dbt tracks week 108 - Daddy Learned to Fly & Eyes Like Glue

[Clams]

Father's Day is coming at the end of this week, so we're going with a pair of Father/Son songs that serve as the bookends of The Big To Do.

These tracks were both selected by chickenwingpuke - he didn't want to start up the thread but I know he's got a special post that's ready to go.

btw - the song of the week schedule is wide open, so anyone who wants to do one should send me a pm.


Daddy Learned to Fly
Daddy's gone away and no one can tell me why
Mommy's been so sad since Daddy learned to fly
Everyone brought food and everybody cried
Nothing's been too good since Daddy learned to fly

The fun we used to have and the way we used to laugh
Have all gone away since they cut my world in half
But sometimes I can see him smiling from the sky
But he never stops to visit since Daddy learned to fly

Everyone tries so hard to ease my troubled mind
I guess he's doing better than the ones he left behind
They say that I'm not old enough to know the reasons why
The clouds reached down from heaven and Daddy learned to fly

They tell me that in time everything will be ok
Life gets back to normal like before he flew away
They say he can see me so I'm trying not to cry
But sometimes I can't help it since Daddy learned to fly


Eyes Like Glue
I see you watching me
Your eyes are just like glue
Stuck like glue to every foolish thing I say and do
But there's a safer distance still not out of touch
If Daddy's quiet it probably means he's thinking way too much

Someday you'll be a man
You'll have a big old brain
You wont need it but you'll try to use it just the same
But it's like any house lonely people roam around
Wasted empty space a maze with only one way out

Nobody ever told me half the things I'm telling you
Even if they had I'd have had the same look that you do
Sometimes you think it and you want to hear it said out loud
If no one else does then its up to you to shout it out

You'll want to do it all
And you'll believe you can
But when the best that you can do becomes all you can stand
You'll know you're just a man when you feel all the weight press down
Next time you're watching me remember that's all I am now

[Penny Lane]

Just started the Steve Earle book and these songs remind me of when he said something like When my first son was born, I immediately called my father and apologized for every bad thing I'd ever done.

[Sterling Big Mouth]

Daddy Learned to Fly, for me, is the unsung hero of TBTD. I used to say After the Scene Dies got that award, but it still gets more attention than this "lost" gem. Much like Cooley does later in the album when playing the role of Kim, I love how Patterson's voice just sounds like a child in this one. As always, he writes those scenes "everyone brought food and everybody cried" that just paint the picture so well of what's going on. The lyrics as a whole are also straightforward, just like a kid would think.

And for the music, this song is pure TBTD. Hard rock, but refined and tight. Great overlay by Jay in the bridge (like the daddy in the sky), EZB being really assertive throughtout the whole song (and I love how he stays on the crash during the bridge and at the end), Neff's extended solo in the outro (pretty sure it's him), and just a unified band with shared purpose leading off the way to a great rock album.

[chickenwingpuke]

I'm not sure I chose these songs, per se, but I am very interested in ya'lls take on them. They move me quite a bit...
Daddy Learned to Fly
Okay, I think I’m about to get all TMI on you so forgive me. In the fall of 1983, my father was killed in a hunting accident by a family friend in rural southwest Virginia. I was about 14 ½ years old and in 9th grade. Daddy was an emergency physician and he hunted only with a camera. He was with my oldest brother and the family friend. That guy shot at what he thought was a deer. My father died in my brother’s arms thinking it was he who shot him. I remember feeling guilty about watching tv when my brother got home with the horrible news that night. Before I knew what happened, I was thinking Daddy would have wanted me to be doing my homework and I knew I was going to be in trouble. I had no idea how wrong I was and wished he would have walked in there and blessed me out for not. It was not to be. I heard my step mother’s blood curdling scream when she learned the news. My other older brother about broke his hand when he punched the wall. Daddy was about 10 days past his 42nd birthday. He was a good looking doctor with 5 kids and a beautiful wife, his patients loved him, his mother and wife adored him, the nurses loved him, his friends loved him and he was a cool motherfucker who liked good music. I just turned 43 and it feels incredible to be here. I honestly didn’t think I’d make it this far. Daddy’s younger brother died in a midnight New Years Eve dash for more party fuel at the tender age of 34; their father at 68 of cirhossis (sp?). That was all the men on Daddys side, gone before I turned 15, so you might understand why I had this feeling like I might not live to see 43. I have a beautiful wife and 2 beautiful kids and every day is truly a gift (even though we tend to forget momentarily in the minutae of everyday life and act like assholes a lot). I wonder how my life would have been different if he had stuck around. I hope and pray I get to continue to stick around and see my kids and grandkids. He sure would have loved them I know for a fact.
The fun we used to have and the way we used to laugh
Have all gone away since they cut my world in half
But sometimes I can see him smiling from the sky
But he never stops to visit since Daddy learned to fly

