Evil Friends Lyrics
Your mama's got nothing on me, your daddy's got nothing on me
And the world that sleeps in its lunacy, it's got nothing on me
No stars got nothing on me, your son's got nothing on me
And the fool who sees it's the thief that leads has got nothing on me
[Chorus]
You know it's not because the light here gets brighter
And it's not that I'm evil, I got a friend in the devil
But I can't even be your friend, I can't even be your friend
I can't even be your friend
[Verse 1]
I can get so wound up, but I feel alright
And if I get some rest, yeah, that'd be nice
When I shouldn't do it, I still do it
What you think's got nothing to do with this
Before you were born, I was already sinning
Yeah, yeah, yeah, when I get too worked up, well I work it out
And if I get too down, I just shout it out
I may not have it all, but the rest will do
And it's nothing against or to do with you
Before you were born, I was already sinning
[Chorus]
It's not because the light here is brighter
And it's not that I'm evil, I just don't like to pretend
That I could ever be your friend
If you don't listen so good, I can hum it out
Na, na, na, na, na, na-na-na
I know I shouldn't do it, I just do it
And what you think's got nothing to do with it
Before you were born, I was already sinnin'
[Chorus]
It's not because the light here is brighter
And it's not that I'm evil, I just don't like to pretend
I could be your friend, I could never be your friend
I never needed a friend, I don't wanna be friends
[Outro]
You'll never find a friend like me
About
“Evil Friends” is the lead single and title track from Portugal. The Man’s Evil Friends. The song talks about the vices of life and how he can’t live being a righteous person—it’s one step on John Gourley’s journey of accepting that he’s an “evil friend.”
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
We initially wrote it, and it just wasn’t right. We’d gotten to a lull in the studio where we working on a bunch of other things. It’s weird. We just craft some songs on any given day. It was missing a hook, lead line, or something. We had gotten to a different studio in L.A. We had been at Brian’s studio pretty much the whole time for a couple of months.
Then, we went into a really old school super sixties-style studio. It’s a really amazing place with tons of vintage gear. We all went into different rooms and said, ‘If you were going to make the hook or important part on your instrument, go off and do it on your own.’ That guitar riff reminded me of something Nirvana would play. It’s angsty, upbeat, and punk rock. It was pretty fun.
He also talked about the music video.
We were watching some ‘90s or early ‘00s hip-hop video. I think it was DMX or Ruff Ryders. We liked that whole crew idea with everybody on motorcycles. It’s that crew vibe. We thought it’d be rad to do something in Alaska. That’s how it started. We had him buy a shitty camcorder with night vision, bought some ski masks and clothes, and got a bunch of friends together. It was really fun. We filmed it about a half an hour from where I live at the end of this road. There are some abandoned missile silos up there.
- 3.Evil Friends
- 4.Modern Jesus
- 5.Hip Hop Kids
- 6.Atomic Man
- 7.Sea of Air
- 8.Waves
- 12.Smile