Summary
“Afternoons & Coffeespoons” by Crash Test Dummies is a deeply anxious and literate song about the fear of aging, mortality, and sinking into a mundane, unfulfilling existence. The song’s narrator is a hypochondriac gripped by existential dread, constantly checking his body for signs of decay. The title and key lyrics are a direct reference to T.S. Eliot’s poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” symbolizing a life measured out in tiny, insignificant moments rather than grand, meaningful acts. The song’s cheerful, upbeat melody stands in stark contrast to its heavy lyrical themes, creating a powerful and unsettling portrait of internal panic.
Crash Test Dummies’ “Afternoons & Coffeespoons” is one of the most distinctive songs of the 1990s, pairing a bright, jangly folk-rock melody with lyrics of profound intellectual depth and anxiety. The song creates an immediate and unforgettable contrast, inviting listeners in with its catchy tune while confronting them with themes of hypochondria, aging, and existential dread. It’s a track that feels both sunny and deeply melancholic at the same time. In this article, we explore the meaning of this song, breaking down its metaphors and emotions.
The Core Meaning: The Anxious Hum of Existential Dread
At its heart, “Afternoons & Coffeespoons” is an exploration of a very specific kind of fear: the dread of a slow, meaningless decline. The song isn’t about a dramatic or heroic confrontation with death, but rather the terror of fading into a quiet life of irrelevance and infirmity. The narrator is paralyzed by the thought of his own future, envisioning a mundane existence marked by physical decay and a lack of purpose. This feeling is amplified by a constant, nervous awareness of his own body and its potential failings. The song masterfully captures the internal monologue of someone who is overthinking their own mortality, making every small ache and pain feel like a premonition of an empty future.
A Portrait of the Narrator: The Modern Hypochondriac
The verses paint a vivid picture of the song’s narrator as a classic hypochondriac. He is acutely aware of every uncomfortable physical sensation, from a “queasy” feeling to difficulty breathing. His anxiety is so pronounced that it has led him down a path of medical investigation: “I’ve had my lungs checked out with X-rays / I’ve smelled the hospital hallways.” This isn’t just a passing worry; it’s an obsession. He later mentions hearing a “rattle in my bronchi,” another instance of him monitoring his own body for any sign of decay. This focus on physical symptoms, however, seems to be an external manifestation of a deeper, internal unease about the nature of life itself. His health concerns are a tangible way for his abstract fears about time and meaning to take shape.
Metaphor 1: “Pyjamas in the Daytime” – The Fear of a Mundane Future
The chorus presents the song’s most direct and poignant metaphor for the future the narrator fears. The lines, “Someday I’ll have a disappearing hairline / Someday I’ll wear pyjamas in the daytime,” create a powerful image of decline. A “disappearing hairline” is a straightforward and relatable symbol of aging. But wearing “pyjamas in the daytime” is a much deeper metaphor for surrender. It symbolizes a life where the days are no longer structured by work, social obligations, or purpose. It represents infirmity, unemployment, or a state of depression where one no longer has the energy or motivation to face the world. It’s the ultimate image of giving up, of a life that has lost its vitality and has collapsed into a routine of passive existence. This is the mundane, unglamorous future that terrifies the narrator.
Metaphor 2: The Literary Allusions – Sartre and T.S. Eliot
The song’s intellectual weight comes from its clever use of literary allusions. In the second verse, the narrator describes a day that feels “like a play by Sartre.” Jean-Paul Sartre was a leading French philosopher of existentialism, a school of thought that often grapples with themes of dread, absurdity, and the burden of human freedom in a meaningless universe. By referencing Sartre, the narrator is telling us that his anxiety isn’t just about his health; it’s a profound philosophical crisis about the very nature of his existence.
The most significant allusion, found in the post-chorus, is a direct quote from T.S. Eliot’s 1915 poem, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.” The narrator sings that his afternoons will be “measured out… with / Coffee spoons and T.S. Eliot.” The original line in Eliot’s poem is “I have measured out my life with coffee spoons.” It’s spoken by Prufrock, a character who is timid, socially anxious, and unable to take meaningful action in his life. Measuring one’s life with coffee spoons is a metaphor for a life lived in tiny, cautious, and ultimately insignificant increments. It’s a life devoid of passion, risk, or grand gestures. By co-opting this line, the narrator is adopting Prufrock’s fear as his own, foreseeing a future where his days are painstakingly measured out by the mundane routines of caffeine and intellectual pursuits, but lacking in real, lived experience.
The Sonic Contrast: An Upbeat Melody for a Heavy Heart
One of the most brilliant aspects of “Afternoons & Coffeespoons” is the stark contrast between its music and its lyrics. The song is musically cheerful, with a bright acoustic guitar riff, an upbeat tempo, and a catchy, melodic chorus. This sunny disposition is completely at odds with the lyrical content, which is filled with anxiety, dread, and melancholic philosophizing. This juxtaposition is a deliberate artistic choice. It creates a sense of profound unease, mirroring the experience of someone who is smiling on the outside while panicking on the inside. The cheerful music makes the narrator’s internal struggle feel more poignant and relatable, as if he is trying to put on a brave face against a tide of overwhelming anxiety.
