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The lyrics to “Contact” appear to be lifted directly from the drivers’ education chapter in the Helping Friendly Book. Simple rules for any motorist to live by: “The tires are the things on your car that make contact with the road.” Keep that one rule in mind, and one probably wouldn’t get into too much trouble navigating the road of life, either. The typical placement of the song in a setlist – late second set or as an encore – and its placement as the final song on the original release of Junta has throughout its history given the song an identity as a friendly post-show/end-of-party reminder. Keep those tires on the road, and we will all live to see each other another day. 

Looking deeper into the song’s lyrics, and absorbing the sweetly simple, lullaby-like melody that pervades it, “Contact” takes on the guise of a well-crafted love song. The car that is the subject of the song very easily could be a metaphor for one’s partner in life. Taking into account the glowing headlights, the gleaming tailpipe, the tenacity for holding the road when things get tough; how could one go driving away and come back home without them? 

Watch Contact on YouTube "Contact – Junta studio track.

“Contact” has been played over 160 times since 1988, and notable versions include 7/15/91 and 7/21/91 (both with the Giant Country Horns); 5/21/94 where it includes a “Big Ball Jam;" 8/16/97 (The Great Went); and the Mexican Love-style “Contact” on 7/28/98, dedicated to a happy couple by Trey. Common to a number of songs written by Mike Gordon, most people either love “Contact” or they hate it, and those who hate it perhaps don’t grasp the sublime universal truths it contains. For it is true: “Bummed is what you are when you go out to your car and it’s been towed!” This point was driven home with great force (especially to those who parked in the nearby Target parking lot) by the extended 1/3/03 Hampton encore that featured stunning solos from both Page and Mike before concluding in “Tweezer Reprise.”

A portion of “Contact” was featured during the band’s appearance (in Jarret’s Room) as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live on 12/14/02. The song snippet was performed by the band as part of a recurring skit about a collegiate kine brah; in this episode, one of Jarret’s friends believed he had been run over by Chuck Norris (Trey). Al Gore, who hosted the show, played the role of one of Jarret’s professors during the skit, and was subsequently given a shout out by Trey during the aforementioned performance of “Contact” at Hampton on 1/3/03. 

Watch Contact on YouTube "Contact” – 6/23/00, Atlanta, GA

The majority of subsequent versions of “Contact” have also been included in multiple song encores (2/28/03, 7/17/03, 12/30/03, 3/8/09, 6/6/09, 8/13/10, 10/25/13, 10/29/14 and 9/9/15). The 12/30/03 Miami and 3/8/09 Hampton versions took some uncharted twists and turns. In the former Trey quotes both “L.A. Woman” and “P. Funk (Wants To Get Funked Up)” in place of his regular harmonies, in reference to surprise covers of each played during the New Year's Eve run. The latter featured a “Happy Birthday” jam for Fish’s dad, Leonard, who was celebrating with the band that night.

Most of the deviations from the encore song placement were penultimate precursors to second set closers. The 8/9/04 Hampton and 12/28/09 Miami versions both preceded “Character Zero,” with the former also featuring a "Little Drummer Boy" jam. The 6/27/10 MPP version cleared a path for a second set closing “YEM” and contained a quote of the song it had followed (“Saw It Again”). The other recent late second set version was the filling in the middle of the “Mike’s Groove” finale at SPAC on 7/7/12. Coming full circle, An Inconvenient Truth of the song’s recent climatic record is that the lone opening frame version (12/28/11 MSG) was the first of its kind since the show-opening 7/30/93 version at The Veranda at Starwood in Antioch, Tennessee… the state which housed the former Senatorial seat of Mr. Gore. Eighteen years is a pretty significant amount of time for such a thing to persist.

Watch Contact on YouTube "Contact,” “Sample in a Jar” – 12/28/11, New York, NY

(Gordon)
© Who Is She? Music, BMI

The tires are the things on your car
That make contact with the road
The car is the thing on the road
That takes you back to your abode

The tires are the things on your car
That make contact with the road
Bummed is what you are
When you go out to your car and it's been towed

I woke up one morning in November
And I realized I love you
It's not your headlights in front
Your tailpipe, or the skylight above you
It's the way you cling to the road
When the wind tries to shove you
I'd never go riding away
And come back home without you