The fiddle-driven barnburner “Them’s the Breaks” paints a nostalgic picture of growing up in 1980s San Francisco with a father who wasn’t around and being raised by a single mom...and the television.

“None of the kids can come and play / Daddy moved out just today,” Nolan sings. “We had this TV that my grandma gave us. The dial had fallen off, so we had to use pliers to change channels. Coat hangers served as antennas. It was a behemoth of a TV that was falling apart.”

The song echoes the bittersweet vibe of The Cable Guy, where classic TV characters like Magnum P.I. and Jack and Janet from Three’s Company sometimes felt more like family than the real one.

Personnel:
Rosy Nolan: vocals, acoustic guitar
Julian McClanahan: fiddle
Doc Brown: electric guitar
Billy Lupton: mandolin
Ryan Posner: double bass
Jim Doyle: drums
Dee Farnsworth: backing vocals
Produced by Rosy Nolan
Co-Producers: Heather Anne Lomax and Jason Hiller
Engineered, Mixed, and Mastered by Jason Hiller at Electrosound Recordings (Los Angeles, CA)
© & ℗ 2025 Rosy Nolan / Treble in Mind Music (ASCAP)
all rights reserved

Lyrics

Get those pliers from the shelf
Us kids wanna watch something else
We lost the dial way back when
Magnum P.I. is on in ten
There’s static on channel 3

Bunny ears are made from hangers
8 p.m. is Perfect Strangers
Mama took us to Mickey D’s
Happy meals for Mac and Me
Then home to our Zenith TV

Don’t sit too close
They say that you’ll go blind
Them’s the breaks when you’re young and stuck inside

Mama’s working late tonight
Papa’s at the bar getting tight
Sister’s teasing up her hair
Brother’s in his crib without a care
Jack and Janet keep me company

Don’t sit too close
They say you’ll warp your mind
Them’s the breaks when you’re young and stuck inside

None of the kids can come and play
Daddy moved out just today
I hurt my knee during prison ball
Kate told me I need to learn to fall
I’d rather go on watch TV

Don’t sit too close
You’re wasting precious time
You’re still a kid
Don’t let that pass you by
Turn out the lights and dry your teary eyes
Them’s the breaks when you’re young and stuck inside

Packing up to move cross town
Down the road there’s a big playground
The neighbor kids go to story time
I got a room that’s mine all mine
And a movie theater up the street

Don’t sit too close
You’re wasting precious time
You’re still a kid
Don’t let that pass you by
Turn out the lights and dry your teary eyes
Them’s the breaks when you’re young and stuck inside