The best gifts from him are the very rare occasional visits when he shows up in dreams...feels just like he was there. I really miss him and I'm still a little pissed off that me and my family got robbed of his presence and love.
Anydamnway, I love Daddy Learned to Fly for the reason I love just about all of DBT’s songs…because I can relate to it. There was so much food, so much crying, so much love, all the old friends you hadn’t seen in years, tons of flowers and tons of grief – you know what I’m talking about if you’ve ever lost anyone close. Patterson has a nice way of putting it all together from the perspective of a little boy who is recalling how he didn’t really know what the fuck had just happened to his little world. I can relate. Sorry for dumping all that on ya’ll.

I’m not sure I have the emotional fortitude to talk about Eyes Like Glue – suffice to say, I look at my beautiful kids, see the honesty, love and blind trust in their hearts and the uncharted territory that lies ahead for them and us, and it scares the hell out of me knowing how things can change in the blink of an eye.

You'll want to do it all and you'll believe you can
But when the best that you can do becomes all you can stand
You'll know you're just a man when you feel all the weight press down
Next time you're watching me, remember that's all I am now

[beantownbubba]

"You'll have a big old brain
You wont need it but you'll try to use it just the same"

Have never understood these lines and they ruin the song for me.

[beantownbubba]

Sorry, chickenwingpuke. Would not have followed your post w/ mine if i had seen it before i posted.

[chickenwingpuke]

ain't no thang but a chickenwang bubba...no harm no foul. I think he's telling his little boy, you have a good head on your shoulders, you'll think you know it all and will want to conquer the world as you mature, but when the pin hits the shell, you're just a man and a man is only a man.

Sorry, chickenwingpuke. Would not have followed your post w/ mine if i had seen it before i posted.

[Penny Lane]

thanks for sharing, chickenwing..i can't even imagine what that must have been like..
i'll probably think of you now every time i hear that song..

[GuitarManUpstairs]

CWP...thank you for sharing that...I can't process what it would have been like to lose a parent so young. While I've never personally lost anyone so close to me..(yet, especially to such tragic circumstances.) my mother lost her father to an excruciating and horrific instance of medical malpractice just a few weeks shy of her 16th birthday. I won't go into too much detail but he went in to the hospital for an aneurysm and came out of surgery just fine. While recovering his doctor prescribed penicillin to prevent infection and it began making him sick, which was reported but they insisted he keep taking it. Obviously he was having an allergic reaction to the medication but they kept pumping him full of the stuff. Although she was older than I imagine the narrator of this song to be, when I hear it I always think of her and what she must have gone through having to be witness to that situation. Never played it for her. Don't think i could bring myself to.

[Smitty]

"You'll have a big old brain
You wont need it but you'll try to use it just the same"

Have never understood these lines and they ruin the song for me.

It relates to the "if daddy's quiet it probably means he's thinking way too much", as in he's over analyzing things and stressing himself out. The narrator is being cynical and kinda warning his son about the pressures that come with growing older, in Cooleyspeak.

[GuitarManUpstairs]

"You'll have a big old brain
You wont need it but you'll try to use it just the same"

Have never understood these lines and they ruin the song for me.

It relates to the "if daddy's quiet it probably means he's thinking way too much", as in he's over analyzing things and stressing himself out. The narrator is being cynical and kinda warning his son about the pressures that come with growing older, in Cooleyspeak.

Someday you'll be a man
You'll have a big old brain
You wont need it but you'll try to use it just the same
But it's like any house lonely people roam around
Wasted empty space a maze with only one way out

I love this song but this whole verse gives me trouble. I kinda always thought something along the lines of what Smitty was talk'in about concerning the first part, but the last two lines still puzzle me a bit...

[beantownbubba]

Daddy Learned to Fly, for me, is the unsung hero of TBTD. I used to say After the Scene Dies got that award, but it still gets more attention than this "lost" gem. Much like Cooley does later in the album when playing the role of Kim, I love how Patterson's voice just sounds like a child in this one. As always, he writes those scenes "everyone brought food and everybody cried" that just paint the picture so well of what's going on. The lyrics as a whole are also straightforward, just like a kid would think.

