DBT Tracks - Week #8 - Ghost to Most
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DBT Tracks - Week #8 - Ghost to Most
It's got a killer riff and lyrics that create these fantastic images that stick in my head, but for the life of me I've never been able to get my brain around the overall point of this song. I know some people consider this to be Cooley's anti-war song... maybe so, and maybe not. I guess that makes it classic Cooley, right? I also think that Spooner really gives this song its groove, he just sounds great on this one.
I guess I'll never grow a sideburn
it's a shame with all I've got to go between
I hope somebody's cause takes soon
it's getting hard to find a place a root can sink
Mama said a lot of things and be thankful was the one she never minded saying twice
Thanks to her I can think clear enough,
to be thankful that she died before tonight
Baby every bone in my body's gone to jumping
like they're gonna come through my skin
If they could get along without the rest of me, it wouldn't matter if they did
But skeletons ain't got nowhere to stick their money
nobody makes britches that size
and besides you're a ghost to most before they notice,
that you ever had a hair or a hide
Saving everybody takes a man on a mission
with a swagger that can set the world at ease
Some believe it's God's own hand on the trigger
and the other dumping water in the streets
Talking tough is easy when it's other people's evil
and you're judging what they do or don't believe
It seems to me you'd have to have a hole your own
to point a finger at somebody else's sheet
Baby every bone in my body's gone to jumping
like they're gonna come through my skin
If they could get along without the rest of me, it wouldn't matter if they did
But skeletons ain't got nowhere to stick their money
nobody makes britches that size
and besides you're a ghost to most before they notice,
that you ever had a hair or a hide
I don't know how good it does a man,
to keep on telling him how good it is he's free
free to wash his ghost down the drain,
and free for them to tell him there's no such a thing
Baby every bone in my body's gone to jumping
like they're gonna come through my skin
If they could get along without the rest of me, it wouldn't matter if they did
But skeletons ain't got nowhere to stick their money
nobody makes britches that size
and besides you're a ghost to most before they notice,
that you ever had a hair or a hide
I guess I'll never grow a sideburn
it's a shame with all I've got to go between
I hope somebody's cause takes soon
it's getting hard to find a place a root can sink
Mama said a lot of things and be thankful was the one she never minded saying twice
Thanks to her I can think clear enough,
to be thankful that she died before tonight
Baby every bone in my body's gone to jumping
like they're gonna come through my skin
If they could get along without the rest of me, it wouldn't matter if they did
But skeletons ain't got nowhere to stick their money
nobody makes britches that size
and besides you're a ghost to most before they notice,
that you ever had a hair or a hide
Saving everybody takes a man on a mission
with a swagger that can set the world at ease
Some believe it's God's own hand on the trigger
and the other dumping water in the streets
Talking tough is easy when it's other people's evil
and you're judging what they do or don't believe
It seems to me you'd have to have a hole your own
to point a finger at somebody else's sheet
Baby every bone in my body's gone to jumping
like they're gonna come through my skin
If they could get along without the rest of me, it wouldn't matter if they did
But skeletons ain't got nowhere to stick their money
nobody makes britches that size
and besides you're a ghost to most before they notice,
that you ever had a hair or a hide
I don't know how good it does a man,
to keep on telling him how good it is he's free
free to wash his ghost down the drain,
and free for them to tell him there's no such a thing
Baby every bone in my body's gone to jumping
like they're gonna come through my skin
If they could get along without the rest of me, it wouldn't matter if they did
But skeletons ain't got nowhere to stick their money
nobody makes britches that size
and besides you're a ghost to most before they notice,
that you ever had a hair or a hide
If you don't run you rust
Re: DBT Tracks - Week #8 - Ghost to Most
It's about bridges
And I knew when I woke up Rock N Roll would be here forever
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Re: DBT Tracks - Week #8 - Ghost to Most
I think lyrically it is one of his masterpieces. It's really the ultimate existentialist rock song...
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Re: DBT Tracks - Week #8 - Ghost to Most
"Mama said a lot of things and be thankful was the one she never minded saying twice
Thanks to her I can think clear enough,
to be thankful that she died before tonight"
Great line!
Is that line about poking a hole in a sheet a reference to the Klan?
Thanks to her I can think clear enough,
to be thankful that she died before tonight"
Great line!
Is that line about poking a hole in a sheet a reference to the Klan?
What used to be is gone and what ought to be ought not to be so hard
Re: DBT Tracks - Week #8 - Ghost to Most
That's the way I've taken it.beantownbubba wrote:"Mama said a lot of things and be thankful was the one she never minded saying twice
Thanks to her I can think clear enough,
to be thankful that she died before tonight"
Great line!
