DBT Track #31 - The Company I Keep

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Beebs
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DBT Track #31 - The Company I Keep

Post by Beebs »

My Mama told me, your life is such a wreck
You're dumber than dogshit is what my Daddy said
I was just thirteen when they showed me the door
I keep their picture but don't look at it no more

My first wife told me, you need to get a life
My third wife told me to get another wife
I brought a bottle and the van's parked by that tree
So come on out with me, if you want to be number four

Sometimes I feel like shit
Sometimes that ain't half of it
Sometimes I'm so high I'm scared to go to sleep
Sometimes I'm lower than the company I keep

Ain't held down a job since 1984
I get by holding up convenience stores
I get by on liquor, guns and luck
But I'm scared to death which one might run out first

Sometimes I feel like shit
Sometimes that ain't half of it
Sometimes I'm so high I'm scared to go to sleep
Sometimes I'm lower than the company I keep

I seen my past in everything that I despise
I've seen my future and I'm scared to close my eyes
Is that my ghost that I see in my fears
Or just my reflection in my Mama's tears

Sometimes I feel like shit
Sometimes that ain't half of it
Sometimes I'm so high I'm scared to go to sleep
Sometimes I'm lower than the company I keep
Sometimes I'm lower than the company I keep
I pray the Lord my soul to keep



Originally performed by Patterson solo and with his pre DBT band Lot Lizards, The Company I Keep first came to life sometime in the mid nineties. Based on interviews with Patterson one can glean that this was a rough time in the life of this still struggling musician. While I don't think Company should be taken autobiographicaly, the sentiment of rough living and failed relationships clearly show through the dire lines of failure and disappointment. Company first catches your ear as a whiskey soaked ass kicking at the hands of band hell bent on burning the place down. This is a yell along, beer spiller of a song if there ever was one. But as anyone who has dug a little deeper knows, the raucous barroom sound sits in odd contrast to the scared, self loathing lines. Underneath the howling chorus and guitars lies maybe the saddest song Patterson Hood has ever penned.

Growing up my brothers and I heard a lot of the "show me your friends and I'll show you who you are" warnings about hanging with a rough crowd... being careful about the company we kept. This always assumed that we were more or less the good kids and in danger of being corrupted by others. Patterson's character wrestles with the fact that after being run down and run out by family, wives and life in general he's now a crook and an addict who sees his past in everything he despises. He is the one who's lower than the company he keeps.
Beebs is not a ragey man

Zip City
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Re: DBT Track #31 - The Company I Keep

Post by Zip City »

the best DBT sing-along song
And I knew when I woke up Rock N Roll would be here forever

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jimmyjack
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Re: DBT Track #31 - The Company I Keep

Post by jimmyjack »

A classic - one of my favorites. Beebs, you're spot on about the suggestion of sadness in this one. It's deceptive in it's superficial "Friends In Low Places" appeal, but listen closer - "Sometimes I'm so high I'm sacred to go to sleep" - this is someone with a problem. Nevertheless, this is DBT at their most raucous, and most fun. A high point on an album that itself is damn near perfect. A+

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Kudzu Guillotine
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Re: DBT Track #31 - The Company I Keep

Post by Kudzu Guillotine »

A signature DBT song if ever there was one, I never tire of it.

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Clams
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Re: DBT Track #31 - The Company I Keep

Post by Clams »

I remember my first DBT show. I'd just discovered the band about a month prior and, while I had digested a couple of their records, I wasn't yet familar with Pizza Deliverance. Well, about half way into the show they went into Company I Keep and that sealed it - I was hooked on the band and the rock show experience. Life-changing, I guess you could say. Since then I've seen them perform the song a couple more times and it's one of those rowdy songs that always seems to shift the rock show into a higher gear.
Last edited by Clams on Mon Dec 20, 2010 4:00 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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cortez the killer
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Re: DBT Track #31 - The Company I Keep

Post by cortez the killer »

Sometimes I feel like shit
Sometimes that ain't half of it
You are entitled to your opinion, but you are not entitled to your own facts.
- DPM

Late4Church
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Re: DBT Track #31 - The Company I Keep

Post by Late4Church »

Clams, this song did me in as well. memphis in may 2004 in the months before the dirty south was released I was going on a sunday afternoon to watch Charlie Daniels, got there a bit early, and posted up very near the front. the guy I rode with said I wonder who these Drive by Truckers are. I said I dunno but they got a picture of Jesus and a cooler of beer.When I heard Company I Keep I knew then I had to find out everthing I could about this band....and the rest as they say is history.