And for the music, this song is pure TBTD. Hard rock, but refined and tight. Great overlay by Jay in the bridge (like the daddy in the sky), EZB being really assertive throughtout the whole song (and I love how he stays on the crash during the bridge and at the end), Neff's extended solo in the outro (pretty sure it's him), and just a unified band with shared purpose leading off the way to a great rock album.

Like.

[Zip City]

I think "Eyes" is unfairly maligned (in Rev'Matt speak). Cooley might have out-Cooleyed himself with the cryptic lyrics, but a little digging makes some sense. I think those last two lines are about being trapped in your own life, and the one way out is in a box.

[beantownbubba]

"You'll have a big old brain
You wont need it but you'll try to use it just the same"

Have never understood these lines and they ruin the song for me.

It relates to the "if daddy's quiet it probably means he's thinking way too much", as in he's over analyzing things and stressing himself out. The narrator is being cynical and kinda warning his son about the pressures that come with growing older, in Cooleyspeak.

No doubt those 2 phrases are related, i get that, but the lines from the 2d verse are about the kid wasting his time using his brain, not dad stressing out by using his. He's talking directly to the kid about what the kid has ahead of him. In the end, that entire verse is, imo, just plain bad advice, or at best, as you say Smitty, cynical (and in my view incorrect) observation. Compare and contrast to the much better (and more assertive) advice in the 3d verse and more accurate observation in the 1st. I'm also pretty ambivalent about the 4th verse. I can't argue w/ the truth of it but i don't relate to it very well. Cooley's entitled to his opinions and his experience. I'm just saying it doesn't work for me.

[one belt loop]

ain't no thang but a chickenwang bubba...no harm no foul. I think he's telling his little boy, you have a good head on your shoulders, you'll think you know it all and will want to conquer the world as you mature, but when the pin hits the shell, you're just a man and a man is only a man.

Sorry, chickenwingpuke. Would not have followed your post w/ mine if i had seen it before i posted.

chickenwing, my heart goes out to you. I am sure that loss is with you every day, and I love that you have built your own family. I'll bet you are an amazing and very involved father.

I lost my father recently...well, a year and a half ago by the calendar, but it may have been this morning for the way some of these lyrics hit me. He died very shortly after I first heard DADDY LEARNED TO FLY and I really can't listen to it without crying, though I know the song itself is about a Daddy who chose the way out and maybe wasn't such a great guy. My dad maybe wasn't such a great guy, but we had a close, if complex, relationship and I know I was his Cordelia (my sisters really did not get on with him). So it hits me every time.

They tell me he can see me so I'm trying not to cry
But sometimes I can't help it since Daddy learned to fly

[chickenwingpuke]

I'm very sorry for your loss obl. thanks for the nice thoughts. righteous path. nuff said.

ain't no thang but a chickenwang bubba...no harm no foul. I think he's telling his little boy, you have a good head on your shoulders, you'll think you know it all and will want to conquer the world as you mature, but when the pin hits the shell, you're just a man and a man is only a man.

Sorry, chickenwingpuke. Would not have followed your post w/ mine if i had seen it before i posted.

chickenwing, my heart goes out to you. I am sure that loss is with you every day, and I love that you have built your own family. I'll bet you are an amazing and very involved father.

I lost my father recently...well, a year and a half ago by the calendar, but it may have been this morning for the way some of these lyrics hit me. He died very shortly after I first heard DADDY LEARNED TO FLY and I really can't listen to it without crying, though I know the song itself is about a Daddy who chose the way out and maybe wasn't such a great guy. My dad maybe wasn't such a great guy, but we had a close, if complex, relationship and I know I was his Cordelia (my sisters really did not get on with him). So it hits me every time.

They tell me he can see me so I'm trying not to cry
But sometimes I can't help it since Daddy learned to fly

[psychobillycadillac]

Eyes Like Glue, I've sorta been waiting on this one to come up for various reasons, those being the relationship I have with my girlfriends kids, relationships I have with friends of similar age and background and my Father and I finally getting down to fixing a lot of bad road between us. With that being said the following is my take on the song verse by verse as explained from a Southern working man trying to explain what lies ahead to his son all the while trying not to tarnish the reputation that his son has for him.

Eyes Like Glue
1)I see you watching me
Your eyes are just like glue
Stuck like glue to every foolish thing I say and do
But there's a safer distance still not out of touch
If Daddy's quiet it probably means he's thinking way too much

To me it says son I know right now you think that I'm the greatest thing in the world and in your eyes I am, but one day you will know that I am just a man like any other who has his own demons and is trying the best he can to make it in this world. This will be disappointing to you and will hurt like hell but one day you will realize how liberating this will be, because you will realize after the world has had its way with you that ultimately we are all human and doing our best just to stay afloat in this turbulent sea called life. But for right now you're safely distanced from that reality and that is a good and wonderful thing, but when Daddy gets quiet it doesn't mean that you've done anything wrong. It just means that he's lost in his own thoughts, trying to make sense of the storm.

