Eighth Wonder

Eighth Wonder is the seventh track on Spirit Phone.

Eighth Wonder
Song
Artist	Lemon Demon
Written by	Neil Cicierega
Appears on	Spirit Phone
Sung by	Neil Cicierega
Duration	4:42
Genre	Pop
Language	English
Links:	Video

Description

The track is about the legend of Gef, the talking mongoose. It features paranormal sightings from a young child about a talking mongoose that lives in their walls. Neil went in-depth about the story of the song on the album's commentary track:

"But most of the lyrics come from quotes from this old ghost story (or poltergeist maybe? or just a talking animal). It was reported by a young girl and her family on the Isle of Man in I think the 1930s, so look up Gef the Mongoose. G-E-F. This story stuck out to me because he is so childish, and quotable, and talkative for a ghost. He’s cracking jokes, and he’s insulting people, and making outlandish claims… but he’s totally hidden and nobody can really see him. They catch glimpses of a mongoose sometimes, but they don’t really see this talking character. And if you read some of the original reporting on him he has such a memorable presence without ever coming out into the open, he’s just a voice in the wall."

History

A slightly different version of this song was originally released on Almanac 2009, then as a single on Neil's YouTube channel alongside a music video on November 18th, 2009. Neil speaks about the song's creation on Spirit Phone's commentary track:

"I remember recording this in the basement of my family’s house, and it was probably one of the last songs I made there before I moved to the city. And I shot the music video in my family’s yard, in the woods that I grew up near, and this old shack that’s on our property line… so this song has a real “end of an era” feel to me. I think I made this song around the same time as Redesign Your Logo, and they’re both the start of a lot of samples and sounds that I continue to use up until today, really."

When the song was first released along with its music video, it ended with a fiddle solo. This solo was present until Neil reworked the instrumentals of all of the tracks on the album c. 2015. It is still present on the 2014 version of the track.

Lyrics

Extra clever
Earthbound spirit
Ghost in the form of a mongoose

And I have hands
And I have feet
I’ll never die
I am a freak

Hello
I’m here
I’m living in the wall
I know
I might be small but I
I
I am a freak

Thou wilt never know what I am
I am the fifth dimension
And I’ll split the atom

If you see me
You’re paralyzed
Pillar of salt
You’re mummified

Hello
I’m here
I’m living in the wall
I know
I might be small but I
I
I am the eighth wonder

And I was born
1852
And I was born
In India

And I shall haunt
Like the Buggane
With such weird noise
And clanking chains

Hello
I’m here
I’m living in the wall
I know
I might be small but
I
I
I am a freak

I say “vanished”
To underground
Jim, let me go
I watch like hell

And I have hands
And I have feet
I’ll never die
I am a freak

Hello
I’m here
I’m living in the wall
I know
I might be small but I
I
I am the eighth wonder
Eighth wonder of the world
You'll never get to see
What in the name of God can I be?

Music Video

Lemon Demon - "Eighth Wonder"
Music Video
Creator	Neil Cicierega
Cast	N/A
Crew	Neil Cicierega, Ming Doyle
Released	November 18, 2009
Duration	03:53

The music video uses the Alternate Almanac 2009 Version.

Alternate Versions

• Eighth Wonder (2009 Version)

Live Performances

• Youmacon 2009 (October 31st, 2009, Dearborn, MI)

Trivia

• This song's lyrics inspired the Fifth Dimension and Split Atom color variants of the Needlejuice Records vinyl release of Spirit Phone, first released in 2021 and 2022 respectively.
• This song, along with Redesign Your Logo, was one of the first two Spirit Phone tracks released to the public.