Interpretations:Wicked Little Critta

Not sure what to say about in-depth interpretations of underlying meaning, but everytime I listen to this great little tune, my imagination envisions a fantastical hockey game between little Gremlins (ala the 1980's movie Gremlins) wearing black leather embedded with spikes and chains, zippers, etc. riding around on "mini-bikes". I see a blend of hockey and polo; Spiked wheels, spiked helmets, punked out gremlins playing a "no-holds-barred" game of hockey.

It's kinda fun

I think if anything this song is just an excersice in the new england, bostonian accent. Brian

• A Sissy bar is a motorcycle accessory. Looks like something to keep you from sliding off the back of the seat.

• What I don't get is how the dirt bike/motorcycle imagery fits in with the hockey imagery. Are we channel surfing or what?

This is about being a kid in Boston, riding your bike, ditching school, imagining you are a sports hero for your local teams. Nothing fancy. A little thing about being a kid on a bike. He is mocking the working class accent of his fellow Bostonians, which isn't very nice. On the other hand, his own accent might not be clearly recognizable as Boston, whereas his "Dorchester accent" in which this is sung is immediately identifiable.

~Christina Miller, July 2005

Agreed mostly with Christina, except I don't think "ditches" in this song refers to skipping school - it refers to passing the puck or basketball (since he mentions Havlicek around the same time). I think "no one knows where he ditched" means it was a bad pass.

--The Great Puma - www.thegreatpuma.com 16:52, 25 Aug 2005 (EDT)

Ah! Thanks! ~CHristina

Just a note on the above from a Canadian. Ditching the puck into the zone is done in order to advance the puck when the defense outnumber you (or when you need a line change). No one knowing where he ditches means he can walk in and pick the puck back up before the other team can get to it (like shooting it through someone's legs and then picking it back up on the other side).

This song reminds of my brother hanging out at Hockeytown in Saugus, Mass.... the accent is very Dorchester, where I lived for about five years, but so what - that's what makes it hysterical. I grew up in Melrose, which is close enough to Boston to hear the accent, if a bit more faint. I rarely hear the word "dink" any longer - even in Boston. I keel over every time I listen to this song. It wouldl have been even better if they used "tard" (short for retard) and some other specific Boston/Boston area abbreviations and slang, but you probably can't fit it all in one song.....Great stuff!

MBS, Brooklyn, NY

I grew up in Waltham, MA, and every kid in my neighborhood talked like this, using these exact words.... Words I never heard again since the 70's, until hearing this song. For that reason it is very evocative of a certain place and time for me, as I'm sure it is for a great select percentage who are in on the joke. There may be different usages for "to ditch," but my understanding is that it means "to crash," or "to junk." It doesn't seem to fit in the context of hockey playing, though.

J., Phila , PA

But then so why does the singer end by admitting that he's "got problems"? That still leaves me confused.

B, Seattle, WA

I always figured that was an aside from Flans, not necessarily in the same "role" he's playing in the rest of the song - as if he is admitting that the fact that he just wrote and performed "Wicked Little Critta" proves that he's got problems. I love this track, by the way! --Kris Wright 06:16, 7 June 2007 (UTC)

Sounds like some kinda action-adventure theme song to me.

I had always assumed "ditch" here referred to ditching the bike. Either he abndoned/hid it somewhere (maybe it was stolen?), or (less likely) he jumped off of it in some crazy daredevil move.

(Dave D, St. Louis)

Self Called Nowhere Paralell

It's worth noting that both Wicked Little Critta and Self Called Nowhere appear to have lyrics that exist solely for emphasizing a boston accent, in which "are" is pronounced "ah."

I'm sitting on the curb ("Cahb") By the empty parking lot (here, "Pahking" internally rhymes with "lot") Of the store where they let me play the organ ("pronounced "Stah" and "Ahgan")

Wicked Little Critter seems to be mostly a guy with a Boston accent commentating on a Bruins game (Orr played for the Bruins.) Then, of course, you have the reference to the motorbike, who the hell knows where that comes from. Maybe just out of complete nowhere, or maybe just a reference to Orr's speed as an analogy used by the hockey commentators. I think the guys just like Boston accents...

To ditch

When I was young ditching something always meant dropping & leaving it somewhere... but it was decidedly an informal kid's word, kind of like "sketchy" these days -- a word native to the new generation but generally alien to anyone over 30. So it always cracks me up to hear the verb formally conjugated in this song, as if it was part of the kid's grammar homework. --Nehushtan (talk) 07:33, 6 April 2014 (EDT)