Tender Situation
"Tender Situation" is a song by Ween from the 1992 album Pure Guava.
Song Details[edit | edit source]
Meaning[edit | edit source]
Gene Ween apparently said at a solo show on February 24, 2010 that this song was about Dean Ween telling him he was thinking of leaving the band.[1]
In a Cameo video, Dean Ween added further clarification on the story of the song:
"Back when I was a younger man, I pumped gasoline, and I was in Ween. And another band asked me if I wanted to go to Japan and play guitar with them. Well, Ween hadn't left the goddamn state of New Jersey at that point. And Gene Ween, as you can imagine, he was quite pissed off 'cause all [of a] sudden I'm gonna go to Japan with this other band. So, you know, we had a big fight about it, and he came down to the gas station, and we talked about it, and I decided I wasn't gonna go to Japan with these jerk-offs. And it turned out to be a good decision 'cause good things happened for Ween, and we ended up going there 90 fucking times there ourselves. But after our little pow wow at the gas station, we wrote the song Tender Situation. I still have it somewhere written on the back of the gas station slips..."[2]
Recording and Composition[edit | edit source]
"Tender Situation" is an experimental psychedelic rock song with light art pop influences. It is in the key of C major.
Live Performances[edit | edit source]
Live performances of "Tender Situation" sound substantially different from the studio album version, with the song's chords and melody much more clearly articulated. The song was played live as early as late 1990, almost two years before its studio release on the Pure Guava album. An early recording (from an unknown concert labeled "Leeuwarden, Holland 12/90") was officially released on the Paintin' the Town Brown album. Dean noted that this version illustrates how Gener and him "used to switch instruments when we played this — I'm on the mic and he's playing guitar".[3] The song has been played somewhat regularly in most eras of live Ween, with the notable exception of the 1996 country tour.[4] Drummer Claude Coleman has named this as one of his favorite Ween songs to play live.[5]
In addition, both Gene Ween and Dean Ween have played the song during solo performances.[6]
Lyrics[edit | edit source]
The Pure Guava lyric sheet contains official lyrics in Dean Ween's handwriting:
State this ache as the final break
Tender situation, create a good illusion
Feel the grip of your salvation
This is indeed a tender situation
Make a move, man, state your case
Taste the waste, man, taste the waste
What is your place in my glorification?
Yeah, this is really a tender situation
Get off the pot, man, shake and bake
Taste the waste, boy, taste the waste
Pump it up, or stray from that old station
Yeah dude, this is really a tender situation[7]
Song Themes[edit | edit source]
Alcohol/Drugs, Sung by Dean Ween, Waste
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ From an anecdotal Reddit comment - is there a recording of this show?
- ↑ https://youtu.be/2JhHf33FPP8?si=9CD85b7wAqHlvVkr&t=388
- ↑ Paintin' the Town Brown liner notes
- ↑ https://brownbase.org/every_time_played.php?band=all%20bands&song_id=200
- ↑ https://old.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1gz17c/hi_i_am_claude_coleman_jr_the_drummer_for_ween/caq4kcy/
- ↑ https://brownbase.org/every_time_played.php?band=all%20bands&song_id=200
- ↑ From the official Pure Guava lyric sheet; lightly edited for clarity.