Zip City
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Re: DBT Track #31 - The Company I Keep

Post by Zip City »

I love that he skips from his first wife to his third wife....
And I knew when I woke up Rock N Roll would be here forever

beantownbubba
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Re: DBT Track #31 - The Company I Keep

Post by beantownbubba »

Zip City wrote:I love that he skips from his first wife to his third wife....


So many women, so little time.
What used to be is gone and what ought to be ought not to be so hard

Iowan
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Re: DBT Track #31 - The Company I Keep

Post by Iowan »

Lot of drunken sing-a-longs to this song in the basement of our shit hole college party house in the winter of 07-08. It was a dark time personally for a few of us, but good friends, beer, and DBT got everyone through it alive.

First time I heard this song I was mowing lawn (I worked for a lawn mowing company between undergrad and law school) in the middle of a down pour. It was probably early October of 2007, we were covered in mud, and it was getting cold. Had just gotten my BA but was mowing lawns for $11/hr. This song resonated. My mom hated me at the time for siding w/my dad during their divorce, so there was all of that. Funny part of it was, as much as some things hurt at the time, there was a lot of joy in living that way too.

This song always makes me smile. It's depressing and rousing all at the same time, and I can totally relate to that feeling.

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dee dee
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Re: DBT Track #31 - The Company I Keep

Post by dee dee »

Love the opening lines. My first time seeing it was in Fayetteville last year. I told my wife when we drove up this was one of my requests, and I'll be damned if they didn't do it.

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dime in the gutter
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Re: DBT Track #31 - The Company I Keep

Post by dime in the gutter »

sneak attack dbt style.

the very dark, nasty assed, sweaty underbelly of the hillbilly cousin to redneck mother.

love this song.

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Smitty
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Re: DBT Track #31 - The Company I Keep

Post by Smitty »

I love it on the live verisons when he sings "the impala's parked out on the street (by the tree)
so come on darlin, if you wanna be number 3"

and "I get by on liquor guns & Cooley's good looks"
E quindi uscimmo a riveder le stelle.

BoomerIII
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Re: DBT Track #31 - The Company I Keep

Post by BoomerIII »

In 2009, I was a freshman at UGA and some of my buddies and I figured that we would go see DBT at the 40 watt. At the time, I only had their most recent album (BTCD) and at the time, I honestly hadn't listened to it that much. But I figured, "What the hell", I would go see them. It was a friday night and the smell of PBR was in the air at the 40 watt. About halfway through the set, Patterson busted into "The Company I Keep" and about halfway through the song, I was hooked. I knew I was seeing something special. I went back to my dorm that night and figured I'd start at the beginning and I downloaded Gangsta Billy and Pizza Deliverance. I listened to both of them all the way through that night (or by then it was early morning). Since that night, I have seen DBT many times and I can't wait to see them in NYC for NYE and I cannot wait for the Athens Homecoming Shows, so I can celebrate my 2 year anniversary of seeing DBT. Anyways, this was the song that I knew I was seeing a kick ass band and since then I have been hooked.

charlie
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Re: DBT Track #31 - The Company I Keep

Post by charlie »

I never really got into this tune. I always felt like it sounded like a bad Garth Brooks song. As one of the previous posters put so much better than me, the "superficial 'Friends In Low Places' appeal".

However,

I seen my past in everything that I despise
I've seen my future and I'm scared to close my eyes
Is that my ghost that I see in my fears
Or just my reflection in my Mama's tears

is the shit.

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Kudzu Guillotine
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Re: DBT Track #31 - The Company I Keep

Post by Kudzu Guillotine »

Musically I guess it always struck me in a similar way but it was Hank, Jr. (who I've never really been a fan of) that came to mind.

