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Neverending Math Equation
by: Modest Mouse
Building Nothing out of Something
Standard Tuning
First Riff Chorus Riff
e||-------------------------||---------------------||
B||-------------------------||---------------------||
G||-------5---------4--0-0--||---------------------||
D||--x--x---xx-x--x----x-x--||---5-----------5-4---||
A||--7--7---77-5--5---------||7----7-------5-------||
E||-------------------------||-------7-5-3---------||
* * ** * *
"well oh my God.."
e||
B||
G||
D||2--0--2--0--2--0--
A||
E||
*=slight PM
E||
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Tab Discussion, Comments, and Critiques
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No Picture
Zack Wanna Be |
#1 by Zack Volm at Aug 9, 1970 at 10:05 AM EST |
| this song is really cool. it is a blast to play on the guitar and sing along with. I have no idea what it means... | |
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Mike Average |
#2 by Mike at Mar 23, 1978 at 12:02 AM EST |
| Did you realize when he said "Oh my God and oh my cat" that God is DOg backwards? Oh my dog and oh my cat. Now that's brilliance! Like this song. Which I have no idea what it means. | |
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cinn Professional Badass |
#3 by cinn mcrickson at Nov 4, 1978 at 7:53 PM EST |
| its about thinking really hard about the universe and life and humans and emotions and how in the end of this long thought you reach this profound I DONT KNOW. its just a long beautiful explanation of i dont know how or why. | |
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zach Wanna Be |
#4 by zach miles at May 1, 1982 at 10:14 PM EST |
| A woman accused Isaac of raping her in Spring of 1999. The charges were soon dropped, but not before creating an uproar in the Seattle music scene. There have been many conflicting rumors on the subject with people jumping to either defend Isaac or accuse him. In the end neither his guilt nor his innocence have been proven. I suspect that the only people who will ever know the truth are the two parties involved | |
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Athena-beana-fo Average |
#5 by Athena-beana-fo-feena -katrina-gina-go-zeena-fe-fi-fo...ATHENA at Oct 31, 1983 at 10:53 PM EST |
| I think that this song is about the population of man kind. Every day, tons of people die, and tons of people are born, thus making a never ending math equation. | |
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bec Average |
#6 by bec madden at Feb 29, 1984 at 2:43 PM EST |
| i agree with irishwulf's interpretation. my favorite line "We aint sure where you stand/ You aint machines and you aint land". it shows me how small over time on the planet is and how little mankind has to do with the entire course of the universe. | |
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dimebag 66' Average |
#7 by dimebag 66' at Aug 13, 1986 at 6:27 PM EST |
| 'where we're going i'm dead' to think that where we're going I still exist is egotistically. as if there is an eternal I. we and i are use for this moment. after this there's two destiny for us all. either an afterlife or an eternal death. he wants an ego death. | |
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Sara Average |
#8 by Sara Sunshine at Mar 2, 1987 at 4:49 PM EST |
| you are what you are, everything is what it is | |
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Ricky Rhythm Player |
#9 by Ricky Cribb at Jul 12, 1990 at 7:46 AM EST |
| I think this is about that overwhelming feeling of meaninglessness in the face of life, the universe, and everything. When you feel old and not anything at all. Where do you move when you want to move from yourself, is an eloquent emotion. The feeling doesn't end and you don't know who you are. Typical questions of existentialism, all wrapped up in a funky indie rock song. | |
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No Picture
klown Rhythm Player |
#10 by klown at Oct 12, 1990 at 12:57 PM EST |
| It's interesting to me that so many people have interpreted this song so differently. There do seem to be a few common themes, though - futility, transcendence, internal struggling - and I think this is exactly the purpose of the song. It would be very easy for MM to say, "We keep getting older and that's a never-ending math equation," but it's much harder to get so many people to _feel_ that. This is my favorite MM song; I think it's a beautiful expression of futility. The idea of a 'never-ending math equation' itself is a bit futile - what good is a math equation for its own sake? If Mr. Brock is suggesting that life, or meaning, or the universe is reducible to something as arbitrary and unfeeling as a math equation, what is the point of playing it out? The lyrics systematically refute any suggestion of life's higher meaning: Brock says he hasn't grown or learned anything ("I'm the same...as i was when i was 6 years old"); he suggests that day-to-day life is pointless ("...they look so alone, do they really feel anything?"); he refuses to believe God is anything more than another arbitrary word ("Oh my God...Oh my Cat.") My favorite lyric of all time is: "We're on the tip of [creation's] tongue and it is saying, 'We ain't sure where you stand - you ain't machines, and you ain't land.'" How bizarre is our position as human beings! We glorify the natural world as an idyllic paradise, but we can't admit that 'the plants and the animals eat each other'! We systematize and sterilize, compartmentalize, and generally mechanize our lives - we glorify the machine world - but we are terrified of losing our 'humanity', that wildness that keeps us linked to that bestial, primal essence that is nature. In any case, the beautiful thing about MM is they're able to communicate their meaning without necessarily articulating it. I doubt anyone can listen to this song and not _feel_ it. | |
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Matt Lead Player |
#11 by Matt Beach at Dec 17, 1991 at 3:43 AM EST |
| This was the first song I ever heard by Modest Mouse, I love it! It's phenomenal! I can't even begin to ponder what goes through Isaac's brain when he writes songs. . . the man is a genius, I love Modest Mouse now. | |
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No Picture
Josh Lead Player |
#12 by Josh Ripley at May 5, 1993 at 11:47 AM EST |
| The never ending math equation is the the "unified field theory", or the theory of everything. Einstein was among the first to try and figure it out, but never did. No one has, and we may never do it. What they're trying to do is to find one equation that unifies the four fundamental forces of nature: strong nuclear, weak nuclear, electromagnetic, and gravitational. These are the only four forces in the universe, everything else is based on them. So if you find an equation that links them all together, you have the equation that EVERYTHING works on..."The universe works on a math equation". However, some believe it doesn't exist..."never even ever really ends in the end" | |
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aleXeXeX Rhythm Player |
#13 by aleXeXeX at Jun 22, 2001 at 4:33 PM EST |
| Isaac Brock wrote these lyrics when he was 24 years old. 2 + 4=6 (2 and 4 are digits in his age) Hence, "I'm the same as I was when I was 6 years old." This math equation, though it may seem simple, is actually neverending, since we all keep getting older and our age keeps increasing. | |
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