The Tortoise and the Tourist
Modest Mouse * Track #13 On Strangers to Ourselves
Download "The Tortoise and the Tourist"
Album Strangers to Ourselves
- #1Strangers to Ourselves
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- #2
Lampshades on FireModest Mouse
- #3Shit in Your Cut
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- #4Pistol (A. Cunanan, Miami, Fl. 1996)
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- #5Ansel
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- #6
The Ground Walks, with Time in a BoxModest Mouse
- #7Coyotes
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- #8Pups to Dust
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- #9Sugar Boats
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- #10Wicked Campaign
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- #11Be Brave
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- #12God Is an Indian and You’re an Asshole
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- #13The Tortoise and the Tourist
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- #14The Best Room
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- #15Of Course We Know
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The Tortoise and the Tourist by Modest Mouse
Release Date
Performed by
Modest MouseProduced by
Clay Jones & Brian Deck & Tucker Martine & Isaac BrockWrited by
Isaac BrockAbout
“The Tortoise and the Tourist,” from Modest Mouse’s 2015 album, Strangers to Ourselves, features lyrics about humanity’s ignorance and greed told in a style akin to a fable.
The music includes some guitar hysterics reminiscent to those in Modest Mouse’s “The Whale Song,” from their 2009 EP, No One’...
The Tortoise and the Tourist Lyrics
[Verse 1]
Wake up, get ready, wake up, get ready
What a wonderful trip's ahead
Well, wake up, get ready, wake up, get ready
Such a wonderful trip's ahead
We get dressed as ghosts
With sheets taken from the bed
Inside our socks, we hide travelers checks
We are tourists of the dead
[Chorus 1]
So let's pack up!
Let's go
So let's pack up!
Let's go
Well, let's pack up!
Let's go
Let's go
[Verse 2]
There was this tortoise
Its shell was covered in jewels and had been since time began
It knew the world through all its histories
And the universe and its mysteries
One day, it came across a man
The two were talking
The tortoise offered to tell him about the future and how the universe ran
Oh, the man killed the tortoise, took his shell
And, with a song on his lips, walked off again
[Chorus 2]
So let's walk off!
Let's go
So let's walk off!
Let's go
Let's walk off
Let's go
So let's walk off
Let's go!
[Verse 3]
Pack a lunch, wander 'round
Toss the map on the ground
It is inaccurate anyways
We've been getting away
We've been getting away
We are strangers to ourselves
We sneak out, drip by drip
Through paper cuts on our hands
Day after day, nothing's quite the same
We are tourists in our own heads
[Chorus 3]
So let's walk on!
Let's go
Let's walk on!
Let's go
Let's walk on! (I think I feel ready to go)
Let's go
Let's walk on!
Let's go
[Outro]
I think I feel ready to go, I think I feel ready to go
I think I feel ready to go
I think I feel ready to go, I think I feel ready to go
I think I feel ready to go
The Tortoise and the Tourist Q&A
Who wrote The Tortoise and the Tourist's ?
The Tortoise and the Tourist was written by Isaac Brock.
Who produced The Tortoise and the Tourist's ?
The Tortoise and the Tourist was produced by Clay Jones & Brian Deck & Tucker Martine & Isaac Brock.
When did Modest Mouse release The Tortoise and the Tourist?
Modest Mouse released The Tortoise and the Tourist on Tue Mar 17 2015.
What did Modest Mouse say about "The Tortoise and the Tourist"?
In a 2015 Track by Track Commentary of the album, via Spotify, Isaac Brock shares the following insight into the song:
So it lives in three worlds all at once. The world it imagines exists when it dies, the real world, and the world that pretends to exist to distract self.