beantownbubba wrote:Sorry I don't mean to beat a dead horse, but I always find local customs and traditions interesting. So, it's quite literally Decoration Day, in terms of fixing up the graves and not being limited to remembering war dead. IOW, it's something different than Memorial Day, not just another name for it? And taking it another step, does this mean that Jason's not writing about Memorial Day? And btw, just because, when did Decoration Day become Memorial Day, anyway?

Decoration Day is the day many southern churches set aside to place flowers on the graves of their departed loved ones. DBT's Decoration Day is 15 songs about the choices people make (good and bad) and their repercussions. The resulting album is an ambitious mix of the full-on "three guitar ROCK" that the band so prominently displayed on Southern Rock Opera and the more "countryish" elements from their earlier albums. The album features guest appearances from Muscle Shoals legend Spooner Oldham on the Wurlitzer Electric Piano, singer Clay Leverett, and fiddles from Centro-Matic's Scott Danbom. John Neff returns to play Pedal Steel on several cuts. (He had played on DBT's first two albums).

gerg wrote:

cortez the killer wrote:

beantownbubba wrote:And btw, just because, when did Decoration Day become Memorial Day, anyway?

I didn't know either, but this was helpful:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_Day

And you guys call yourselves DbT fans. Shame on you.

beantownbubba wrote:As has been previously observed, the sheer volume of things i don't know or understand is pretty damn vast and pretty much leaves me shameless, gerg But this one hit me right between the eyes. It doesn't actually change much meaning wise (though it is a little more clear i suppose), but having assumed from the very first time I heard of and then heard the album and the song that the referenced date was Memorial Day it's now a little disorienting to learn otherwise. Huh! Go figure

Thanks for the link, Cortez. If anybody else follows it, note that the first reference to the name change (1882) is wrong which is good because it made no sense to me LOL. Later in the article there's a longer section devoted specifically to the name change which ties growing popular usage of "Memorial Day" to the post - WWII period and gives the date of the official change as the 1960's (67 I think).

Smitty wrote:It's also usually the same week at the Confederate Memorial Day.

John A Arkansawyer wrote:So what I get from the story is this:

The younger Lawson is looking back, first on how the whole thing got started (which he doesn't really know), then on the incident which led directly to his father being killed: First his father beats him in front of his brothers, then he and his brothers cripple another young man.

He's grown since then, and has moved his family away (in distance both physical and otherwise) in the hopes of breaking the chain of violence which (we assume) leads back from his father into the past. He's trying to free his family from what he himself cannot get free from.

Despite reason, despite knowing better, despite doing almost all he can to be different, he is still loyal to his father and his feelings of duty.

He knows what Howard Hill drives. He knows where he'll be on Decoration Day, which is now. He's there to kill him. He hopes that will be an end to it.

He knows better. And here he is.

John A Arkansawyer wrote:So what I get from the story is this:

The younger Lawson is looking back, first on how the whole thing got started (which he doesn't really know), then on the incident which led directly to his father being killed: First his father beats him in front of his brothers, then he and his brothers cripple another young man.

He's grown since then, and has moved his family away (in distance both physical and otherwise) in the hopes of breaking the chain of violence which (we assume) leads back from his father into the past. He's trying to free his family from what he himself cannot get free from.

Despite reason, despite knowing better, despite doing almost all he can to be different, he is still loyal to his father and his feelings of duty.

He knows what Howard Hill drives. He knows where he'll be on Decoration Day, which is now. He's there to kill him. He hopes that will be an end to it.

He knows better. And here he is.

Tequila Cowboy wrote:The album has great songs by three great songwriters. There isn't a track on it I don't like and if it wasn't for Marry Me I may never have gotten into the band in the first place. Ranking it is a futile and pointless exercise (not that I don't partake in those from time to time). As far as DD the song, that one just cuts to the core and rocks like a motherfucker (especially with the fake ending and subsequent rock & roll awesomeness). That is all.

