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Chicago Seemed Tired Last Night Lyrics
Nelson Algren came to Paddy
At some party at the Dead End Alley
He told him what to celebrate
And I met William Butler Yeats
Sunday night dance party, summer 1988
At first I thought it might be William Blake
We mix our own mythologies, we push them out through PA systems
We dictate our doxologies
And try to get sleeping kids to sit up and listen
And I'm not saying we could save you
But we could put you in a place where you could save yourself
And if you don't get born again
At least you'll get high as hell
Sweet Saint Paul
That must be the hardest luck saint of them all
We met him in some suburban Saint Paul mall.
When Saint Theresa came to Holly
I wasn't even at that party
I'd already moved out to New York City
When Judas went up and kissed him
I almost got sick.
I guess I knew what was coming
I guess I knew it was coming
We gather our gospels from gossip and bar talk then declare them the truth
We salvage our sermons from message boards and scene reports
We come on to the youth
We try out new testaments on the guys sitting next to us
In the bars with the bars in their windows
And even if you don't get converted tonight
You gotta admit that the band's pretty tight.
They did "She's Got Legs"
Into "Ain't Too Proud To Beg"
Into something by the Dixie Dregs
They faked their way through Fairy Tale of New York
When the band stopped playing, we howled out for more
Hey Nelson Algren
Chicago seemed tired last night
They had cigarettes where there were supposed to be eyes
Hey William Butler Yeats
Oh, the Irish seemed wired last night
They tried to separate our girls from our guys
They had cigarettes where there were supposed to be eyes
At some party at the Dead End Alley
He told him what to celebrate
Sunday night dance party, summer 1988
At first I thought it might be William Blake
We dictate our doxologies
And try to get sleeping kids to sit up and listen
And I'm not saying we could save you
But we could put you in a place where you could save yourself
And if you don't get born again
At least you'll get high as hell
That must be the hardest luck saint of them all
We met him in some suburban Saint Paul mall.
I wasn't even at that party
I'd already moved out to New York City
I almost got sick.
I guess I knew what was coming
I guess I knew it was coming
We salvage our sermons from message boards and scene reports
We come on to the youth
We try out new testaments on the guys sitting next to us
In the bars with the bars in their windows
And even if you don't get converted tonight
You gotta admit that the band's pretty tight.
Into "Ain't Too Proud To Beg"
Into something by the Dixie Dregs
When the band stopped playing, we howled out for more
Chicago seemed tired last night
They had cigarettes where there were supposed to be eyes
Oh, the Irish seemed wired last night
They tried to separate our girls from our guys
Song Info
Submitted by
the Prof On Mar 12, 2007
More The Hold Steady
Stuck Between Stations
You Can Make Him Like You
First Night
Citrus
Chillout Tent
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I agree with neonlights. To me, this song is, in both form and lyrics, the best summary of THS as a band. It's chock-full of intricate references to other music, Catholicism, and their own songs, and the second stanza could easily be the band's mission statement. This isn't my favorite THS song by any stretch, but it perfectly encapsulates what's so great about this band.
Fairytale of New York is a song by the Pogues. They refer to the line from that song "when the band finished playing, we howled out for more."
how does this song not have more comments? it's epic. such an awesome commentary on today's youth.
the first line, "nelson algren came to paddy at some party at the dead end alley. he told him what to celebrate." is a reference to the Dillinger Four song, "doublewhiskeycokenoice". Paddy is the leader sing in D4 and in the song he says that "NELSON ALGREN CAME TO ME AND SAID CELEBRATE THE UGLY THINGS"
my favourite, maybe.
The Dead End Alley was a basement punk club in Minneapolis in the 1990's. Paddy refers to Patrick Costello the bassist/singer for (most notably) Dillinger Four...D4 was band that played and hung out at the Dead End Alley regularly. The lyric "told him what to celebrate," refers to the D4 song DoubleWhiskyCokeNoIce off their first LP in which Patrick sings that "Nelson Algren came to me and said Celebrate the Ugly Things." The song DoubleWhiskyCokeNoIce is also mentioned in in THS song Constructive Summer.
First Avenue, a concert Venue in downtown Minneapolis, hosted Sunday Night Dance parties in the 80's and 90's.
At the time this song was released, I seem to remember Craig Finn reporting that it was the only song to date in which he referenced real people in his life (Patrick Costello).