DBT Albums - Week 8 Decoration Day

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Zip City
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Re: DBT Albums - Week 8 Decoration Day

Post by Zip City »

I feel the general consensus here is that "Your Daddy Hates Me" is a weak track, but I don't know why. Jason's slide guitar is amazing, the slow burn is awesome, the lyrics are good.....what's not to like?
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Kudzu Guillotine
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Re: DBT Albums - Week 8 Decoration Day

Post by Kudzu Guillotine »

Zip City wrote:I feel the general consensus here is that "Your Daddy Hates Me" is a weak track, but I don't know why. Jason's slide guitar is amazing, the slow burn is awesome, the lyrics are good.....what's not to like?


Personally, I don't really think it's a weak track as I believe it definitely fits the mood Patterson is trying to convey. I tend to skip it because of it's dirge-like quality, not because I think it's a bad song.

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Re: DBT Albums - Week 8 Decoration Day

Post by Iowan »

Kudzu Guillotine wrote:
Zip City wrote:I feel the general consensus here is that "Your Daddy Hates Me" is a weak track, but I don't know why. Jason's slide guitar is amazing, the slow burn is awesome, the lyrics are good.....what's not to like?


Personally, I don't really think it's a weak track as I believe it definitely fits the mood Patterson is trying to convey. I tend to skip it because of it's dirge-like quality, not because I think it's a bad song.


This.

It slayed when I finally caught it live in Madison, but if there's one song that gets me out of the mood of the album, its this one. Its almost too heavy in some respects.

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Re: DBT Albums - Week 8 Decoration Day

Post by Duke Silver »

My biggest beef with YDHM is that the album doesn't really need it. It's the weakest of the divorce songs on DD, it drags musically, and the lyrics belabor the same points the album's better divorce songs make more eloquently. It's one of only a handful of DBT songs I just flat-out don't like.
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Re: DBT Albums - Week 8 Decoration Day

Post by Fool No Where »

Duke Silver wrote:My biggest beef with YDHM is that the album doesn't really need it. ... the lyrics belabor the same points the album's better divorce songs make more eloquently...


I can't really argue these points. DBT is not a band that merely pushes the envelope. They'll take a stack of envelopes, crumple em up in a ball, and shove em down your throat. We've come to expect it, and that's why we're not surprised by three songs about preachers, sex, and murder.

My ex-FIL passed away recently. He didn't hate me. The last time I saw him was about 10 years ago and he was disappointed that I was leaving a party at 11 PM on a school night. He said we weren't done catching up. So I stayed a little longer and drank a few more beers with him. I paid for it the next day, but here and now, I'm glad I did.

PH deserves mad props for the line, "sometimes I yes when I should no." He could have spelled it "know" and the line would have been correct and made sense. But by using "no", especially in a song about the disintegration of a marital relationship, it packs an extra heavy wallop to the gut.
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LastLawson
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Re: DBT Albums - Week 8 Decoration Day

Post by LastLawson »

DBT's most solid album. Track listing is perfect. Funny, YDHM is one of my favorite songs from DD, different strokes I guess.
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Re: DBT Albums - Week 8 Decoration Day

Post by rockreid »

Duke Silver wrote:My biggest beef with YDHM is that the album doesn't really need it. It's the weakest of the divorce songs on DD, it drags musically, and the lyrics belabor the same points the album's better divorce songs make more eloquently.


Is there a better way to describe divorce than that?
It. All. Drags. Out. Our marriage should've ended before now, but we held on and this is what I'll remember about us, even though I hate it and half way hate you for giving me another reason to ponder why I should stay, but then again, I'll always have your daddy to hate cause he hates me too.

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Re: DBT Albums - Week 8 Decoration Day

Post by brett27295 »

I like Your Daddy Hates Me on the album....I absolutely love Your Daddy Hates Me live!