Behind the Music: The Unique Genius of God Shuffled His Feet
“Afternoons & Coffeespoons” was a single from Crash Test Dummies’ second studio album, God Shuffled His Feet, released in 1993. The album was a major international success, largely thanks to the worldwide hit “Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm.” The album solidified the band’s unique musical identity, which was characterized by lead singer Brad Roberts’s remarkably deep, resonant bass-baritone voice and lyrics that often explored philosophical, literary, and spiritual themes. In the landscape of 90s alternative rock, which was dominated by grunge and angst, Crash Test Dummies stood out for their folk-rock arrangements and their intellectual, often quirky, lyrical concerns. “Afternoons & Coffeespoons” is a perfect example of their style, blending accessible pop-rock sensibilities with a level of lyrical depth rarely found on mainstream radio.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
General Song Questions
1. What is the main message of “Afternoons & Coffeespoons”? The main message is about the profound anxiety of facing a future of mundane decline, physical decay, and a life lacking in meaning or purpose, all filtered through the lens of a hypochondriac narrator.
2. Who are the Crash Test Dummies? They are a Canadian folk-rock band that formed in the late 1980s. They are best known for their 1993 album God Shuffled His Feet and the distinctive deep voice of their lead singer, Brad Roberts.
3. What is the musical style of the song? The song is best described as alternative or folk-rock, characterized by a jangly, acoustic-driven melody and an upbeat tempo that contrasts sharply with its anxious lyrics.
4. Is the song supposed to be depressing? While the lyrics are quite heavy and deal with themes of anxiety and dread, the upbeat music creates a complex, bittersweet feeling. It can be seen as either depressing or as a strangely cheerful take on serious philosophical fears.
Lyric-Based Questions
5. What does the narrator mean by feeling “a little bit queasy”? This line establishes the narrator’s physical anxiety and hypochondria. “Queasy” can mean literally nauseous, but it also describes a general sense of unease and discomfort with his life and body.
6. Why does the narrator mention hospital hallways and X-rays? These details confirm that his health anxiety is not just in his head; he is actively seeking medical diagnosis and spending time in medical environments, which underscores his obsession with his physical state.
7. What is the significance of the “disappearing hairline”? It is a direct and universally understood symbol of aging. It’s the first sign of the physical decay that the narrator fears will define his future.
8. What does wearing “pyjamas in the daytime” symbolize? It symbolizes a life of surrender and inactivity. It represents old age, illness, depression, or a lack of purpose, where one no longer participates in the structured routine of the outside world.
9. Who is Sartre, and what does a “play by Sartre” mean? Jean-Paul Sartre was a famous French existentialist philosopher. His plays often dealt with themes of dread, nausea, and the absurdity of life. A “day like a play by Sartre” is a day filled with philosophical anxiety and a feeling of meaninglessness.
10. Why does the narrator want to do a “play-by-playback”? He is expressing a desire to rewind his life, like a sports replay, in order to change the outcome, specifically the “test results” from his doctor. It shows his desperation to control his fate.
11. What is the significance of the “rattle in my bronchi”? This is another specific hypochondriac detail. The bronchi are the main passages to the lungs. A “rattle” suggests illness, like bronchitis or pneumonia, and highlights his hyper-awareness of his own mortality.
12. Who is T.S. Eliot? T.S. Eliot was one of the most important poets of the 20th century. The song directly quotes his famous poem, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.”
13. What does it mean to have afternoons “measured out with coffee spoons”? This is a metaphor for a life lived in tiny, cautious, and insignificant measures. Instead of big, bold actions, life is just a series of mundane, repetitive routines, like stirring coffee. It symbolizes a small, unfulfilled existence.
14. Why does the song mention both coffee spoons and T.S. Eliot? The “coffee spoons” line comes from T.S. Eliot’s poetry. The narrator is saying his future will be defined by this very idea of a small, measured life, one that is perhaps intellectual (reading Eliot) but ultimately passive.
15. What does it mean that a “book burning’s in perfect order”? This is a dark and ambiguous line. It could suggest a feeling that the world is so absurd that destroying knowledge seems logical, or it could be an expression of frustration and a desire to lash out against the intellectualism that plagues him.
16. Why is the music so upbeat if the lyrics are so sad? This is a deliberate artistic choice to create contrast. The upbeat music can represent the facade of normalcy that people with anxiety often project, or it can make the dark lyrics feel even more jarring and poignant.
17. Is the narrator actually sick, or is he a hypochondriac? The song leaves this ambiguous. He certainly displays all the behaviors of a hypochondriac, but the “rattle in his bronchi” and his constant need for medical tests suggest there could be a real underlying illness fueling his philosophical dread.
18. What prescriptions has the narrator tried to stick to? Given the themes of anxiety and existential dread, the prescriptions are likely for anti-anxiety medication or antidepressants. This detail grounds his mental struggle in a modern context.
19. What is the overall mood of the song? The overall mood is bittersweet and anxious. It’s a strange mix of cheerful melancholy, capturing the feeling of being worried about the future while going through the motions of daily life.
20. What is the “love song” that the T.S. Eliot poem title refers to? “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” is ironic. The poem is about Prufrock’s inability to express his feelings or connect with a woman he desires. It is a song of inaction and paralysis, which is precisely the future the narrator of “Afternoons & Coffeespoons” fears.