Flagpole Sitta is a song by the American alternative rock band Harvey Danger, released as the lead single from their debut album, Where Have All the Merrymakers Gone? in 1997 (officially released as a single in April 1998). The track became a defining anthem of the late 90s alternative scene, reaching significant commercial and critical success.
Title and Spelling Origin The song’s title references the 1920s flagpole-sitting endurance fad, a trend where individuals sat atop flagpoles for extended periods to demonstrate stamina or capture public attention. Frontman Sean Nelson recalled this phenomenon from a line of dialogue in the 1930 Marx Brothers film Animal Crackers. The unconventional spelling of “sitta” was a stylistic homage to the indie rock band Pavement (specifically their song “Fame Throwa”) and the hip-hop group N.W.A (referencing the album Straight Outta Compton), intended to convey ironic detachment and playful defiance.
[Verse 1]
I had visions, I was in them, I was looking into the mirror
To see a little bit clearer
The rottenness and evil in me
Fingertips have memories, mine can’t forget the curves of your body
And when I feel a bit naughty
I run it up the flagpole and see
Who salutes, but no one ever does
[Chorus]
I’m not sick but I’m not well
And I’m so hot ’cause I’m in hell
[Verse 2]
Been around the world and found that only stupid people are breeding
The cretins cloning and feeding
And I don’t even own a TV
Put me in the hospital for nerves and then they had to commit me
You told them all I was crazy
They cut off my legs, now I’m an amputee, goddamn you
[Chorus]
I’m not sick but I’m not well
And I’m so hot ’cause I’m in hell
I’m not sick but I’m not well
And it’s a sin to live so well
[Bridge]
I wanna publish ‘zines
And rage against machines
I wanna pierce my tongue, it doesn’t hurt, it feels fine
The trivial sublime
I’d like to turn off time
And kill my mind
You kill my mind
Mind
[Verse 3]
Paranoia, paranoia, everybody’s comin’ to get me
Just say you never met me
I’m runnin’ underground with the moles, diggin’ holes
Hear the voices in my head, I swear to God it sounds like they’re snoring
But if you’re bored then you’re boring
The agony and the irony, they’re killin’ me, woah
[Chorus]
I’m not sick but I’m not well
And I’m so hot ’cause I’m in hell
I’m not sick but I’m not well
And it’s a sin to live this well
[Outro]
One, two, three, four!
AV Club describes “Flagpole Sitta” as “exploring the tension between being both a cultural observer and a participant—when you’re self-aware enough to notice how the underground is being co-opted, but yet simultaneously caught up in (and horrified by) this commodification.”
The song was used as the theme song for all but the first season of the long running British sitcom “Peep Show” (2003-2015).
