[Intro] [Key: G Major | BPM: 158] [Hard Acoustic Downstrokes] [Driving Upright Bass] [Frantic Folk-Punk Drums] [Bright Mandolin Chops] [Male Vocal | Nostalgic, Conversational] The TV raised me. Dad was doing what he could. And I had front-row seats To the weirdest shit in the neighborhood. [Verse 1] [Fast Acoustic Guitar | Busy Upright Bass | Snappy Drums] Single dad, single-wide, nineties television glow Somewhere in the woods where the cable barely worked Dad was busy being Dad, I was busy being ten And the greatest thing on earth was when the commercials came again The cartoons were great, but the ads were something else Little plastic nightmares that I begged for on the shelf Gross-out toys and slime and things that burped and spat Some executive got rich selling garbage to a brat Then the raisins started singing And I nearly lost my mind They'd heard it through the grapevine And I'd heard it 500 times [Pre-Chorus] [Mandolin Builds | Drums Push Forward] I knew the jingles word for word Before I knew what rent was worth And every sponsored ad break Was a little piece of heaven on earth [Chorus] [Full-Band Folk-Punk Explosion] [Gang-Style Male Doubles on Final Lines] I grew up between the commercials Between the cartoons and the late-night glow With a world full of things I couldn't afford And a hundred thousand places I could go I grew up between the commercials Where the weirdest little dreams came true I didn't have much, but I had that screen And, man, it felt like the whole world knew me [Verse 2] [Relentless Acoustic Downstrokes | Frantic Drums] [Mandolin Countermelody] "Crossfire! You'll get caught up in the!" That damn commercial still lives in my head I can hear the music, imagine the leather coat kid. I wanted to win the game like he did. AHHHH! Real Monsters, Itcus, Oblina, Crumb Rocko's Modern Life when the weird stuff would come Ren and Stimpy getting grosser every week Norbert and Daggett making angry beavers speak I named a dog Daggett That's how deep that shit went A cartoon rodent got a namesake And the dog wore it with no consent [Pre-Chorus] [Brief Drum Fill | Bass and Guitar Lock In] Mario Three was king of everything No argument, no debate Mortal Kombat taught us bloodlust And the fatalities made us stay [Chorus] [Full Band | More Aggressive Delivery] I grew up between the commercials Between the cartoons and the late-night glow With a world full of things I couldn't afford And a hundred thousand places I could go I grew up between the commercials Where the weirdest little dreams came true I didn't have much, but I had that screen And, man, it felt like the whole world knew me [Verse 3] [Driving Bass | Rapid Acoustic Chops] [Male Vocal | Animated, Slightly More Reflective] Monday night, WWF Raw Is War Stone Cold, The Rock, and a dad asleep next door Trying not to wake him while the whole arena roared Learning every wrestler's entrance like a prayer I could afford Then MTV still played the music Back when music videos were king VH1 had Pop-Up Video And I Love the '80s made everything a thing Once a year, around the holidays Disney gave us a free week I watched every goddamn minute Cuz the signal would be gone by next week And way too late, with the volume low I'd hunt scrambled cable for a flash of nipple A fuzzy, forbidden mess of static And the glorious possibility of getting caught looking in [Bridge] [Acoustic Guitar Drops to Half-Time] [Upright Bass Plays Warm, Simple Notes] [Sparse Glockenspiel] [Male Vocal | Quiet, Matter-of-Fact] We didn't have a lot of money There were things we couldn't do But I could sit in front of that television And disappear for an hour or two I never thought it was raising me I never thought about it at all It was just the thing that filled the silence In that little house with the wooded yard And now I barely watch a television There's too much choice and too much noise I put on Twitch and watch somebody play a game Like I'm still that little boy [Final Chorus] [Maximum Dynamic Intensity] [Ragged Male Vocal | Warm, Unpolished Delivery] I grew up between the commercials Between the cartoons and the late-night glow With a world full of things I couldn't afford And a hundred thousand places I could go I grew up between the commercials With a plastic toy-shaped hole in my heart Now the screen's a window to somebody else's life And I still miss how it felt at the start I grew up between the commercials And I swear I can still hear the tune Dancing raisins, scrambled cable And a cartoon playing in my room [Outro] [Band Drops Away in Stages] [Acoustic Guitar and Upright Bass Remain] [Sparse Glockenspiel]