Is that line about poking a hole in a sheet a reference to the Klan?
Re: DBT Tracks - Week #8 - Ghost to Most
beantownbubba wrote:"Mama said a lot of things and be thankful was the one she never minded saying twice
Thanks to her I can think clear enough,
to be thankful that she died before tonight"
Great line!
Is that line about poking a hole in a sheet a reference to the Klan?
I always thought he was talking about "ghosts"
E quindi uscimmo a riveder le stelle.
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Re: DBT Tracks - Week #8 - Ghost to Most
Smitty wrote:beantownbubba wrote:"Mama said a lot of things and be thankful was the one she never minded saying twice
Thanks to her I can think clear enough,
to be thankful that she died before tonight"
Great line!
Is that line about poking a hole in a sheet a reference to the Klan?
I always thought he was talking about "ghosts"
Same here. Then again, that whole bridges thing pretty much eliminates me from this discussion.
Having a broken heart wears you out.
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Re: DBT Tracks - Week #8 - Ghost to Most
OK, then, either way, Klan or ghosts, what's he saying about either one? And c'mon FNW, don't be shy, we're a very warm, inclusive group here. After all, if being wrong or embarrassing one's self were grounds for exclusion there wouldn't be very many of us left.
What used to be is gone and what ought to be ought not to be so hard
Re: DBT Tracks - Week #8 - Ghost to Most
It could just be a metaphor for some who's clueless and ignorant, as in he's got a sheet or something pulled down over his face and can't see what's going on around him.
If you don't run you rust
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Re: DBT Tracks - Week #8 - Ghost to Most
I think it's addressing hypocrisy of some sort. Your own sheet has to be pretty threadbare in order for you to be able to point out the deficienies of another.
Having a broken heart wears you out.
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Re: DBT Tracks - Week #8 - Ghost to Most
I always thought it addressed the rumored Hasidic trait of them needing a sheet between them in order to procreate, which obviously made a need for a hole in said sheet. And that the line referenced religious zealots of one religion, school of thought, etc., another zealot. Or maybe I'm just high, who knows? I can't makes heads nor tales of this tune overall, but I do really love it.
Re: DBT Tracks - Week #8 - Ghost to Most
Fool No Where wrote:I think it's addressing hypocrisy of some sort. Your own sheet has to be pretty threadbare in order for you to be able to point out the deficienies of another.
Yup, thats how I took it
E quindi uscimmo a riveder le stelle.
Re: DBT Tracks - Week #8 - Ghost to Most
He who lives in a glass house can not throw stones.
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Respect others and yourself.
We are only here for a while and most of us never really leave a mark, except maybe in the hearts and souls we have touched along the way. But like sands in an hour glass we are just memories that fade over time. No matter how strong the bond or love was.
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Respect others and yourself.
We are only here for a while and most of us never really leave a mark, except maybe in the hearts and souls we have touched along the way. But like sands in an hour glass we are just memories that fade over time. No matter how strong the bond or love was.
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Re: DBT Tracks - Week #8 - Ghost to Most
dime in the gutter wrote:katrina
thats what i thought from the "dumping water in the streets" part and the looting and shit that went down after.
I've never taken a pissbreak during a DBT show but if I had it would have been during Dancing Ricky.
Re: DBT Tracks - Week #8 - Ghost to Most
Steve French wrote:dime in the gutter wrote:katrina
thats what i thought from the "dumping water in the streets" part and the looting and shit that went down after.
Great prevs think a like!!! Hey hey what can I say I got a woman wanna ball all day!!!!
Re: DBT Tracks - Week #8 - Ghost to Most
I never really understood the meaning but it's my main line ring tone and sometimes I find myself not answering the call cuz I just wanna hear the song!
I wasn't born in the south but I got here as soon as I could!!
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Re: DBT Tracks - Week #8 - Ghost to Most
it's a cooley song, so it's indirect. here's my take. it's kind of a counter-point to lookout mountain. he's on edge and jittery, thinking about killing himself tonight and weighing some pros and cons. thank god mama's not around anymore to witness this. he doesn't really give a fuck about himself, but what about what he leaves behind? who's gonna take care of what's his responsibility to stay alive and take care of? the skeleton is an example. it wouldn't matter to him if his skeleton up and left him and he died of natural causes, but can he just kill himself and leave it behind because he doesn't give a fuck about going on? how's it gonna take care of itself? and besides, he'll be dead soon enough anyway, and though he's sick of judgmental people, fuck them anyway. he'll be dead before most people even knew he was alive, no real need to hurry it along. then onto religion to see what that has to offer his dilemma. swaggering evangelical types talk about holy wars and natural disasters as god's own doings. how is that helpful? people use religion to say their way is right and point out how other people are fucked up or hypocritical. seems to him like you'd have to be an asshole yourself to point out somebody else's sheeet. but on the other hand, how helpful is it to have free will if you just use it to flush your soul down the drain, then other people are free to just tell you never had a soul anyway because there's no such thing?
