Talk:I've Got A Match

Hey, I want to hear said live recording if anyone has any info just post hear.-MH

museumofidiots.com should still have it. Go to mp3s and click on mp3 Of The Fortnight

I don't hear anything on that live recording from museumofidiots that sounds like he's choked up. --Valerie 20:48, 13 July 2006 (UTC)

Well, the MoI.com recording was from 1987, so that definitely could not be it, considering the last time it was played was in 1989. Someone who's been a fan THAT long, and who's been to that show would know. Actually, if it were true, that's really heartbreaking. The song is actually quite powerful, and too passionate to NOT be true. Maybe it's based on something that really happened to Linnell. If he was choked up, then that would make sense, but I'm only speculating. I wasn't even born in 1989. - Overjoy

i think he sounds sad. i know a lot of their songs aren't true, but the way that this one makes me feel, you really can't deny that singing this would make the writer feel a little sad at what insipred it, if you feel sad just at hearing him.plus i like pretending linnell has a heart.

I actually think he sounds kinda choked up during the studio version--specifically, during the second-to-last repetition of the line "I've got a match, your embrace and my collapse", his voice breaks a little. It really is heartbreaking. ~Anna Ng hears your words. 21:50, 14 April 2007 (UTC)

What if him being an asshole is what inspired it? Why exactly is everyone so quick to jump to the idea that he was the one on the receiving end of all the awfulness in this song if they do want to set some sort of dubious real-life precedence for it? I mean, I can't even remember at this point which of the couple of live recordings I have from '87 it was that I put up, but, I will say, I definitely am not aware of any "choked up"-ness on any of them. Seriously, if you want to transpose the situation in the song, in which one party at least is being unbelievably cruel, into an actual relationship, and John Linnell is one of the two people in the equation, I don't know why everyone wants to immediately say "OH POOR LITTLE JOHN." That is not my, um, immediate gut reaction necessarily. --Self Called Nowhere 08:54, 20 December 2010 (UTC)

heh, i love the guy.--Appleheart 12:10, 4 October 2006 (UTC)

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i had the line "beat up the cat if you need someone else on the mat" printed on a t-shirt to pick up guys. no need to give away the context. i like the agressively pragmatic approach. unfortunately, nobody else seems to - so far. i still recommend it for covert fanship. go engraft! ;-) yours vitruallyme

p.s.: dear tmbg, please do not forget to include hamburg in your next world tour schedule. preferably not towards the end of mine...

I love this song, it's so depressing that Linnell is sad whenever he sings it. Does anybody know EXACTLY why he gets so sad? I'm just so curious to know. Most likely anyone would get choked up singing this because of how powerful it is, but does anyone know?--Mrs. H0rrible Someone keeps moving my stool! 23:31, 1 April 2010 (UTC)

Most people think it's because of some relevant past-experience, but it's not even a sure thing that it makes Linnell sad. Maybe they just don't like playing it live. Anyway, I can hardly listen to this song at all for quite the same reason. I can have it playing in the background while I'm doing something else, but if I'm being attentive, it just makes me too sad. It's a beautiful song, though. If you want some more interesting theories, you can check higher up on the page. -Apollo. 23:44, 1 April 2010 (UTC)

The "rock"

One of my all-time favorite TMBG songs, but this line has always befuddled me: "I put a rock / in the coffee in your coffee mug." Any idea what the "rock" might be? Been racking my brain for a while and nothing is coming. --MisterMe 22:56, 11 June 2012 (EDT)

i believe "rock" is an appropriate synonym for ice (e.g. "on the rocks"). since coffee is a drink properly served hot, i imagine an ice cube wouldn't be exactly welcome (unless you're the guy who owns dunkin donuts). though, i like to think he means a literal rock, with some outside filth on it, was dropped into the coffee, making it all muddy or something. -Apollo (colloquia!) 17:13, 12 June 2012 (EDT)

Yeh, I've always taken it to be a literal rock. I never even thought about it being something else. Iced coffee is totally a thing! So I don't think that would be bad. --Self Called Nowhere 17:30, 12 June 2012 (EDT)

being such a bitter and traditional old man (and now he's even older), though, i wouldn't think john would be such a fan of iced coffee. -Apollo (colloquia!) 17:36, 12 June 2012 (EDT)

Cat

Hello wiki, can someone try to explain to me what "beat up the cat if you need someone else on the mat" means? A google search is fruitless and yields only youtube cat videos...is there some obscure euphemism here? A look through the "interpretations" page didn't really help either. Thanks.

i have never known anyone who knows for sure! i've always assigned it a bit of a sexual meaning myself (with "on the mat" being equal to the colloquial "in bed" and "cat" being slang for HOOKER — a wiktionary search suggests that "cat" can also mean something a bit filthier, but that doesn't make a lot of sense here). but that's just because i can't think of what else it could possibly be! it might just be mr. linnell arbitrarily filling up syllables again, or it might have some clearer/blatant meaning that i am missing. -Apollo (colloquia!) 19:55, 13 March 2013 (EDT)

I took it more literally... well but not wholly literally. "On the mat" as if a wrestling match were taking place, with wrestling as a metaphor for bickering and struggles in the relationship. And Linnell wants to bow out, or tag out. So with the cat, imagine JL and GF are sharing an apartment and have a cat. The cat's the only thing resembling a third party, and JL's suggesting she's just looking for a fight and that she might as well fight the cat since he's got no investment in the relationship. I suppose that that interpretation has a lot of the scenario being pushed in by one line, but in my mind I never really drew out the whole situation from it, just the emotional suggestion. ~ magbatz 22:24, 13 March 2013 (EDT)

yeah i think the idea of a wrestling mat makes much more sense. -Apollo (colloquia!) 22:26, 13 March 2013 (EDT)

Well, here is the answer, apparently. O.O --MisterMe (talk) 08:10, 9 September 2013 (EDT)

I've removed that trivia bullet on the grounds that "beat the cat" as a phrase referencing masturbation seems to have virtually no notability online, outside of an Urban Dictionary entry that's had 17 votes over 7+ years (making it less or equally notable to a holiday I once made up in middle school). On top of that, the lyric is "beat up the cat". It just seems like a huge reach to me. If anyone wants to start a dialog to gain consensus to put the trivia bullet back in some shape or form, feel free. -CapitalQ ♫ talk ♪ 13:22, 21 September 2014 (EDT)

wow i didn't even notice this happened. not sure why exactly? "beat off" is common slang for masturbation; i don't think i have to explain what "cat" means here, because it's certainly not an uncommon euphemism. Apollo (colloquia!) 16:20, 9 December 2014 (EST)

(NSFW) see here (related) and #9 here, not far from this one. Apollo (colloquia!) 16:29, 9 December 2014 (EST)

Best Love Song

Hey yall so this is one of my favorite love songs by TMBG what is better this or Narrow Your Eyes??