“Stoned and Starving” by Parquet Courts

As explained by Parquet Courts frontman Andrew Savage, “Stoned and Starving” is meant to be something like an indirect ode to the commercial-snacking diversity of New York. And the narrative isn’t even set in the city proper but rather Ridgewood, a suburban part of Queens. 

However, Ridgewood is an area, as explained by Savage, where there is an abundance of bodegas and what have you. And whereas bodegas may not generally be known for their food diversity, in such localities they do tend to sell freshly-made hero sandwiches in addition to seemingly countless varieties of low-cost snacks, i.e. exactly what the doctor ordered if one does in fact find himself “stoned and starving”.

Such is the premise upon which this story is set. In other words, the vocalist is high – presumably from smoking marijuana. He is therefore is stricken with a serious case of the munchies. This crave has apparently led to him “flipping through magazines” in an attempt to ascertain exactly what it is he wants to eat.

Takeaway

At the end of the day, this is most likely an embellished account, which again is meant to speak primarily to the notion of the vocalist being high and having theoretically countless options to satiate his hunger him. That is to say for instance that if someone were truly “stoned and starving”, the last thing he’d probably be doing is looking through magazines to decide what you eat. Such would more or less be a waste a time, when all he has to do is walk down the street and find the likes of bodegas and pizzerias strewn all over the place. 

So let’s say that ultimately, the lyrics don’t actually feature a solution to the vocalist’s hungered state. Instead it is more of a poetic detailing of being in such a condition in and of itself, i.e. aimlessly flipping through a magazine instead of making a definitive move to solve the problem. 

So it’s possible that he’s so high that even successfully going out to get something to eat is proving to be a problem.

Was “Stoned and Starving” a single release?

Yes. “Stoned and Starving” was released as a single on January 1 of 2012. It was released through the record label, Dull Tools from the album, “Light Up Gold”. Dull Tools is a record label owned by band member, Andrew Savage.

The 15 track album was produced by Jonathan Schenke. Jonathan is a renowned sound engineer and record producer. He is one of the founders of the record label, Studio Windows in New York.

Writing Credits

Lead singer, Savage has been credited with writing the song.