I was going through the finally stages of a divorce when I first got this album, there was a period of time when I listened to this song more than any other on Decoration Day.
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Fool No Where
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Re: DBT Albums - Week 8 Decoration Day

Post by Fool No Where »

No shit. I wouldn't wish divorce on my ex-wife.

rockreid wrote:Is there a better way to describe divorce than that?
It. All. Drags. Out. Our marriage should've ended before now, but we held on and this is what I'll remember about us, even though I hate it and half way hate you for giving me another reason to ponder why I should stay, but then again, I'll always have your daddy to hate cause he hates me too.
Having a broken heart wears you out.

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Re: DBT Albums - Week 8 Decoration Day

Post by beantownbubba »

Fool No Where wrote:
Duke Silver wrote:My biggest beef with YDHM is that the album doesn't really need it. ... the lyrics belabor the same points the album's better divorce songs make more eloquently...


I can't really argue these points. DBT is not a band that merely pushes the envelope. They'll take a stack of envelopes, crumple em up in a ball, and shove em down your throat. We've come to expect it, and that's why we're not surprised by three songs about preachers, sex, and murder.

My ex-FIL passed away recently. He didn't hate me. The last time I saw him was about 10 years ago and he was disappointed that I was leaving a party at 11 PM on a school night. He said we weren't done catching up. So I stayed a little longer and drank a few more beers with him. I paid for it the next day, but here and now, I'm glad I did.

PH deserves mad props for the line, "sometimes I yes when I should no." He could have spelled it "know" and the line would have been correct and made sense. But by using "no", especially in a song about the disintegration of a marital relationship, it packs an extra heavy wallop to the gut.


Excellent point on "know" and "no" FNW. I remember when I first realized the depths of that little bit of subtlety and how it further endeared me to this new album and this new band i was rapidly falling in love w/. Oddly enough, I agree w/ most of the comments about about YDHM, lol. That is, yeah, it's dirge like and sometimes it seems like overkill or momentum kill, but damn it packs an emotional wallop, and while thankfully I haven't been there, it sure sounds like the real deal to me. Overall, more plus than minus.
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Slipkid42
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Re: DBT Albums - Week 8 Decoration Day

Post by Slipkid42 »

I love Your Daddy Hates Me especially this:

And I always loved your Daddy, I loved your Mama even more
And I always loved their daughter, that’s for sure.

Nice write-up of DD, FNW. Mad props for havin PH call you out on your false pervert accusation. Wish I had made that up.
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Re: DBT Albums - Week 8 Decoration Day

Post by Swamp »

and the rest as they say is uh er uh, well somebodies history somewhere?

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Re: DBT Albums - Week 8 Decoration Day

Post by Swamp »

and the rest as they say is uh er uh, well somebodies history somewhere?

wolfgang
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Re: DBT Albums - Week 8 Decoration Day

Post by wolfgang »

Here's a picture of the grave of the man that Hollan Hill killed in the song Decoration Day

Image

John A Arkansawyer
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Re: DBT Albums - Week 8 Decoration Day

Post by John A Arkansawyer »

The sooner we put those assholes in the grave&piss on the dirt above it, the better off we'll be

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Re: DBT Albums - Week 8 Decoration Day

Post by beantownbubba »

John A Arkansawyer wrote:


Nice! Except he gets "Memorial Day" wrong.
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Re: DBT Albums - Week 8 Decoration Day

Post by Swamp »

From Oxford. with Sean P, yours truly, JBinSD, Son of Swamp and Mrs Son of Swamp.

After suffering losses the last 2 times we went to Starkvile, :(
we finally got a win the next day :D
and the rest as they say is uh er uh, well somebodies history somewhere?

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Re: DBT Albums - Week 8 Decoration Day

Post by BiloxiParish »

So what's the full story on Decoration Day? Is there a link that tells the story anywhere about this feud in the song.

