Can you break up from a friendship?
There's this weird saying in Finland that goes "vittuilu on välittämistä" which loosely translates to "making fun of someone else is caring about them". It feels like it's mainly between men: once you get drunk it's really easy to tell your friends you love them but while sober people tend to poke fun about each other's shortcomings. This is supposed to be "the bond that connects one another".
Cool story, bro.
It might be the pandemic, it might be social media or it could be anything but I'm complete fed up with people trying to "serve" one another and poking publicly fun at other people.
The title comes from a Finnish comedy series Mankeli. In that a person is having a presentation and thanks the previous speaker in two languages: Kiitos Pertti and Thank you Bert.
This has snuck up in my vocabulary every time you want to react to something really dumb in a deadpan manner. Kind of the "not cool man" of deadpan reactions.
There's also another source: while I was in secondary upper school another student had a description of himself in the yearbook:
"he does not have a lot of friends but it doesn't matter because he thinks that life is too short to hang around with spedes of all manner".
"Spede" was the nickname of Finnish comedian Pertti Pasanen and the nickname is nowadays a term used to call someone a fool.
I think friendships are a wonderful and lovely think. At the same time: life certainly is too short to be spent around toxic people.
TL;DR: this is my way of saying that even if you once had a beautiful friendship – if all your "friend" nowadays says to you is some sort of negative and toxic comment, it's quite alright to let them go.
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On the production: After several piano songs I wanted to use just two guitars, bass and drums on this. There's also a couple of shakers there.
kiitos pertti thank you bert
like two peas in a pod but the pod is poisoned
like two mice in a cellar but the cellar is ozoned
i think we used to be inseparable
but now i want to be in separable
lives
so, goodbyes
i wonder how many days we just spent wandering
we were so happy with the time we were just squandering
and now i’m only left wondering
why would we have to keep this up?
you seem to hurt me with every chance you got
kiitos pertti thank you bert
but i’ve got enough of the hurt
thanks for all but i’ve got to state
this so-called friendship just has to separate
kiitos pertti thank you bert
like two birds in a bush but the bush is on fire
like two lovers together but without the desire
thanks for the invite but i’m declining politely
you seem to just want to humiliate me publicly
maybe that’s just a joke
but it’s not really funny
i wonder how many days i just kept taking it
you changed from lovely to toxic all so suddenly
what happened to us and why’d you want to to do this to me?
why would we have to keep this up?
you seem to hurt me with every chance you got
kiitos pertti thank you bert
but i’ve got enough of the hurt
thanks for all but i’ve got to state
this so-called friendship just has to separate
kiitos pertti
@janikolmedee Feb 2022
Vitsin pahis riffi ja raju biisi!
@leka Feb 2022
Riffi svengaa kuin svengimeisseli. Tekee mieli joraa. Tää oo myös tosi hyvin laulettu.
@timfatchen Feb 2022
the music and production are good but oh, that lyric! Applause!! It starts out as a real hoot and then one realises at the chorus that's it's not just poking fun but real hurt. Keeps the attention and bites.
@nikopee Feb 2022
10/9 points for the intro riff and its aggressive tone.
@kembole Feb 2022
At the first "kiitos pertti thank you bert" I was giggling.
At the "second kiitos pertti thank you bert" I was jamming.
At the first "like two berts in a bush but the bush is on fire" I had to check the lyrics.
I like how the song feels. The verse has a classic 80's tongue in cheek feel but it gets really serious at the chorus. Gave the songs a few spins and the structure feels solid.