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Clams
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Re: DBT Track #31 - The Company I Keep

Post by Clams »

Connection. The loser dude in Company i Keep and the fuck up dude in 12:01.
Everyone needs a friend, everyone needs a fuck

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dime in the gutter
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Re: DBT Track #31 - The Company I Keep

Post by dime in the gutter »

Beebs wrote:Originally performed by Patterson solo and with his pre DBT band Lot Lizards, The Company I Keep first came to life sometime in the mid nineties. Based on interviews with Patterson one can glean that this was a rough time in the life of this still struggling musician. While I don't think Company should be taken autobiographicaly, the sentiment of rough living and failed relationships clearly show through the dire lines of failure and disappointment. Company first catches your ear as a whiskey soaked ass kicking at the hands of band hell bent on burning the place down. This is a yell along, beer spiller of a song if there ever was one. But as anyone who has dug a little deeper knows, the raucous barroom sound sits in odd contrast to the scared, self loathing lines. Underneath the howling chorus and guitars lies maybe the saddest song Patterson Hood has ever penned.

Growing up my brothers and I heard a lot of the "show me your friends and I'll show you who you are" warnings about hanging with a rough crowd... being careful about the company we kept. This always assumed that we were more or less the good kids and in danger of being corrupted by others. Patterson's character wrestles with the fact that after being run down and run out by family, wives and life in general he's now a crook and an addict who sees his past in everything he despises. He is the one who's lower than the company he keeps.

well done. most excellent.

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bnzz
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Re: DBT Track #31 - The Company I Keep

Post by bnzz »

Ha this is the song I sing in the shower after a hard night of drankin. ..... especially if I have to be some place and act like I got sense(like work)......Sometimes I feel Like shit...sometimes that aint half of it...... Not a song I go to very much as I listen to DBT, but it is one of my favs in concert...and absolutely the best thing to wail in the shower hungover!!!

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Beebs
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Re: DBT Track #31 - The Company I Keep

Post by Beebs »

Clams wrote:Connection. The loser dude in Company i Keep and the fuck up dude in 12:01.


Sudden Clarity Clams

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Beaverdam
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Re: DBT Track #31 - The Company I Keep

Post by Beaverdam »

This is stuck in my head this morning and I guarentee it is because of this weekend's performance in Birmingham. This is a song which must be experienced live!

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Kudzu Guillotine
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Re: DBT Track #31 - The Company I Keep

Post by Kudzu Guillotine »

Beaverdam wrote:This is stuck in my head this morning and I guarentee it is because of this weekend's performance in Birmingham. This is a song which must be experienced live!
They broke it out during the second night of the Cradle show in Carrboro, NC last month. Always a treat when they dig deep into the old stuff like that. A few years ago it was "Margo and Harold." At least that's the one that hit the sweet spot for me as far as gems from the treasure chest.

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Clams
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Re: DBT Track #31 - The Company I Keep

Post by Clams »

Beebs wrote: the raucous barroom sound sits in odd contrast to the scared, self loathing lines. Underneath the howling chorus and guitars lies maybe the saddest song Patterson Hood has ever penned.
Beebs is a fucking genious
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211poundsofpork
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Re: DBT Track #31 - The Company I Keep

Post by 211poundsofpork »

Easily the DBT track that I sing along to most when it is playing in my car. :geek:

disgruntledgoat
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Re: DBT Track #31 - The Company I Keep

Post by disgruntledgoat »

211poundsofpork wrote:Easily the DBT track that I sing along to most when it is playing in my car. :geek:
Last night, I played this four times in a row at Jam Volume on a busy rain soaked motorway in the dark. I may not be ok.

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Re: DBT Track #31 - The Company I Keep

Post by potatoeater »

disgruntledgoat wrote:
211poundsofpork wrote:Easily the DBT track that I sing along to most when it is playing in my car. :geek:
Last night, I played this four times in a row at Jam Volume on a busy rain soaked motorway in the dark. I may not be ok.
No I am sure I've done similar. This is one of my top favorite DBT tracks to blast as loud as I can.
I'd like to say I'm sorry, I'd like to say I'm sorry, I'd like to say I'm sorry...BUT I AIN'T SORRY!

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Re: DBT Track #31 - The Company I Keep

Post by beantownbubba »

disgruntledgoat wrote:
211poundsofpork wrote:Easily the DBT track that I sing along to most when it is playing in my car. :geek:
Last night, I played this four times in a row at Jam Volume on a busy rain soaked motorway in the dark. I may not be ok.
Maybe not, but you're better than you were before you played it the first time.
What used to be is gone and what ought to be ought not to be so hard

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