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Re: DBT Albums - Week 8 Decoration Day

Post by beantownbubba »

Is it possible that we had this thread and the Loaded Gun song thread and never got around to asking why Loaded Gun is the last song on the album? Or maybe I'm the only one who thinks it's an interesting question. It seems to me that the logical end of the album is "Decoration Day" the song. It's obviously the title song and it's kind of a summing up and it ends w/ a bang, figuratively and literally, and then there's this quiet, subtle, ambiguous acoustic number sort of "tacked on." Yes, I agree in some ways it's absurd to talk about a song as great as "Loaded Gun" as tacked on but I'm talking only about the structure of the album here. Is "Loaded Gun" the right finale, or should it be someplace else on the album? (As a "relationship song" about a possibly fucked up but possibly not so fucked up relationship I think it clearly has a place on the album somewhere).

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Re: DBT Albums - Week 8 Decoration Day

Post by wooswiff »

beantownbubba wrote:Is it possible that we had this thread and the Loaded Gun song thread and never got around to asking why Loaded Gun is the last song on the album? Or maybe I'm the only one who thinks it's an interesting question. It seems to me that the logical end of the album is "Decoration Day" the song. It's obviously the title song and it's kind of a summing up and it ends w/ a bang, figuratively and literally, and then there's this quiet, subtle, ambiguous acoustic number sort of "tacked on." Yes, I agree in some ways it's absurd to talk about a song as great as "Loaded Gun" as tacked on but I'm talking only about the structure of the album here. Is "Loaded Gun" the right finale, or should it be someplace else on the album? (As a "relationship song" about a possibly fucked up but possibly not so fucked up relationship I think it clearly has a place on the album somewhere).

BTW, reviewing old threads is an often painful, sometimes hysterical exercise.


On more than one occasion I've caught myself thinking "man, 'Decoration Day' is such a perfect closer to that album", only to remember that "Loaded Gun" comes after. It kind of bothered me for a while too for the same thematic reasons you mention, but I've gotten comfortable thinking of it as an epilogue, rather than something tacked on. Having an epic closer is usually a good bet to end an album but I've definitely seen a few albums that have an amazing song song second-to-last, then finish with something very off-pace (I call this the "breath out" song.) You can almost imagine a title card coming up before the last song that says "5 years later..."

If we're rearranging tracks on DD, the one other song I could see serving a similar function as a coda would "When the Pin Hits the Shell." Just like "Loaded Gun", it would be a nice way to come down after the epic ballad that is "Decoration Day".
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Re: DBT Albums - Week 8 Decoration Day

Post by Tequila Cowboy »

Recently a reviewer of English Oceans called Grand Canyon beautiful but anti-climactic. It was meant to be a criticism but I love album closers that fit that bill and Loaded Gun in the Closet is one of those, Monument Valley, World of Hurt and even Mercy Buckets are others. I like this approach form other artists too, and this by no means is saying that acoustic is always to go but a soft landing spot is my personal taste. I feel this way with Films as well and if you've seen the new film adaptation of Larry Brown's "Joe" (and if you haven't please get on that quickly) the ending there certainly illustrates my point.
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Re: DBT Albums - Week 8 Decoration Day

Post by RolanK »

Well, I could understand someone calling Loaded Gun anti-climatic*, but Grand Canyon? WTF! It's an album and show closer of epic proportions...

*) Personally I like how DD starts and ends sort of mellow and low key, kind of works like an envelope for the loud electric rock album.
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Re: DBT Albums - Week 8 Decoration Day

Post by Cole Younger »

Never really thought about it but you're right. So etching has always kind of bugged me about the way the record ends and I never really was sure what. Now I know. It threw me off for years because I love Loaded Gun. But it is kind of an odd way for it to end especially considering what precedes it.
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Re: DBT Albums - Week 8 Decoration Day

Post by BB Coach »

Decoration Day was my first introduction to DBT. Received it as the CD of the month in the old BMG music club. I thought it was unlike anything I had ever heard. Loved it more with every listen and 12 or so years later it ranks as my favorite album in the arsenal (with Dirty South very close second). There darkest album featuring incest, family feuds, suicide, lonely housewives, loss of family farm, etc. Not a weak song of the 15 and am glad they play several in pretty much every live show. If I give one cd to someone as an introduction to the band it would be this one. Great variety of sounds and style and contributions from all three.

