---
title: "Shaggy's Anthem"

meaning: "Cartoon courage under capitalism: meme bravado, panic in the corner, monsters as trusted friends: I will not run away even while pretending."

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=ZQ-AGDsqdrI"
apple: "https://music.apple.com/us/album/shaggys-anthem/1526427944?i=1526428032"

themes: ["pandemic", "courage", "cartoon", "anxiety", "Masks and Monsters", "capitalism"]

isrc: QZHN42072122
isrcSource: soundexchange
lyrics: |
  Me, an intellectual
  I greet anxiety with a friendly pull
  We live in a society
  Or so I'm told
  By friends on the internet

  Generation meaningless
  But I'm scared as I'm laughing at the capitalists
  My fear and adrenaline are stalking me
  Disguised as the government

  Relax
  Take it back
  No use in worrying
  All together now
  Happy
  Then get terrified

  I will not run away
  No more
  Ah
  Don't wanna be afraid
  Though I'm sure
  That I'm surrounded by
  Monsters like to haunt me
  Villains are all around me
  But
  I will not run away
  No more
  Ah
  Ah

  Running down a mystery
  When all I wanna do is have a bite to eat
  My dog is in the corner with a panic attack
  My lover lost her vision, but I'm getting it back, cuz

  Funny how the monsters are
  The ones you trusted from the very start
  The friendliest among us wear a different mask
  And greed is all around us like a diseased bat
  Yeah

  Relax
  Take it back
  No use in worrying
  All together now
  Happy
  Then get terrified

  I will not run away
  No more
  Ah
  Don't wanna be afraid
  Though I'm sure
  That I'm surrounded by
  Monsters like to haunt me
  Villains are all around me
  But
  I will not run away
  No more
  Ah
  Ah

  Straight up
  I'll be strong for you
  Pretending's what I'll do
  But isn't that the same?
  Ooo

  I will not run away
  No more
  Ah
  Don't wanna be afraid
  Though I'm sure
  That I'm surrounded by
  Monsters like to haunt me
  Villains are all around me
  But
  I will not run away
  No more
  Ah
  Ah

draft: false

---

Track eleven on [*Masks and Monsters*](/albums/masks-and-monsters/), teased ahead of the LP by [Neon Music](https://neonmusic.co.uk/face-your-fears-with-scoobert-dooberts-shaggys-anthem) as courage while your knees are shaking. Luke solo; North Park lockdown record.

It opens in full brainposter voice (*me, an intellectual / I greet anxiety with a friendly pull*), where *we live in a society* is the joke. The group chant underneath admits the terror it's trying to chant away: *happy / then get terrified*, the whole album's emotional arc in four words.

The chorus is courage that wobbles (*villains are all around me / but I will not run away*), and the bridge turns the album's masks literal and social at once: *funny how the monsters are the ones you trusted from the very start*. Then the tag collapses the distinction the song has been worrying at, *pretending's what I'll do / but isn't that the same?*, leaving performed courage and the real thing indistinguishable.

Same grin-under-pressure as [*A Good Life*](/songs/a-good-life/) and [*Creature Comfort*](/songs/creature-comfort/); pairs with [*Snuggle With Shaggy*](/songs/snuggle-with-shaggy/) and [*My Mind Is Slowly Slipping*](/songs/my-mind-is-slowly-slipping/). The closer's philosophical turn is [*Derrida Makes a Différance*](/songs/derrida-makes-a-differance/).

---