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Flip Flop Phil
Metadata
- title
- Flip Flop Phil
- meaning
- Open-mic portrait: staff accountant, Jethro Tull fan, silver flute at Aztec Brewing: gather the children round, then actual recording and keep on practicing.
- year
- 2020
- release
- Masks and Monsters
- releaseType
- album
- artist
- Scoobert Doobert
- artistId
- #scoobert
- credits
- Written, performed, mixed, and mastered by Luke Francis Walton. Album art by Gentle Giant Illustrations.
- spotify
- https://open.spotify.com/album/13zzM1QEnrvJ7kRwUGNIFw
- officialVideo
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIYgvw62xUI
- apple
- https://music.apple.com/us/album/flip-flop-phil/1526427944?i=1526428029
- themes
- Masks and Monsters
- character study
- open mic
- San Diego
- Jethro Tull
- isrc
- QZK6P2060453
- isrcSource
- soundexchange
- draft
- false
Lyrics
A staff accountant King of the break room Know that he Excels Midlife crisis Looking at the prices Fan of Jethro Tull Picks a good one Silver rootin' toot one Pricy Yamaha Open mic night Gonna hit the bright lights Look at that man blow Flip flop Phil Don't be scared Play your music now Flip flop Phil Gather all the little children round We've all come to hear you play So let us dance and sing today With flip flop Phil Don't be scared Play your music, my friend Lets his hair down Picking out a tie dye Tucking in his jeans Finds a mirror Looking at a picture Ian Anderson Signs his name up Shaking as he writes it Pat him on the back Takes his flute out Lets a little toot out Look at that man blow Flip flop Phil Don't be scared Play your music now Flip flop Phil Gather all the little children round We've all come to hear you play So let us dance and sing today With flip flop Phil Don't be scared Play your music, my friend Actual recording Of Flip flop Phil playing his flute Flip flop Phil You probably should Keep on practicing
Content
Track eight on Masks and Monsters: Luke solo, August 2020. Based on a man Luke met at an open mic night at Aztec Brewing in North County San Diego. Not pandemic-documentary like tracks one through seven, but the LP's appetite for local character comedy: a real person observed, then mythologized.
The portrait builds the flute purchase into a hero's journey. Phil is a staff accountant, king of the break room, who Excels (spreadsheet pun as identity), and whose midlife crisis runs on prog-rock longing and a pricy Yamaha. The chorus frames the open-mic crowd as a supportive fantasy, gathering all the little children round to hear him play, and verse two finds him backstage in tie-dye, studying a picture of Jethro Tull flautist Ian Anderson like a mirror idol, shaking as he writes his name on the signup sheet.
The outro breaks the bit with a meta tag (actual recording of flip flop Phil playing his flute) and then the honest coda: you probably should keep on practicing. Love and roast in one breath, the same grin-under-pressure as A Good Life but aimed at a stranger at the bar. After Wash Your Fucking Hands, this is San Diego open-mic folklore on the pandemic record, North County outside North Park lockdown.