| Darren Hanlon – Don't Want To Pay Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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"I just take ONE seat that Hollywood couldn't fill" The best part about all these songs is that Darren really does have a fixation with sneaking into places. I remember he talked about trying to jump a fence into Cedar Point while touring the States some years ago... |
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| Darren Hanlon – Beta Losers Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| Just a perfect little metaphor for the lover replaced. There was nothing wrong with the old boy, she just found someone else she preferred more. Like the old beta player he's still perfectly functional but lost his place. | |
| The Felice Brothers – Frankie's Gun Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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Some kind of scheme has gone wrong here. Hollywood blanks are fake bullets. The narrator put the wrong shells in Frankie's gun and takes three slugs to the chest, just as he thought the two had finally hit on a way to break through, make that big score. More importantly the man, drug runner that he may be, has a heart of gold. He engages in unethical, illegal business but his primary concern is taking care of his loved ones, his mother, sister and Lucille. No matter the situation they remain first in his mind, expressed through always leaving them a little something to care for themselves when he can't be there. |
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| Drive-By Truckers – The Monument Valley Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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I can certainly agree with that appraisal. Just a little side info on John Ford, (I'll crib from wikipedia since it's more succinct): "In particular, Ford (was) a pioneer of location shooting and the long shot which frames his characters against a vast, harsh and rugged natural terrain." |
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| Drive-By Truckers – The Day John Henry Died Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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A good point, wvmntneer. I'm no Luddite and will certainly affirm the many great benefits wrought by the industrial revolution. I also don't think the song is pointed solely at machines. There is definitely a critique of the old ways, the cavalier attitude towards human life. In that way the machine is certainly a step up for human life. In the end Isbell seems to be asking more about the place of working class people in the modern world. For better or worse John's job is gone and with it a way of life. His contemporaries must move to urban centers and make a go of it there. But how? Do they go back to school to get better jobs? Go to work repairing the very machines doing their old jobs? That might not be a negative but there's always a place to dwell on the end of an era. |
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| Drive-By Truckers – Pin Hits the Shell Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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First, it's "...I guess I'd do the same" and "Feeling good it used to come so damn easy." Beyond that it's a pretty poignant song about suicide's aftermath, one of a couple on this album. I really love the rich imagery of walking down a street one used to know only to find it dark and foreign. And the line about not being worthy of being a Daddy really hits home. Still, the biggest thing for me is the way the song ends, with quiet and the click of those snare taps and the song's title running through it all. |
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| Drive-By Truckers – The Day John Henry Died Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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John Henry has always represented the working class and its marginalization in the face of the industrial revolution. I love the juxtaposition of the black folk hero with the white auto baron known for the assembly line, harbinger of the coming obsession with efficiency. Ultimately John's performance in the contest is meaningless. He wins the contest but dies and the machine slides seamlessly into his place. The work continues. A human cog exchanged for a metal one and nothing more. My question is with the significance of going to LA. Any thoughts? |
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| Drive-By Truckers – That Man I Shot Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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Patterson wrote the song after meeting a soldier home from a tour in Iraq but already slated to return for a second go-round. When my cousin came home from his first tour a couple years ago he spoke to my little brother's second-grade class. Most of the kids asked questions like "what's your best gun?" or "what's your biggest bomb?" and he humored them as best he could. Then one little boy piped up and asked point-blank "Did you ever shoot anyone?" The teacher immediately intervened and told him he didn't have to answer. But in that moment his eyes went out of focus and his voice, when it returned, had grown softer, gentler, sadder. He looked the eight-year-olds on the floor all around him straight in the eye and said: "War is a very bad thing, kids. And sometimes in a war you have to do things you would never, ever want to do." He's never spoken of it again and we don't pry. But this song brings me back to that moment and my cousin's little boy, already growing in the womb during that interview and born while he was away on a second tour. |
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