EddieHinton wrote:Here’s how I see it

It's Decoration Day.
And I've a mind to roll a stone on his grave.
But what would he say.
"Keeping me down, boy, won't keep me away."
Decoration Day is a day to honor your dead ancestors, separate from Memorial Day.
The father is dead.
The son dislikes his father, wanting to disrespect his memory by rolling a stone on his grave, but his old man’s ghost is such a bastard he reminds him that that won’t help

It's Decoration Day.
And I knew the Hill Boys would put us away,
but my Daddy wasn't afraid.
He said "We'll fight till the last Lawson's last living day"


I never knew how it all got started
a problem with Holland before we were born
and I don't know the name of that boy we tied down
and beat till he just couldn't walk anymore.
But I know the caliber in Daddy's chest
and I know what Holland Hill drives.
The state let him go, but I guess it was best
cause nobody needs all us Lawsons alive.
What this tells us-The son knows it is a bad idea, but the old man doesn’t care. They beat a Hill boy until he couldn’t walk. The old man received a bullet in the chest by Holland Hill. Hill was not convicted. The son doesn't really mind.

Daddy said one of the boys had come by
the Lumber Man's favorite son.
He said, "Beat him real good but don't dare let him die
and if you see Holland Hill run.
Now I said, "they ain't give us trouble no more
that we ain't brought down on ourselves"
But a chain on my back and my ear to the floor
and I'll send all the Hill Boys to hell.
This is more detail from the same incident. The Lumber Man is Holland Hill. The son tries to talk the old man out of it, but being a bastard, the old man kicks his ass and sends him on his way, and they beat the Hill boy until he couldn’t walk.


It's Decoration Day
and I've got a family in Mobile Bay
and they've never seen my Daddy's grave.
But that don't bother me, it ain't marked anyway.
Cause I got dead brothers in Lauderdale south
and I got dead brothers in east Tennessee.
My Daddy got shot right in front of his house
he had no one to fall on but me.
They shot his old man.

It's Decoration Day
and I've got a mind to go spit on his grave.
If I was a Hill, I'd have put him away
and I'd fight till the last Lawson's last living day.
I'd fight till the last Lawson's last living day.
I'd fight till the last Lawson's last living day.
His old man was a redneck son of a bitch and he’s glad he’s dead.

Kudzu Guillotine wrote:Decoration Day isn't my favorite either but during a recent discussion with someone that had never heard the Truckers, it's the album I recommended. In fact, I think that's usually the case. I recommended it not because I think it's their best but because I think it's the most accessible for a potentially new fan. It also showcases all the strengths of the Truckers from the subject matter to the songs styles (rockers, ballads, country, etc.).

gerg wrote: even if the Isbell introduction ended up being a double-edged sword in terms of bringing a not always welcome demographic into the fold at shows.

It is no coincidence that the Bible—the central texts of Christianity (and monotheism)—are over 50% narrative. Stories are central to God’s revelation of Himself to humanity. It makes sense that great storytellers like Isbell (and McCarthy, and the Russians, and countless others) convey moral, spiritual, and ethical truths through their stories, even when all they want to do is tell a good story.
I’ve been listening to “Decoration Day” regularly since high school, and I’ve heard Isbell play it live twice, and every time I hear it I take something different away from it. I can’t explain all of it, nor do I have a grasp on everything Isbell intended to say in the song. Sometimes I overlook its simplicity, sometimes, its complexity. And heck, sometimes I just get lost in the guitar solo at the end. But in “Decoration Day”, Isbell has done what a long line of storytellers have done before him: giving us tangible truth in a beautiful, unquantifiable parable.
As Christians trained to mine the truth from Biblical text, we would be wise to do the same to stories like “Decoration Day”. Not by putting our systematic knowledge over the stories and forcing them into a “Christian” box, but by looking for the truths already hidden in the stories themselves.

Beaverdam wrote:Nothing life-changing here, bur I wanted to share....

My eight month old little girl is cutting her first tooth; this weekend she couldn't sleep. In desperation I started singing "Decoration Day" in my girl's ear and she stopped crying and went to sleep pretty quickly; she'll probably ask me in a year or so if she's a Hill or a Lawson!!!