Video: Titus Andronicus – “Above the Bodega (Local Business)”

From A Productive Cough, out March 2 on Merge.

I can keep a secret from my mama, I can keep a secret from my pa
I keep myself out of trouble, stay one step ahead of the law
And I can keep it from my neighbors – it ain’t like they even care
But I can’t keep a secret from the guy at the store downstairs

Sounds like Titus Andronicus might be making their Exile on Main Street, with all the horns, soulful background vocals, and lowdown lyrics.

Patrick Stickles says, “The first floor of the apartment building in which I live is occupied by a deli-grocery, to which I give my patronage several times a day. As a result, I have developed a particular understanding with the staff there which I have not so far heard articulated in song. Thusly, I took it upon myself to write the ‘ultimate’ song explicating the bodega clerk-patron relationship. More and more, we are defined by the things which we consume, and those who facilitate that consumption may glimpse a more truthful view of ourselves than the carefully curated image we share with our loved ones. No one knows the depths of my vice better than they who oversee the transactions which make it possible—in this way, the deli clerk knows me better than my own mother.”

Shoop shoop sha la la!

Titus Andronicus: web, twitter, amazon, apple, spotify, wiki.