Okay, I read the words, I love the song in general, and I'm not downgrading it, but geez. Depressing lyrics.. I hope he's got some better, more optimistic words in other songs, and I hope RP will play those songs. This is really poignant, and it reminds me of "Cross Creek." (Rent the movie. Mary Steenburgen, Rip Torn, Peter Coyote. Quite the period piece, based on Marjorie Kinnon Rawlings' life.)
You may enjoy everything he ever did with Drive-By Truckers. I thought they were a great band before he came along, and they're a great band without him now that he has left - and I think he's great solo. But DBT *with* Jason Isbell was something that comes along once in a generation - it was more than the sum of its parts.
"T.V.A." first verse, from memory...
"I grew up two hours north of Birmingham. Me and my daddy used to fish next to Wilson Dam. He told some stories, Camaros and J.W. Dan. When I got a little older, I wouldn't and now daddy can't."
It's the BLUES, they're SUPPOSED to whine. That's why they call it the BLUES.
From a rock-n-roll perspective, yeah, they do go on some, don't they? They could have used a Ramones perspective on things - two minutes, a "gabba-gabba-hey" or something, and get the hell out. (Which is a pretty fair description of "Communication Breakdown" from before they were Rock And Roll Gods.)
But from a blues perspective, they really added something to the standard blues canon, which I don't think many white European bands were really successful at.
Wouldn't the Talking Heads have been even better with less David Byrne (or with David Byrne taking himself less seriously) and more Weymouth sisters?
Oh, wait, that would be the Tom Tom Club.
Saw 'em live in NY twenty (!) years ago, as part of a Talking Heads show, but I'd never heard the live recording of this song.
Eclectic & intelligent indeed....
I got tickets last minute the other week, and went to see him at Atlanta's Chastain Park amphitheater. I concur with the previous comment, it wasn't a great show. The sound was "not bad" and he and the band were good and all, but it was not the kind of experience I hope for when I go see live music.
I still like this album and this particular song, though. It reminds me of when they were a little dangerous-sounding.
honestly sounds like a human or cat about to vomit. Hurts. First thing on a Saturday morning. LOVE YOU ANYWAY RP, need my soundtrack running ........
I checked out your highest- and lowest-rated songs, and I think we should meet and become friends. That way, I can give you all the CDs I have that I stumbled across and can't get rid of because all my other friends hate them too. (Take this copy of 4 Non Blonz anyone? Anyone? PLEASE?) And maybe somebody has given you some music you hate, and I could take that off your hands too.
And also, that way I could diversify my circle of friends, so that I could say without fibbing "Well, I have some friends that actually LIKE Dave Matthews and that adult-contemporary Eric Clapton stuff. So no, not all my friends are 'into' music."
correct, it's off of their incredible debut (which also features Mike Stipe)
That eponymous album is actually not their debut - they did one called "Strange Fire" a couple years earlier. They were a big local act in Atlanta 20 years ago; inescapable on college radio, and they played every Wednesday night at a place called the Little Five Points Pub every Wednesday night. (And even then, they were well-established around town.)
I never thought much about them one way or the other from hearing their early stuff on the radio, but I went to a little Atlanta club to see Michelle Malone and they opened up for her. Hearing them sing harmony live was absolutely amazing, like Simon & Garfunkle or Crosby/Stills/Nash. It made the hair stand up on the back of my neck, and I sat there with my jaw hanging open in amazement. After that, I went to see them pretty frequently. They always deliver live.
But admittedly, it doesn't always translate in a studio recording, especially not over a computer or in a car. And 20 years on, I have to admit that all of you making fun of these lyrics kinda have a point (pretty dang funny, too.)
But if you have a chance to go see them live, it's worth the money. It's like the difference between seeing a textbook photo of a great work of art, and going to see it in person.
Hey, I tried - I submitted "My Sweet Annette" and the title track from this album.
These guys are amazing live. Saw them at Crossroads in Huntsville last year, taking a break from fixin' an old race car with my best friend. Saw them again at an outdoor festival in Baltimore, with other best friends from college, my girlfriend & her daughter, and with my son sitting on my shoulders as Mike Cooley sang "Daddy's Cup."
