Underground 4 — One of the clearest expressions of the average 4 sensibility in song I’ve come across. The opening lines, “I was never cool in school, I ‘m sure you don’t remember me.” The past orientation of the 4, with a negative, self-pitying valence. “And now it’s been ten years and I ‘m still wondering who to be” — the never ending journey of self-discovery, wondering “who am I really?” And “how did I come to be this way?” And then the self-reflective, “I love to mix in circles, cliques, and social coteries (that’s me)” — a social 4w3 sentiment — probably not just any social circles… just the ones I think are cool, exclusive, interesting, have depth, etc. And then this next verse of artificial self-identifiers: “hand me my nose-ring” and “show me the mosh pit” — sung with a winking, ironic self-awareness: “look at these silly things I do to feel special, unique” (I ‘m the kind of person who wears a nose ring and dances in mosh pits) — all interlaced with this question… a perennial 4 question, “Can we be happy?” Pointing to the frustration with “all of it” that the 4 most represents… and boom, “We can be happy underground.” Can’t be happy up here, out here in the world where everyone else is. But there’s this magical place called “underground” where things are better, where I can belong, where i can be happy. THEN, “Who’s got the looks? Who’s got the brains? Who’s got everything? I ‘ve got this pain in my heart, that’s all” — basically out of the textbook on 4s. And then this sense of “there’s gotta be something else, let me tell you something else” — the secret hope embedded in the frustration object relation — if I just look hard enough or push the right buttons I’ll find that thing that I’ve been looking for. Finally this refrain, “everything’s heavy underground” — the 4, craving depth, loves this idea of “heaviness” — which I read as “emotional density,” like when you talk about deep stuff at a party and someone goes, “that’s really heavy man.” We can really have our feelings down here, swim around in them, be deep and as heavy as we want to be and talk about how much life has kicked us around. “Did life bring you down here?”

I was never cool in school

I'm sure you don't remember me

And now it's been 10 years

I'm still wondering who to be

But I'd love to mix

In circles, cliques, and social coteries - that's me

Hand me my nose ring (Can we be happy?)

Show me the mosh pit (Can we be happy?)

We can be happy underground

Who's got the looks, who's got the brains

Who's got everything

I got this pain in my heart, that's all

Hey you with the long and lonely face

There's got to be something else

Let me tell ya something else

There was this girl who passed me by

She gave a smile but I was shy

I looked down, so down

Don't look there no no, go go underground

But now there's a place to go

It's the morning, it's the evening

It's everything

I click my heels and I'm there

Underground, underground

Everything's happy underground

You been kicked around

Did life bring you down here

Everything's heavy underground

We'll be decked in all black and

Slamming the pit fantastic

Officer Friendly's little boy's got a mohawk

He knows just where we're coming from

It's industrial, work it underground

Get down, get down, get down

Underground, underground

Everything's happy underground

You been kicked around

Did life bring you down here

Everything's heavy underground