“Hard to Explain” (The Strokes cover)

Lyrics

Was an honest man
Asked me for the phone
Tried to take control

Oh, I don’t see it that way
I don’t see it that way

Oh, we shared some ideas
All obsessed with fame
Says we’re all the same

Oh, I don’t see it that way
I don’t see it that way

Raised in Carolina
“I’m not like that”
Trying to remind her
When we go back

I missed the last bus, I’ll take the next train
I try but you see, it’s hard to explain
I say the right things, but act the wrong way
I like it right here, but I cannot stay
I watch the TV; forget what I’m told
Well, I am too young, and they are too old
The joke is on you, this place is a zoo
“You’re right it’s true”

Says he can’t decide
I shake my head to say
Everything’s just great

Oh, I just can’t remember
I just can’t remember

Raised in Carolina, she says:
“I’m not like that”
Trying to remind her
When we go back

I say the right things but act the wrong way
I like it right here but I cannot stay
I watch the TV; forget what I’m told
Well, I am too young, and they are too old
Oh, man, can’t you see I’m nervous, so please
Pretend to be nice, so I can be mean
I miss the last bus, we take the next train
I try but you see, it’s hard to explain

Listen

This cover appears on Stereogum’s STROKED: A Tribute to Is This It.

STROKED: A Tribute to Is This It The Strokes - Hard to Explain

Notes

“Is This It is one of my favourite records of all time. I like a band when they’re metronomic with zero dynamics, and they never play the chorus more than twice, and when the vocals are buried. It sounds like efficiency. I read a quote, once, from Regina Spektor, in reference to Is This It:

The thing that blew my mind first hearing the Strokes was that they were the closest I had heard rock come to classical. Their music is extraordinarily orderly and composed.

“I post on several message boards — less these days, but still on occasion. Spektor’s statement, which made instant sense to me, was the source of lively online debate. Essentially, people disagreed with Spektor’s quote. What followed was a firestorm of criticism, and many things came into question, from Spektor’s familiarity with rock music to begin with, to the worth of “classical training” in the pop context.

“A user named Nabisco posted this in Spektor’s defence:

So far there’s like one person on the thread who’s actually bothered to spend half a second thinking about what [Spektor] seems to mean. (...) As of the first couple albums, at least, there is something almost insanely orderly about the Strokes’ eighth notes, in a way that’s pretty much the opposite of the “raw sloppy rock” tag they once got. I seem to remember Tom Ewing saying it was no surprise to have a drum machine on “Hard To Explain,” since the band always played like they were machined and sequenced anyway. It makes sense that this would be what Spektor means when she says the band is “like Mozart”. (...) It would be nice if there were ever any pull on [this message board] to look at something with the expectation that maybe — just maybe — it will be useful for something better than eye-rolling.

“When I was asked to cover ‘Hard To Explain,’ I remembered Spektor’s comment and Nabisco’s response. I re-imagined the Strokes as a piano quintet, and had us all playing hard, fast and mechanical. I can’t sing it as well as Julian, but he’s a really good singer — I think he had might have had lessons — not that it matters.”

—Owen