A must-see, and great story-tellers. Their songs sound like southern rock, but the lyrics read like the best of folk music (including a terrific read on the John Henry tale.)
one of the all time corniest band names in history.
It's an homage to the Richard Tregaskis book and subsequent movie of the same name (about the World War II battle for the South Pacific island of the same name.) I think the singer was a history buff... The book & movie were a real snapshot-in-time of a turning point in western civilization.
{/history lesson}
If I had to guess what they'd sound like from looking at the album cover, this song is exactly what I'd come up with.
I probably would have thought it was deep & contemplative, back when my dorm room looked like the album cover (scruffier-looking carpet & girls, but otherwise pretty close.)
Yeah, they say that two of the best Zeppelin songs were Heart's "Barracuda" and Billy Squier's "Lonely Is The Night."
"Lonely Is The Night" is to "Nobody's Fault But Mine" (also from "Presence")
as
"Barracuda" is to "Achilles Last Stand"
Most of this album had a lot of electronica - it was sort of a collaboration between Orton and William Orbit. Orbit was the electronic half of a band in the 80's called "Torchsong" that I kinda liked (got it on vinyl) and he went on a couple years later to do the same sort of thing with Madonna on "Ray Of Light."
So, while I usually don't like electronica all that much, and am sort of immune to Madonna, I guess Orbit is the one thing they all have in common, and of all his stuff I find I like the Madonna album best.
Hey, I tried..... I uploaded "Speak For Me," which I thought was pretty accessible. Probably Not / Sorry.
I always liked her record of covers, "The Covers Record" I think it's called. She does a version of "Satisfaction" by the stones that I think is brilliant - no chorus either (which is the part I always hated anyway.)
I agree with both Melissa and Dundee. In general, when the group has such a name and the cut has such a name, I expect that the lyrics will offend me.
Actually, they took that name from the Beastie Boys, who used to pay people to go out and procure gym shoes for them while on tour. People-who-purchased-gym-shoes-for-them = sneaker pimps.
Then again, if you're offended by the concept of a blue movie, chances are that finding out "Sneaker Pimps" is an hommage to the Beastie Boys rather than prostitution won't win you over at all.
Okay, I TOTALLY fail to understand the appeal here.
I never cared for the Grateful Dead, but it always seemed to me like music I SHOULD like, if only I could see it the way Deadheads see it. I can say "I don't care for it, but I understand why some really do."
But not DMB. I've tried; it's not like "oh, that's just their popular stuff, you'd really like the deeper cuts on the album." Nope, every single thing I've ever heard by these guys makes me cringe.
Is there a rating lower than "1?"
Whew, it's over and I survived it. At least I get a reward - some Warren Zevon to get that taste outta my mouth...
You may enjoy everything he ever did with Drive-By Truckers. I thought they were a great band before he came along, and they're a great band without him now that he has left - and I think he's great solo. But DBT *with* Jason Isbell was something that comes along once in a generation - it was more than the sum of its parts.
"T.V.A." first verse, from memory...
"I grew up two hours north of Birmingham.
Me and my daddy used to fish next to Wilson Dam.
He told some stories, Camaros and J.W. Dan.
When I got a little older, I wouldn't and now daddy can't."
I got tickets last minute the other week, and went to see him at Atlanta's Chastain Park amphitheater. I concur with the previous comment, it wasn't a great show. The sound was "not bad" and he and the band were good and all, but it was not the kind of experience I hope for when I go see live music.
I still like this album and this particular song, though. It reminds me of when they were a little dangerous-sounding.
I checked out your highest- and lowest-rated songs, and I think we should meet and become friends. That way, I can give you all the CDs I have that I stumbled across and can't get rid of because all my other friends hate them too. (Take this copy of 4 Non Blonz anyone? Anyone? PLEASE?) And maybe somebody has given you some music you hate, and I could take that off your hands too.
And also, that way I could diversify my circle of friends, so that I could say without fibbing "Well, I have some friends that actually LIKE Dave Matthews and that adult-contemporary Eric Clapton stuff. So no, not all my friends are 'into' music."
{"Cool story, bro."}