Characterized by a swinging beat and jazzy instrumentation, “Down the Sink” is the only Cook-sung track on Gumboot Soup. Tonally it's reminiscent of Sketches of Brunswick East with marimba, saxophone and flute over a psychedelic pop instrumental. While the song is compositionally bright, the lyrics are bleak. Cook describes city life through chaos and abandonment. He paints the city as a place of constant movement and action but keeps pointing down below the sidewalks. There, as Cook explains, are tons of unfulfilled hopes and dreams that are left behind for the hustle of downtown living. The second verse shows how the pace of this life disconnects us from ourselves as we fight over food while “cops patrol the alleys.” The tagline of the song sums up the conflicts of the city perfectly: “the street is where people live, the street is where people die.”
“Down the Sink” was played by Ambrose (vocals), Cavs (drums), Cook (guitar/vocals/keyboards/bass/Mellotron) and Stu (keyboards/saxophone/flute/Mellotron) and was recorded on Cook’s phone with additional parts added by Stu at Flightless HQ. The final song was also mixed by Stu. It was released on December 31st, 2017.
The earliest known performance was on 2019-08-23 at The Riverside Theater in Milwaukee. The song was played five times throughout the year before taking a hiatus. It returned on 2022-05-24 for its only performance that year. Since then it has been a relatively rare track with a handful of appearances. 2023 performances are heavier than the prior versions, with wobbly lead synth and distorted guitar.