Best tunes of 1992: #26 Dada “Dizz knee land”

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Dada was a nonsensical modernist artist movement that occurred early on in the 20th century. I remember learning about it during the art history segments of my visual art electives back in high school. To be honest, though, it wasn’t my thing. I always preferred the Impressionists, to which these Dada artists were partially reacting.

Dada is also the name of a three-piece alternative rock band from California. Unfortunately, I know less about the band than I do the art movement. In fact, this case is much like the last post in this series, where the tune about which I am writing is the only song I knew by the band for years, except here, I have yet to explore Dada’s catalogue of tunes any further.

“Dizz knee land” was the band’s first single and luckily/unluckily for them, it was huge, easily outselling and outshining anything else they would ever produce thereafter. It was on constant rotation on my local alternative radio station, which is where I first heard it, and I later put it on a mixed tape I was making at a friend’s house with her CD collection (same university friend from that previous post). “Dizz knee land” would go on to help Dada’s debut album, “Puzzle”, sell more than half a million copies and spend a few weeks loitering on the Billboard charts. The band released four more albums over the years, the most recent of which came out in 2004, and save for a hiatus between 1999 and 2003, is still officially kicking around.

Our song today is a fun one, as you can tell by its title (the misspelling likely being a way to avoid legal wranglings). It begins with a chiming guitar lick that carries on through the song, dragging with it the vocal melody, then, a drum fill, and we’re off on Michael Gurley’s litany play on the Super Bowl Disneyland commercials.

I just ran away from home
Now I’m going to Dizz Knee Land
I just crashed my car again
Now I’m going to Dizz Knee Land
I just robbed a grocery store
I’m going to Dizz Knee Land
And I just flipped off President George
I’m going to Dizz Knee Land

You get the idea. Funny thing is, and I learned this after years of listening to this tune, going to Disneyland is also used in some circles as a euphemism for going to prison. Changes the meaning, somewhat, doesn’t it?

For the rest of the Best tunes of 1992 list, click here.