DBT Albums - Week 8 Decoration Day

Talk about the songs, the shows, and anything else DBT related here.

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bovine knievel
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Re: DBT Albums - Week 8 Decoration Day

Post by bovine knievel »

It's Decoration Day
“Excited people get on daddy’s nerves.” - M. Cooley

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

Post by John A Arkansawyer »

bovine knievel wrote:It's Decoration Day
This was the weekend of my church's annual float trip on the Buffalo, America's first (and I believe only) National River. It was at high stage, which is for experienced paddlers only, and since that is neither me nor the daughter nor most of the folks, we just hung out and had a great time.

I'd even count my getting blue-lighted on the way to the cabins as a good experience, since 1) it was a cheap ticket, 2) he quit the field sobriety test after the first step saying, "Okay, I can tell you really did have just one drink. You can relax," 3) I had a pleasant, unworried chat with the rangers while they were detaining me, and especially 4) my daughter--not quite twelve going on twenty-one--asking the other ranger very loudly if he had a warrant when he started to search the car. Damn, but I was proud of her! That's another, longer story, best told, I think, in person.

Saturday night, just before our little lesson on warrants versus probable cause, several of us had been hanging near the campfire talking music. One sweet lady, who'd earlier shown her angry black girl side while talking about how her son had been treated at school, was talking about how much she liked Toby Keith. Well, I kind of like some of his songs, too. They're kind of lightweight by design, but they're still fun, and whoever writes them is talented. Then she said she's gravitating from country from other musics because she likes lyrics.

I had most of that drink in me, so I turned to our choir director and asked him, "Is my voice good enough to sing a song right now, a cappella?" He said yes, so I turned to the rest of the people and said, "Could I sing you a song, then?" They said yes, so I started, "It's Decoration Day." I didn't quite have the lyrics perfect--it's been some time since I've listened to it, or sung it, which I've done probably hundreds of times, till I could get through it without being emotionally overwhelmed--but I was very close and I thought I did it what justice I could.

"That was a really good song," she said, "but it's a depressing story."

"No," I said, "he broke the cycle. He's got a family in Mobile Bay and they've never seen his father's grave. He escaped."

Our choir directory said, "John, don't ever ask anyone again if your voice is good enough to sing a song," which is one of the nicest things anyone has ever said to me.
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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Smitty
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Re: DBT Albums - Week 8 Decoration Day

Post by Smitty »

Cameron Crowe wrote this about "Buckets of Rain" - it goes towards the album closer discussion.
#60 – “Buckets of Rain” – Blood on the Tracks (1975)

ONE OF THE GREAT GIFTS BOB DYLAN HAS IS TO slip a grace note into an album, something that doesn’t cry out to be noticed, but is unforgettable. To me, that’s “Buckets of Rain,” the perfect grace note for Blood on the Tracks: melancholy, loping and bittersweet. It’s sly and unpretentious, but has huge power. Any room I’ve ever played it in has changed as a result.

The one little thing in the corner of an album, a movie or any piece of writing can be the most important element of all. The quiet little song makes Blood on the Tracks complete, and one of his greatest albums.

Dylan was in a middle period when he wrote it. I heard he went back to Minnesota and was living on a farm. He had a notebook, and the lyrics of Blood on the Tracks were honed in that period. He was going to get personal. It was going to hurt to hear, but it was going to be revelatory. It turned out to be the confessional Dylan album that people had been craving for a long time, and he hasn’t really gone back there since. He put up a lot of roadblocks and disinformation about it, but Blood on the Tracks is his Blue – his confessional album about relationships. I can’t think of it without “Buckets of Rain.” Dylan’s stuff continues to inform every generation – it just lives and lives, and a song like “Buckets of Rain” breathes with a simple truth about real life. After a blistering heartache comes a soothing rain.
E quindi uscimmo a riveder le stelle.

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cortez the killer
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Re: DBT Albums - Week 8 Decoration Day

Post by cortez the killer »

Went back through the band's catalog in chronological order this past week. Decoration Day remains the high point in the band's discography for me. Such an incredible record. As I worked a couple of listens in, I was struck by the great, iconic (to me and I'm sure anyone else reading this) opening lyrics many of the songs possess.

By the time you were born there were four other siblings
with your Mama awaiting your Daddy in jail
Your oldest brother was away at a home
and you didn't meet him til you were nineteen years old


There's a lot of bad wood underneath the veneer
She's an overnight sensation after twenty five years
Sharp fast curves, power steering
Unroll that twenty, buy me some beer


Well, my daddy didn't pull out, but he never apologized
Rock and Roll means well, but it can't help tellin' young boys lies.
A baby on the way's a good enough reason to get you out alive
Get you out without having to swallow any pride


You want to grow up to paint houses like me, a trailer in my yard till you're twenty-three
You want to be old after forty-two years, keep dropping the hammer and grinding the gears


Something about the wrinkle in your forehead tells me there's a fit about to get thrown
If we get the van out of the ditch before morning ain't nobody got to know what I done


When I saw her standing there, with her bright eyes and shining hair, she was looking back at me
Some are meant to sing, some are meant to talk and some aren't meant to say a thing


You can lie to your Mama, you can lie to your race
But you can't lie to nobody with that cold steel in your face
And the same God that you're so afraid is gonna send you to hell
Is the same one you're gonna answer to when the pin hits the shell


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."


