Country Joe McDonald: Manic Depressive

"Breakfast for Two" by Country Joe McDonald has an excellent, smooth vibe. (If you doubt me, you can hear it here.) It's either the hottest song this side of Heart's "Crazy on You" or it is the most delicious love song to over-eating ever recorded, the sort of thing you might imagine Joey Chestnut and Kobayashi listening to on a date:

We went out to dinner
Boy, what an appetite
We just couldn't stop eating
We stayed up most of the night

And after three or four hours
Our stomachs began to hurt
But everything tasted so good
We didn't stop until after dessert

[CHORUS]

Ooh la la, breakfast for two
Ooh la la, you got me and I got you

I've eaten in Italy
Yes, I've eaten in Spain
I must admit I'd be licking my lips
If I ever was to eat there again

But last night at dinner
You really, really blew my mind
The way we supped just filled me up
I think about food all of the time

Anyway, in hearing the song today, I was struck by this jarring lyric affixed onto the end of this otherwise hedonistically sensual song:

People always come up to me
They say, hey, man
How about a little smile
Don't take life so seriously
Lighten up for a little while

I say that a man's a fool
If he don't know how to cry
When I get down, I sure get down
But when I'm up, I know how to fly

Whoa, dude! I mean, WTF? How does that possibly follow the eating metaphor you hooked me on? All that "excuse me whilst I loosen my collar because it's suddenly hot in here" tastiness suddenly detouring to "oh, yeah, I have bi-polar disorder" is clearly a mood killer, Joe. Hit that with some Lithium and get back in the studio and take another run at what otherwise is a sumptuous song.