Pardon Me

"Pardon Me" is a song by American alternative rock band Incubus from their 1999 album Make Yourself. It was the first Incubus song to receive a considerable amount of radio airplay, reaching #3 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. A music video directed by Steven Murashige also gained considerable airplay. The song describes a state of confusion, with allusions to spontaneous combustion. Lead singer Brandon Boyd says he was inspired to write the song after making a connection between images of spontaneous combustion in a magazine and "some turmoil in [his] life, both good and bad". Musically, the song combines fast-paced, ambient verses with prominent DJ scratching and a hard-rocking mid-tempo chorus. However, the acoustic version of the song is also well-regarded by fans, and helped the song become a radio hit. Initial radio reception was lukewarm, so Boyd and guitarist Mike Einziger decided to perform the song acoustically at several radio stations that had been playing the song, including KROQ, and this acoustic version grabbed the attention of radio programmers and listeners. An acoustic recording of the song was released on the When Incubus Attacks Volume 1 EP.

[Intro] Pardon me while I burst Pardon me while I burst [Verse 1] A decade ago, I never thought I would be At twenty-three on the verge of spontaneous combustion Woe-is-me But I guess that it comes with the territory An ominous landscape of never ending calamity I need you to hear, I need you to see That I have had all that I can take And exploding seems like a definite possibility To me [Chorus] So pardon me while I burst into flames I've had enough of the world and its people's mindless games So pardon me while I burn and rise above the flame Pardon me, pardon me... I'll never be the same [Verse 2] Not two days ago, I was having a look In a book and I saw a picture of a guy fried up above his knees I said, "I can relate," because lately I've been Thinking of combustication as a welcomed vacation from The burdens of the planet earth Like gravity, hypocrisy, and the perils of being in 3-D But thinking so much differently [Chorus] So pardon me while I burst into flames I've had enough of the world and its people's mindless games So pardon me while I burn and rise above the flame Pardon me, pardon me... I'll never be the same Never be the same, yeah Pardon me while I burst into flames Pardon me, pardon me, pardon me [Chorus] So pardon me while I burst into flames I've had enough of the world and its people's mindless games So pardon me while I burn and rise above the flame Pardon me, pardon me... I'll never be the same Pardon me, never be the same, yeah