2)Someday you'll be a man
You'll have a big old brain
You wont need it but you'll try to use it just the same
But it's like any house lonely people roam around
Wasted empty space a maze with only one way out

To me he's saying that life is a hard thing to understand, things happen for reasons other than your own control or understanding. If left to your own devices you can drive yourself crazy by trying to make sense of things that you just won't be able to. Ultimately your left feeling isolated and lost with little direction other than to just keep pushing on forward in life.

3) Nobody ever told me half the things I'm telling you
Even if they had I'd have had the same look that you do
Sometimes you think it and you want to hear it said out loud
If no one else does then its up to you to shout it out

Often times with folks from the South the advice that your give from your elders somewhat misses the mark. I had an elder once tell me to "keep your standards low and your spirits high and you'll never sleep alone." At the time I had no idea what he was talking about and just thought it to be the musings of an old man trying to be funny. But with every joke there's at least 10% truth and I see what he was trying to say now. However in the case of this verse even if he could tell his son everything that laid in store and the best decisions that could be made for the best outcome it wouldn't make a difference because he's not yet to a place where he could understand the advice and make sense of it.


4) You'll want to do it all
And you'll believe you can
But when the best that you can do becomes all you can stand
You'll know you're just a man when you feel all the weight press down

One day you're going to feel like you are strong enough to take on the world and grab it by the horns and wrestle it into submission. But life has a funny way of beating you down and keeping you there and even when you know that you are giving it the best you can do, sometimes that's still not enough. When you have realized this, then you will know all that I can teach you and you'll be in the same place that I am right now. I think every man regardless of where you're from realizes this at some point, I find myself staring out into the dark a lot these days or just staring into the fire trying to make sense of the world and wondering where that feeling of anything being possible has gone. Not that I don't feel like I can do anything I set my mind to, it's just that I've grown to appreciate the amount of work that is needed in order to be able to say that you've given something your best. And as a result of having given my best many times only to come up short I've also realized that sometimes even your best still isn't good enough. I feel like Cooley is trying to convey this to his son in a way that he could both understand and not be afraid of what his father is trying to tell him. Of course there isn't any way for a young child to fully understand the meaning of this message but it doesn't ever stop a Father from trying to tell his son about what lies in store for him and what is out there in the world.

[GuitarManUpstairs]

^^^Superb.

[jimmyjack]

I've grown to really like DLTF because it reminds me of the kinda song late-era Replacements would have opened an album with. There's something so effortlessly classic about it. Plus, it sounds bad fucking ass.

Never liked ELG. Cooley's first (only?) true clunker in the band's history, IMO.

[Tequila Cowboy]

I'm not sure I chose these songs, per se, but I am very interested in ya'lls take on them. They move me quite a bit...
Daddy Learned to Fly
Okay, I think I’m about to get all TMI on you so forgive me. In the fall of 1983, my father was killed in a hunting accident by a family friend in rural southwest Virginia. I was about 14 ½ years old and in 9th grade. Daddy was an emergency physician and he hunted only with a camera. He was with my oldest brother and the family friend. That guy shot at what he thought was a deer. My father died in my brother’s arms thinking it was he who shot him. I remember feeling guilty about watching tv when my brother got home with the horrible news that night. Before I knew what happened, I was thinking Daddy would have wanted me to be doing my homework and I knew I was going to be in trouble. I had no idea how wrong I was and wished he would have walked in there and blessed me out for not. It was not to be. I heard my step mother’s blood curdling scream when she learned the news. My other older brother about broke his hand when he punched the wall. Daddy was about 10 days past his 42nd birthday. He was a good looking doctor with 5 kids and a beautiful wife, his patients loved him, his mother and wife adored him, the nurses loved him, his friends loved him and he was a cool motherfucker who liked good music. I just turned 43 and it feels incredible to be here. I honestly didn’t think I’d make it this far. Daddy’s younger brother died in a midnight New Years Eve dash for more party fuel at the tender age of 34; their father at 68 of cirhossis (sp?). That was all the men on Daddys side, gone before I turned 15, so you might understand why I had this feeling like I might not live to see 43. I have a beautiful wife and 2 beautiful kids and every day is truly a gift (even though we tend to forget momentarily in the minutae of everyday life and act like assholes a lot). I wonder how my life would have been different if he had stuck around. I hope and pray I get to continue to stick around and see my kids and grandkids. He sure would have loved them I know for a fact.
The fun we used to have and the way we used to laugh
Have all gone away since they cut my world in half
But sometimes I can see him smiling from the sky
But he never stops to visit since Daddy learned to fly