I got a loaded gun in the closet
And another one in the dresser drawer
Just in case the one in the closet didn't make a big enough hole
You are entitled to your opinion, but you are not entitled to your own facts.
- DPM

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Jonicont
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Re: DBT Albums - Week 8 Decoration Day

Post by Jonicont »

cortez the killer wrote:
Sat Feb 13, 2021 4:05 pm
Went back through the band's catalog in chronological order this past week. Decoration Day remains the high point in the band's discography for me. Such an incredible record. As I worked a couple of listens in, I was struck by the great, iconic (to me and I'm sure anyone else reading this) opening lyrics many of the songs possess.

By the time you were born there were four other siblings
with your Mama awaiting your Daddy in jail
Your oldest brother was away at a home
and you didn't meet him til you were nineteen years old


There's a lot of bad wood underneath the veneer
She's an overnight sensation after twenty five years
Sharp fast curves, power steering
Unroll that twenty, buy me some beer


Well, my daddy didn't pull out, but he never apologized
Rock and Roll means well, but it can't help tellin' young boys lies.
A baby on the way's a good enough reason to get you out alive
Get you out without having to swallow any pride


You want to grow up to paint houses like me, a trailer in my yard till you're twenty-three
You want to be old after forty-two years, keep dropping the hammer and grinding the gears


Something about the wrinkle in your forehead tells me there's a fit about to get thrown
If we get the van out of the ditch before morning ain't nobody got to know what I done


When I saw her standing there, with her bright eyes and shining hair, she was looking back at me
Some are meant to sing, some are meant to talk and some aren't meant to say a thing


You can lie to your Mama, you can lie to your race
But you can't lie to nobody with that cold steel in your face
And the same God that you're so afraid is gonna send you to hell
Is the same one you're gonna answer to when the pin hits the shell


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."


I got a loaded gun in the closet
And another one in the dresser drawer
Just in case the one in the closet didn't make a big enough hole

Seeing it laid out like this, it’s pretty fucking remarkable
Always go to the show

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RolanK
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Location: drivin' home early Sunday morning through Bakersfield

Re: DBT Albums - Week 8 Decoration Day

Post by RolanK »

This is by far my favorite DBT album from that "era", probably of them all, and possibly also one of my favorite albums of all time.
Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa

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cortez the killer
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Joined: Mon Apr 26, 2010 3:22 pm

Re: DBT Albums - Week 8 Decoration Day

Post by cortez the killer »

Jonicont wrote:
Sat Feb 13, 2021 8:26 pm
cortez the killer wrote:
Sat Feb 13, 2021 4:05 pm
Went back through the band's catalog in chronological order this past week. Decoration Day remains the high point in the band's discography for me. Such an incredible record. As I worked a couple of listens in, I was struck by the great, iconic (to me and I'm sure anyone else reading this) opening lyrics many of the songs possess.

By the time you were born there were four other siblings
with your Mama awaiting your Daddy in jail
Your oldest brother was away at a home
and you didn't meet him til you were nineteen years old


There's a lot of bad wood underneath the veneer
She's an overnight sensation after twenty five years
Sharp fast curves, power steering
Unroll that twenty, buy me some beer


Well, my daddy didn't pull out, but he never apologized
Rock and Roll means well, but it can't help tellin' young boys lies.
A baby on the way's a good enough reason to get you out alive
Get you out without having to swallow any pride


You want to grow up to paint houses like me, a trailer in my yard till you're twenty-three
You want to be old after forty-two years, keep dropping the hammer and grinding the gears


Something about the wrinkle in your forehead tells me there's a fit about to get thrown
If we get the van out of the ditch before morning ain't nobody got to know what I done


When I saw her standing there, with her bright eyes and shining hair, she was looking back at me
Some are meant to sing, some are meant to talk and some aren't meant to say a thing


You can lie to your Mama, you can lie to your race
But you can't lie to nobody with that cold steel in your face
And the same God that you're so afraid is gonna send you to hell
Is the same one you're gonna answer to when the pin hits the shell


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."


I got a loaded gun in the closet
And another one in the dresser drawer
Just in case the one in the closet didn't make a big enough hole

Seeing it laid out like this, it’s pretty fucking remarkable
Was a "Holy shit!" moment as I was listening to it last week.
You are entitled to your opinion, but you are not entitled to your own facts.
- DPM

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cortez the killer
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Re: DBT Albums - Week 8 Decoration Day

Post by cortez the killer »

RolanK wrote:
Sun Feb 14, 2021 4:04 am
This is by far my favorite DBT album from that "era", probably of them all, and possibly also one of my favorite albums of all time.
Agree with all three points and you can remove the "probably" and "possibly" for me.
You are entitled to your opinion, but you are not entitled to your own facts.
- DPM

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RolanK
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Joined: Sun Oct 02, 2011 10:52 am
Location: drivin' home early Sunday morning through Bakersfield

Re: DBT Albums - Week 8 Decoration Day

Post by RolanK »

cortez the killer wrote:
Sun Feb 14, 2021 2:24 pm
RolanK wrote:
Sun Feb 14, 2021 4:04 am
This is by far my favorite DBT album from that "era", probably of them all, and possibly also one of my favorite albums of all time.
Agree with all three points and you can remove the "probably" and "possibly" for me.
I like to keep things open. Never sure about my own judgment. ;)
Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa

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