Interpretations:Character Flaw

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This one is also kind of about mania

Like it would be, uh, a second to-go ramekin of crazy-sauce to say that this song is about being bored and having a manic episode strike and writing fake lyrics to a song on the album and publishing it here on the site, damn the consequences for the vandalism. But. Like, it's not *not* about that, because it is, at least, a song about acting out of impulse in a way that causes problems for the people around the singer, more a statement of recklessness than malice. For that reason the singer is very open about acting this way, in hopes that people might help him stay accountable to himself and others. But they don't know him very well, nor do they ever expect to, so why would they?

Anyway this might be my favorite song on the album MuteKi (talk) 18:18, 11 April 2026 (EDT)

Sarcastic Anthem of Self-Love

Listening to this song really gets me in the mood to get up and dance, and energetically mime out a really over-the-top sarcastic apology. That's what this song feels like to me!

I'm trans, bisexual, autistic, and I know well what it feels like to have things core to yourself being seen as "flaws." And when you're proud of these things, when you express that you LIKE being trans, queer, autistic, whatever, there are some bitter, bigoted people out there who see that confidence and self-love as ANOTHER flaw on top of it all. How often are people like me called crazy, insane, selfish, immature, and unreasonable for refusing to perform the appropriate level of subservience to oppressive norms? All the time! So, sometimes, it feels good to just OWN that, to turn to the hecklers and say "yeah, so what? if this is what being immature looks like, then i'm proud to be immature! if you call people like me freaks, then i'll let my freak flag fly! if THIS is what a character flaw is, then i've got the flawiest flaw that you ever have saw!"

THIS is the energy this song puts me in the mind of, and i really can't get enough of it. Lukemeister (talk) 17:36, 12 April 2026 (EDT)

a guy at my school wrote and performed a song about being autistic and I saw some parallels so that was what stuck out to me. Also the part about people going out of their way not to see your character flaw reminded me of people trying to tip toe around talking about neurodivergence. Imightlikemen (talk) 17:49, 14 April 2026 (EDT)

reductive, but, drinking

So I've been recently trying to cut down on drinking (work at a bar.. free drinks.. the culture is that everyone stays out super late after close (close is 2am), there are drugs, and everyone behaves some manner of embarrassing that they apologize for later) and look I just didn't expect to get noscoped by the 12th track of the new TMBG album. So so so funny.

In fact a person I know (in the same situation, who is worse than me with some of these habits and is himself willfully needlessly confrontational to many) suddenly said something super observant to me about my behaving self-destructively (which is to say, with almost no backstory/discussion he just completely correctly clocked my half-assed private justifications for behaving self-destructively) and it made me feel seen in an extremely intimate yet horrifying way-- hang on, everyone already knows about my character flaw? Grevenz (talk) 04:01, 13 April 2026 (EDT)

Hello fellow self-destructive service industry grunt worker! I, too, immediately saw parts of myself and others I know in the context of this song. I don't think our mutual interpretation of it is reductive at all; it's an extremely rare thing to express in song and, yeah, I also didn't expect that sort of insight from John Linnell in 2026, but why not? Stranger things happen all the time. Just the cross section of "tearing up the whole town / breaking every law" (the shithead bar employee lifestyle, for example), "a natural expression of illogical thoughts / the logical extension of unnatural feelings" (the point where everything gets fuzzy and you start to say and do regrettable things) and the regret in the second verse really sell this interpretation to a pretty uncomfortable degree.

I also love that in true Linnell fashion, it starts out with an extremely misleadingly silly lyric and the tune itself wouldn't seem out of place on one of their kids albums, yet it's one of the more darkly human songs in a career full of those. A true gem of a tune. Anyway, good luck out there, friend.

further edit* forgot to say that I first thought the lyric was "after work" instead of "afterwards," which, close enough. -- some old dude who used to lurk here 15 years ago but returned because this new album is *THAT GOOD* late night, 14 April 2026 (EST)

A song about Donald Trump

No idea what this website's stance on talking about politics is, but all I can hear when I listen to Character Flaw is Donald Trump! What the "character flaw" in question is... well, that's pretty self-explanatory. Hostilegif (talk) 17:37, 17 April 2026 (EDT)

I came here to say, I can't hear this as being anything other than the subject of What The Cat Dragged In bragging shamelessly about their outrageousness. The bad English, the way Linnell articulates "natural expression of illogical thoughts" and "logical extension of unnatural feeling"... the insincere "I feel soooooooo bad"... it all fits. --Not a real worm (talk) 03:07, 20 April 2026 (EDT)

Experimental Film

I feel like this song has the same protagonist as Experimental Film, like him in the future after he finished his experimental Film and started doing more of them, in which his films get increasingly strange and dangerous.

- When I first heard this song I thought it was VERY similar to Experimental Film, the "YEAAAAH" at the start of Character Flaw sounds similar to the "YEAAAH"'s in Experimental Film's chorus bit?? In general soundwise they have the same vibe - The protagonists have strange ideas for stuff ("I don't know what makes your face implode / But that's the way the movie ends") ("I'll have the extra crazy sauce on the side / And extra crazy sauce also on the main course") <- additionally I think the first verse could be describing another concept for a film??? - I think the dude's character flaw is the fact he does bad things just for movies. And he has a big ego. And he hates himself for it, as seen in the second half of the lyrics - "Tearing up the whole town / Breaking every law" could refer to some sort of incident happening in one of his films (like accidentally killing somebody on set)

So yeah I've somehow made this song about a movie-making serial killer 211.27.222.152 01:03, 24 April 2026 (EDT)

Fandom

I feel like a lot of this can apply to the way fans view 'problematic' characters in media. Especially when they're a character fans tend to consider hot or ship with their favorite character, and they kind of ignore all the ways in which the character isn't really a great person or maybe they're dangerous, even. And then they act surprised when that character does something horrible.

It can also apply to problematic creators or media, itself, where some fans are unwilling to hear any criticism because they can't (or refuse to) distinguish valid criticism from unthinking hate, so they get defensive about it. People also tend not to consider the idea that it's possible to criticize something you actually like, too, when it lets you down, so they'll again get defensive when other fans are not 100% positive about the media they're super into.

Based on what I know of Linnell, I actually doubt he had this in mind, but it's what I hear in the song anyway. —El (talk) 12:17, 27 April 2026 (EDT)

"Everything You Know Is Wrong" response

This wonderful track currently lives in my head as a response to Weird Al's Everything You Know Is Wrong. It takes Weird Al's wacked out storyline and does it ten times wackier.

The lyrics often veer into phrasing that are very much in the style of the book "A Hole Is To Dig" so it's a great match for the spirit of the album.

But it also has this amazeballs organ part that is pure Linnell (in some ways like Drown The Clown but less circus-y and way groovier) by Linnell paired with the funky bass line and the HORNS. Love this song!