The best gifts from him are the very rare occasional visits when he shows up in dreams...feels just like he was there. I really miss him and I'm still a little pissed off that me and my family got robbed of his presence and love.
Anydamnway, I love Daddy Learned to Fly for the reason I love just about all of DBT’s songs…because I can relate to it. There was so much food, so much crying, so much love, all the old friends you hadn’t seen in years, tons of flowers and tons of grief – you know what I’m talking about if you’ve ever lost anyone close. Patterson has a nice way of putting it all together from the perspective of a little boy who is recalling how he didn’t really know what the fuck had just happened to his little world. I can relate. Sorry for dumping all that on ya’ll.

I’m not sure I have the emotional fortitude to talk about Eyes Like Glue – suffice to say, I look at my beautiful kids, see the honesty, love and blind trust in their hearts and the uncharted territory that lies ahead for them and us, and it scares the hell out of me knowing how things can change in the blink of an eye.

You'll want to do it all and you'll believe you can
But when the best that you can do becomes all you can stand
You'll know you're just a man when you feel all the weight press down
Next time you're watching me, remember that's all I am now

Thanks for sharing, chickenwing, truly. Moving stuff. I can hardly imagine what you went through. Your story also made me realize why I usually skip this song. It's not that it isn't a good song, I actually think it's excellent, but it hits too hard and I didn't even realize it until I read your post. I was 20 when my father died of his seventh heart attack at the age of 49, running to catch a plane. I was an adult and I'd like to think it didn't affect me too dramatically (although it probably did more that I realize) but it really was tough on my brother who was 11 at the time. The kid in the song makes me think of how my brother must have felt, and it's tough. Unlike you, chickenwing, my brother was never able to cope with losing his dad and struggled his whole life before committing suicide at the age of 26. I had no idea that my avoidance of this song was related to that, but now I realize that's exactly the reason. I guess it's interesting for me to realize that one of the very, very few DBT songs I ever skip is not because it's a bad song, but rather because Patterson hit the nail directly on the head and. for me, that's a little too close for comfort.

[chickenwingpuke]

Thanks for sharing, chickenwing, truly. Moving stuff. I can hardly imagine what you went through. Your story also made me realize why I usually skip this song. It's not that it isn't a good song, I actually think it's excellent, but it hits too hard and I didn't even realize it until I read your post. I was 20 when my father died of his seventh heart attack at the age of 49, running to catch a plane. I was an adult and I'd like to think it didn't affect me too dramatically (although it probably did more that I realize) but it really was tough on my brother who was 11 at the time. The kid in the song makes me think of how my brother must have felt, and it's tough. Unlike you, chickenwing, my brother was never able to cope with losing his dad and struggled his whole life before committing suicide at the age of 26. I had no idea that my avoidance of this song was related to that, but now I realize that's exactly the reason. I guess it's interesting for me to realize that one of the very, very few DBT songs I ever skip is not because it's a bad song, but rather because Patterson hit the nail directly on the head and. for me, that's a little too close for comfort.

Thanks for sharing TC and I'm really sorry for you and your brother. Patterson has a way of doing that...putting you a little too close to things/ideas/emotions you'd really rather put in a can. Sometimes I like to say, "Life is a shit sandwich...eat or starve." And buddy, I'm eating it up - you never know when it's gonna be your last bite.

[Cole Younger]

My take on the part about "One day you'll be man. You'll have a big old brain..." is the same as my sig line. People have a tendancy to agonize over things and overthink them to the point that they ruin it. Sometimes they forget to live their lives and lose focus on what is important even when it is sitting right there in front of them. Family is one of the things that get's shoved on the back burner while something unimportant get's treated like life and death stuff.

[Beaverdam]

For some reason Daddy Learned To Fly has been stuck in my head. I believe I may have heard a superb version on the homecoming stream a few weeks ago. Anyway, this was never one of my absolute favorites, but I've been digging it the past few weeks.

With two kids both of these songs mean a lot.

I was thinking about the "big ole' brain" line from Eyes Like Glue, and maybe I'm thinking about this from more of a neuropsychologial perspective, but perhaps Cooley is literally referring to the fact that we only use parts of our our brain; he's ambitiously hoping that his son will use all of his brain to its full potential. Just a thought...