I know almost nothing about this song, besides the fact that it is a lyrical palindrome (Not a musical palindrome, as I initially typed. I’m sure that some composer must have explored palindromic music, and if you are better informed than I in this department, I encourage you to enlighten me). It comes from a compilation of two-minute songs that a previous band of mine participated in: ‘I Am Shorter Than You Are Taller Than Am I,’ which appears to be available via the Kelp Records page. The liner notes reveal only that Big Fish Eat Little Fish was a band from Ottawa, Canada. As always, I THIRST for further examples of palindromic lyrics / music.
Big Fish Eat Little Fish – ‘Word Awk’
From: I Am Shorter Than You Are Taller Than Am I
Another great example pointed to in the comments is ‘Bob‘ by Weird Al Yankovic, suggested by Andy Baio. I should probably clarify and say that the lyrics to this example are palindromes in the classic sense, whereas I was describing the lyrics of the Big Fish Eat Little Fish song as palindromic. If one were to write the lyrics out, they wouldn’t be a palindrome, per se. This is making no sense. Perhaps an illustration is in order:
A bit of the lyrics to Yankovic’s ‘Bob:’
I, man, am regal – a German am I
Never odd or even
If I had a hi-fi
Madam, I’m Adam
Too hot to hoot
No lemons, no melon
Too bad I hid a boot
Lisa Bonet ate no basil
Warsaw was raw
Was it a car or a cat I saw?
Each line is a palindrome. In the case of the lyrics to ‘Word Awk:’
Ment Face De Self Such With Live You Can How
Space My In Self Your Cing For
By Place Word Awk Such In Me Put You
Lone A Me Leave But
Ly Lite Po This You Tell To How Know Don’t
I!
Don’t Know How To Tell You This Politely
But Leave Me Alone
You Put Me In Such Awkward Place
By Forcing Yourself In My Space
How Can You Live With Such Self-Defacement?
The lyrics are palindromic in a broader way, in the sense that the entire song is the palindrome, as opposed to being made up of a series of palindromes. So you see, if one were to treat each WORD in ‘Word Awk’ as a LETTER, THEN it would be…(Head Explodes).
Another of the links posted in the comments references a book I’m trying to read right now: Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid. This is a good book to read if you like music, math, and art; and don’t mind your head exploding occaisionally.