'd seen ones like you before
Plenty came through before

Legend on the shield in Greek[ba!]
"What's that say?" you said
I gave you an answer that I thought you'd buy
All of this will disappear in the twinkling of an eye

Well, you may forget the whys and wheres
Of an old tattoo on your forearm there
But usually you recall the day you got one
And usually it fades in the sun
But not this one

Liner notes

Banter

Live Performances

Footnotes

1. Subtitle: "She commemorates her present station on her forearm"↩
2. The seventh shield (as discussed above is that of Polynices, depicting Justice leading a warrior and foretelling the tragedy about to come. The placement is one that's generally pretty visible on one's body on a day to day basis, so this is something she'd want to see. (The curator of this website sports an Up the Wolves tattoo on her left forearm, for full disclosure.)↩
3. Presumably this curb in Fresh Tattoo and From the Nebraska Plant are the same curb, just seen from different points of view.↩
4. "what happens if I take you in" rather than "I think I'm gonna take you in" (2023-10-02, 2023-10-03, 2023-10-06, 2023-10-28)↩
4. The inciting event (at least, proximately, ultimately it's Oedipus's whole...deal, but again, not a classicist) for the tragedy of the Seven is that Eteocles, refusing to share the throne as agreed, exiles Polyneices from Thebes to Argos where he raises an army and fucks both of their shit up. Incidentally, Sophocles took this and ran with it, writing Antigone and also a postscript to Seven Against Thebes to make the connection more obvious.↩
5. The tragedy for Jenny and Eteocles alike is that it's predictable and foreseen, yet inevitable. This tension - which JD describes as the "paradox that crushes you", is the sine qua non of a classical tragedy. JD confirms this as central to the album: "the nature of a Greek tragedy is that there is a symbol which, if you were able to read it, you would be able to avert the tragedy, but the only way you could learn how to read it is to experience the tragedy."↩
6. Straightforward title drop of Color in Your Cheeks.↩
ba ba BA!!! [ba!](ck)