Bummerland

* Current
* Old

**"Bummerland"** is the second track on AJR's fourth album, *OK ORCHESTRA*. It was first teased during AJR’s drive-in concerts in Philadelphia on August 19th and 20th, 2020. Later that month, it was officially released as the second single in advance of the album. This song was also performed at the One Spectacular Night live show in 2020 and within the OK ORCHESTRA Tour of 2021 and 2022. This song seems to have been adapted from a scrapped song called "Outside" (which is partially showed off in a Neotheater World Tour documentary) prior to becoming the song known today.

## Description

This song is mostly about the COVID-19 pandemic and how it affected everybody. AJR acknowledges that 2020 was a low point, but that means that from here on it can only get better. They also make comedic references to lockdown, such as using haircuts as a reference to socialize with other people.

At the One Spectacular Night live performance, Ryan said this about the song:

*"This next song is called Bummerland. It was kind of strange writing this one, because it's hard in this year 2020, it's hard to write a song that encompasses this, this strange feeling. Do you write something that's really happy and ignorant, or do you write something that's really like, kind of depressing? But we tried to straddle the line and do something kind of right down the middle, a little bit hopeful, a little bit cynical. Yeah, this is a song called Bummerland."*

## Lyrics

[Chorus]
Bummerland
Here I am
Better nix my summer plans
Bummerland
Give a cheer
'Cause you’re only going up from here

[Verse 1]
This month
I got seven haircuts
And now my hair is all gone
It’s sad but
I’ve been alone for too long
So I keep getting haircuts

[Pre-Chorus]
It’s my all time low
And I just can’t wait
Cause the quicker I’m there
Is the quicker I’ll say

[Chorus]
Bummerland
Here I am
Better nix my summer plans
Bummerland
Give a cheer
Cause you’re only going up from here

Bummerland
Here I am
Better nix my summer plans
Bummerland
Sorry dear
But you’re only going up from here

[Verse 2]
My friends
Always pay for my drinks
I can’t afford no nice things
But I hope
My bank account gets so low
Even zero
So next year
When I buy that first beer
I’ll be a goddamn hero

[Pre-Chorus]
It’s my all time low
And I just can’t wait
Cause the quicker I’m there
Is the quicker I’ll say

[Chorus]
Bummerland
Here I am
Better nix my summer plans
Bummerland
Give a cheer
But you’re only going up from here

[Bridge]
It’s my all time low
And I just can’t wait
Cause the quicker I’m there
Is the quicker I’ll say

Bummerland
Here I am
Better nix my summer plans
Bummerland
Give a cheer
'Cause you’re only going up from here

Bummerland
Here I am
And there ain’t no funner land
Bummerland
It’s kinda weird
But you’re only going up from here

## Audio

* Spotify
* YouTube

Bummerland-3BummerlandAJR - Bummerland (Official Instrumental)Bummerland (Instrumental)
## Videos

* Official Videos
* Performances

AJR - Bummerland (Official Video)Bummerland (Official Video)

AJR - Bummerland (LIVE) - w- Lyrics (Captions)First live performanceAJR - Bummerland - WeThePeople ConcertLive at We The People
## Trivia

* The "ring" from the original cover of the song has been seen in many other covers, such as those for *OK Orchestra*, "Bang!", "My Play" and the new cover for "Bummerland" (inside the car).