That Ain’t Peace And That Ain’t Free

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard “Daily Blues”

I was watching an archive of King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard’s random all-acoustic show in Detroit from this weekend and at one point when they were introducing “Minimum Brain Size,” one of them – I think it was Stu? – was talking about the notion of “toxic masculinity” without actually using that now very cringey phrase. He was basically saying a lot of guys in this world need to chill out, and ended by just saying “masculine is good, but just do it right.” I feel like this might be annoying coming from some acts, but the Gizz guys are such dudely dudes that they’re effectively modeling a positive unambiguous masculinity for the audience. It’s kinda like how in the 1990s the Beastie Boys were very effective in showing a lot of guys around my age that there was no contradiction between being a cool bro and treating everyone with kindness and respect.

“Daily Blues” wasn’t played in that show, but its lyrics are very much on this wavelength. Like a lot of the songs on the recent Flight b741, it’s a groovy and harmony-heavy “classic rock” song in the vein of pre-Michael McDonald Doobie Brothers. The lyrics lay out the King Gizz philosophy – strict adherence to faith can be a prison for the mind and soul, “a gaping chasm” between haves and have-nots perpetuates misery worldwide, aggro dudes torment themselves as much as they hurt everyone around them, all the bigots can “go get fucked.” They’re not holding back in their critique of the people making the planet a worse place, but they’re also insistent that empathy and love are essential, even when dealing with your enemies.

There’s a few big call-and-response hooks in the song but the one that really stands out is a part in the middle that they only sing once, though it definitely could have been a heavily repeated chorus – “they’re getting fuck up daily / GETTING FUCKED UP DAILY / they’re getting fucked up daily / GETTING FUCKED UP DAILY!!” This hits like a laddish party boy thing, but in context this is their rationale for showing love to someone you hated. Everyone is dealing with their “daily blues,” and the only way out of it is to show empathy for others’ struggles. It’s a very hippy-ish sentiment, but it’s true.

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