[Intro - a woozy surf-tinged chicha guitar and farfisa organ figure over a guiro and conga groove, glitter-rock drums and vintage synth bass rolling a warm, wandering strut, fender rhodes underneath] [Verse 1 - the groove wanders warm and loose, chicha guitar and Rhodes in the pocket, farfisa organ underneath] There's an exit off the main road that the map forgot to name. Everybody blows right past it, chasing normal, chasing same. But I took the ramp one evening, just to see what I would find. And it's stranger down here, sweeter, than the life I left behind. [Chorus - the band blooms wide and bright, hammond b3 swelling, fuzz guitar and farfisa lifting over the hook, arpeggiator shimmering] I live south of ordinary, where the weird stuff grows. Past the last familiar exit, where the straight road never goes. It's a little off, a little loose, and the color's turned up loud. South of ordinary, and I'm never turning round. [Verse 2 - back to the wandering verse pocket, chicha guitar and farfisa weaving, tape echo trailing, guiro scraping] The normal folks keep asking how I stand it way out here, with the crooked and the offbeat, with the ones the maps don't clear. But the crooked ones are kinder, and the offbeat ones are free. There's more life south of ordinary than the straight road gave to me. [Chorus - fuller, b3 and farfisa rising, congas and drums pushing] I live south of ordinary, where the weird stuff grows. Past the last familiar exit, where the straight road never goes. It's a little off, a little loose, and the color's turned up loud. South of ordinary, and I'm never turning round. [Bridge - eases to a woozy hush, Rhodes and a lone chicha guitar, the analog synths and farfisa gathering as it builds] I don't knock the folks up north there, on the tidy, well-lit grid. It's a fine place to be from, it's just not the way I'm built. Give me the road with all the potholes, the one that nobody's on. The scenery south of ordinary is worth the wheels it costs. [Instrumental Solo - a woozy fuzz guitar solo climbs from loose to searing, hands off to a dazzling chicha-guitar and farfisa-organ trade over the rolling congas, then a wild hammond b3 and fender rhodes climax, the whole band wandering higher together] [Final Chorus - the biggest bright lift, everything glowing, vocoder shadowing the hook, farfisa and guitars wide open] I live south of ordinary, where the weird stuff grows. Past the last familiar exit, where the straight road never goes. It's a little off, a little loose, and the color's turned up loud. South of ordinary, and I found my whole life out.