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Re: DBT Albums - Week 8 Decoration Day

Post by beantownbubba »

Because I care inordinately about such things, I sometimes worry that my fandom gets in the way of my ears when it comes to DBT. You know, are they "really" that great or did I float by that invisible line where one responds more because of who the artist is than because of what's in the grooves (I could have just said that I"m not objective but I'm actually trying to say something a little different, fwiw).

I just had occasion to listen to Decoration Day three times through over about 4 or 5 days after not listening to it for some time. I am glad to say that this is one stunning album that continues to bowl me over like few others. I'm convinced that when I talk this album up to anyone who will listen and to more than a few folks who'd rather not, it's because it deserves that level of enthusiasm, not because I've drunk too much kool aid. As I was listening, I was thinking that the album compares favorably to some all-time classicss, in particular Let It Bleed. Since Bleed is often my all-time #1 and always in my top 10 I think I'm saying that Decoration Day is one of the greatest albums of all-time. And you know what? It is.
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Re: DBT Albums - Week 8 Decoration Day

Post by Swamp »

Can't say I agree with you that often but "you got that right." :)
and the rest as they say is uh er uh, well somebodies history somewhere?

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Re: DBT Albums - Week 8 Decoration Day

Post by Tequila Cowboy »

Yeah, I concur. The ones that bubble under this one have moved and shifted position but this has been my #1 for ten years. For me the comp is the Replacements Let it Be. It's got some of the roughness of the early days of the band, it' brings the Rock and yet all that belies beautiful songcraft and a timelessness you can't set out to create. Simply amazing album.
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Re: DBT Albums - Week 8 Decoration Day

Post by beantownbubba »

wooswiff wrote: On more than one occasion I've caught myself thinking "man, 'Decoration Day' is such a perfect closer to that album", only to remember that "Loaded Gun" comes after. It kind of bothered me for a while too for the same thematic reasons you mention, but I've gotten comfortable thinking of it as an epilogue, rather than something tacked on. Having an epic closer is usually a good bet to end an album but I've definitely seen a few albums that have an amazing song song second-to-last, then finish with something very off-pace (I call this the "breath out" song.) You can almost imagine a title card coming up before the last song that says "5 years later..."
I'm surprised I didn't respond to this at the time. It's a good point conceptually and I can think of a couple of examples of what you're saying though I'd love some more examples. The 2 that immediately come to mind for me are "Little Martha" off Eat a Peach and "Thorn Tree in the Garden" off Layla. "Martha" is exactly what you describe and it's an acoustic instrumental which makes total sense for that role/function. "Thorn Tree" follows "Layla" and I think you're right, a calm after the storm makes sense after that, but "Layla" itself has its own coda and "Thorn Tree" just isn't a good enough song (though it's hard to know what might be good enough to follow "Layla").

"Loaded Gun" splits the difference in that it is acoustic and great like "Martha" and has lyrics that are in some ways tonally like "Thorn Tree" (or maybe like what "Thorn Tree would have liked to be). While I can hear it serving the role u suggest musically, I find it to be a very powerful, emotional song as well as an ambiguous one so, for me, it leaves me hanging much more than "Decoration Day" would. So like I say, I think you make a really good point but it doesn't work for me that way. Then again, I'm probably more than typically obsessed w/ "Loaded Gun."
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Re: DBT Albums - Week 8 Decoration Day

Post by schlanky »

beantownbubba wrote:I can think of a couple of examples of what you're saying though I'd love some more examples.
"Through My Sails" placed after "Cortez the Killer" to close out Neil Young's "Zuma." Different sound and different feel than anything else on the album---the calm after the storm.
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Re: DBT Albums - Week 8 Decoration Day

Post by alquina »

What a wonderful job, Fool No Where - well done! Decoration Day is my favorite album....maybe of all time? I really enjoyed reading everyone's comments and Smitty's research.

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