The song “Class Clown Spots A UFO” is unusual for two reasons: 1) the title is not referenced in the lyrics. Most Robert Pollard songs contain the title within the lyrics, often within the first line. 2) It’s a re-working of an old (mid-80s) song that first appeared in (lovely, slow, sad) acoustic form under the title “Crocker’s Favorite Song,” on the King Shit and the Golden Boys LP from Box, and later on the “Director’s Cut” of Bee Thousand, and still later, a more fleshed-out version appeared on Suitcase 3. Although, come to think of it, the process of reworking older songs is not actually so unusual for Guided By Voices (see inter alia, the progression of 1983’s “Walls And Windows” to 1994’s “Hardcore UFOs”). 3) We can’t count. And finally, 4) it’s a ridiculously catchy, melodically-complex, shot-through-with-melancholia song that serves as a kind of sadder and wiser riposte to XTC’s “Making Plans For Nigel” as performed by the Hollies.

The single contains two B-sides, “Message From The Moon”, a Tobin Sprout number about the moon, clearly his favorite subject, and a “home-fi” (even lower than lo-fi!) version of “Worm w/ 7 Hearts” which has been studio recorded for the forthcoming album Class Clown Spots A UFO.