Only Takes A Few

Lyrics

Almost missed this one, he said
I stared at the honky-tonk piano
Sure beats living in town
The beach is a half a mile away
Not much of the cat, I said
He stared down underneath the couch
It doesn't matter much to me
Not gonna beat it, anyway

It only takes a few cents more to go first class
First class only takes a few
It only takes a few cents more to go first class
First class only takes a few

It's called quintessence, I said
She stared at an Oreo cookie in black and white
After water, earth, air and fire
The fifth and highest plane
Lobster okay? she said
I stared at her refrigerator door
There'll be enough for the guy in the attic
What's his name?

It only takes a few cents more to go first class
First class only takes a few
It only takes a few cents more to go first class
First class only takes a few

Shared a floor with Nashville
The burger queen bought herself a pearl
A bloke named Boob McNutt bounced in
With art and a very pretty Kelly Girl
Downstairs, two Spanish lovers were singing along
With some domestic Don Juan
I had to pinch myself, what a hell of a house I'd stumbled on

June, July, August, she said
They stared at the summer about to fade away
Damn good three months of my life
I remember now what living is
The cat's now a cat, I say
You stare at the honky-tonk piano man
Watch your step
I just met Oliver, the lobster's his

It only takes a few good friends to be first class
First class only takes a few
It only takes a few good friends to be first class
First class only takes a few

Banter

• It's that time. This is the altar call part, now it's time to talk to you all about your eternal destiny. Nah, I'm not gonna do that. That's my solemn pledge to you. I may wanna talk to you about your eternal destiny, but I will forego this. To tell you instead about a song that a friend sent to me who was making a TV show and he said, hey, I was pals with Jonathan Larson and I got these songs he was working on when he died. Jonathan Larson is the guy who did Rent. So he'd left behind a bunch of demos, and my buddy sends me one, says, you think the Mountain Goats should do this? And it sounded New Wave. And I said, well yes, I have a New Wave bassist, in fact. [Peter does a cool bass thing, audience cheers]. This is that song, it's called Only Takes A Few. (2024-04-12 The Palace)

Live Performances

• 2024-04-12 The Palace (note: you can hear the webmistress having a delighted high-pitched conniption when the title of the song is announced, because it fucks severely, and she was a little bit tipsy and therefore prone to yelling enthusiastically more than usual.)

Footnotes