---
title: "Less than Nothing"

meaning: "KŌAN B breath koan: where does a breath come from: viruses alive yes and no, sleepwalking through stillness, hope you find less than nothing outta this song."

year: 2022
release: "KŌAN"
releaseType: "album"

artist: "Scoobert Doobert"
artistId: "#scoobert"

credits: "Written, performed, and mixed by Luke Francis Walton. Mastered by Riley Knapp. Artwork by Grizzard Graphics."

spotify: "https://open.spotify.com/album/2wGa9TxP1UvCn1hnfyyV6v"
apple: "https://music.apple.com/us/album/kōan/1618191665"

themes: ["KŌAN", "koan", "breath", "illness", "stillness", "pandemic"]

isrc: QZDA82294198
isrcSource: soundexchange
lyrics: |
  Where does a breath come from?
  Well, that question is a little dumb
  An exchange
  A quiet conversation
  I hope that you find less than nothing
  Outta this song

  Where does a breath come from?
  Well, that question is a little dumb
  An exchange
  A quiet conversation
  I hope that you find less than nothing
  Outta this song

  I haven't breathed normally for about a week
  Are viruses alive?
  Well, yes and no

  A koan right inside of me

  I'm sleep walking
  I'm comfortable
  With a fear of sitting still
  I'm comfortable

  I'd hate to be too bored
  Of that, I'm fairly sure
  Platonic solitude
  In goggles I'm amused

  I'm sleep walking
  I'm comfortable
  With a fear of sitting still
  I'm comfortable

  Got no use for the useless
  Can't laugh at the serious
  I go shallow in the deep end
  I'm the model of a modern man, man

  Where does a breath come from?
  Well, that question is a little dumb
  An exchange
  A quiet conversation
  I hope that you find less than nothing
  Outta this song

draft: false

---

Track ten on [*KŌAN*](/albums/koan/), **KŌAN B** (May 29, 2022), after instrumental *Jolly Roger Bay (64)*. Luke solo. The title is an anti-deliverable: *I hope that you find less than nothing outta this song,* not zero but less than nothing, the payoff withheld on purpose, the same move as the EP note *a koan is and isn't a paradox* ([*KŌAN* essay](/albums/koan/)).

The hook treats breath as a dumb question (*where does a breath come from? well, that question is a little dumb*) and answers with dialogue rather than anatomy. Verse one makes the sick body the paradox: *I haven't breathed normally for about a week, are viruses alive? Well, yes and no, a koan right inside of me.* Same *yes and no* as Schrödinger on [*Think About It*](/songs/think-about-it/), but internal and respiratory. The rest is a self-portrait of motion addiction (*comfortable with a fear of sitting still*) and contradiction, capped by *I'm the model of a modern man, man,* a [Gilbert-and-Sullivan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major-General's_Song) echo turned burnout diary: the modern man as someone who drowns in the shallows.

It returns to the breath hook with no answer, only *less than nothing*. Pairs with [*More to Lose*](/songs/more-to-lose/) and [無門関](/songs/mumonkan/) on the can't-solve-it-only-sing-it thread.

---