Re: DBT Tracks - Week #8 - Ghost to Most
I've heard tales of what goes down there ...
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Re: DBT Tracks - Week #8 - Ghost to Most
Cooley has hard time finding "suits that fit him right".
“Excited people get on daddy’s nerves.” - M. Cooley
Re: DBT Tracks - Week #8 - Ghost to Most
There is just too much imagery from the Iraq / Pakistan war for this to not be about that IMHO.
Saving everybody and setting the world at ease seems like a reference to the U.S. taking on the role of policeman of the world. And phrases to somebody's cause, God's hand on the trigger, judging other people's evil, and lots of George Bush's favorite word "free" which makes me think of this war specifically.
I
Saving everybody and setting the world at ease seems like a reference to the U.S. taking on the role of policeman of the world. And phrases to somebody's cause, God's hand on the trigger, judging other people's evil, and lots of George Bush's favorite word "free" which makes me think of this war specifically.
I
By the time you drop them I'll be gone
And you'll be right where they fall the rest of your life
And you'll be right where they fall the rest of your life
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Re: DBT Tracks - Week #8 - Ghost to Most
Around the time BTCD came out, a good friend of mine who had been struggling for a while hit bottom, had a nervous breakdown and spent some time in a psych hospital. I always think of him when I hear the line, "Besides you're a ghost to most before they notice that you ever had a hair or a hide." To me, the song really captures the point of view of someone who's "hiding in plain sight", disappearing right before everyone's eyes. No one notices till he's gone.
On a musical note, the chord progression in the bridge is really clever. One of those that makes me say, "How did Cooley come up with that?"
On a musical note, the chord progression in the bridge is really clever. One of those that makes me say, "How did Cooley come up with that?"
ain't no static on the gospel radio
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Re: DBT Tracks - Week #8 - Ghost to Most
lots of good 'cooleyisms' but i don't think it's a metaphor for anything...
i took away from it to treat people right and live in the moment, then again, i get that from a lot of DBT songs
this song gets overshadowed by it's one of my favorite live songs..
i took away from it to treat people right and live in the moment, then again, i get that from a lot of DBT songs
this song gets overshadowed by it's one of my favorite live songs..
In my blood, there's gasoline..
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Re: DBT Tracks - Week #8 - Ghost to Most
Rocky wrote:There is just too much imagery from the Iraq / Pakistan war for this to not be about that IMHO.
Saving everybody and setting the world at ease seems like a reference to the U.S. taking on the role of policeman of the world. And phrases to somebody's cause, God's hand on the trigger, judging other people's evil, and lots of George Bush's favorite word "free" which makes me think of this war specifically.
I
Yeah, me too, but I just didn't want to start up some political discussion here about that verse. It's art. Multiple layers.
Re: DBT Tracks - Week #8 - Ghost to Most
The best song on BTCD and a Top 10 DBT song. Possibly Top 5. This may be Cooley's finest work.
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Re: DBT Tracks - Week #8 - Ghost to Most
isn't this song about how America took Godzilla and made a terrible adaption of a wonderful Kaiju tradition? I mean come on! The Japanese obviously knew how to make a great Godzilla film, and we took it and crapped all over it.
Saving everybody takes a man on a mission
with a swagger that can set the world at ease
Some believe it's God's own hand on the trigger
and the other dumping water in the streets
Talking tough is easy when it's other people's evil
and you're judging what they do or don't believe
It seems to me you'd have to have a hole your own
to point a finger at somebody else's sheet
This sums it up! America sees Godzilla, and just takes it, then makes their own version and does not care what people think. They think its wonderful, as if God made it, but we all know the truth.
how dare you.
Saving everybody takes a man on a mission
with a swagger that can set the world at ease
Some believe it's God's own hand on the trigger
and the other dumping water in the streets
Talking tough is easy when it's other people's evil
and you're judging what they do or don't believe
It seems to me you'd have to have a hole your own
to point a finger at somebody else's sheet
This sums it up! America sees Godzilla, and just takes it, then makes their own version and does not care what people think. They think its wonderful, as if God made it, but we all know the truth.
how dare you.
Segalegend.tumblr.com
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Re: DBT Tracks - Week #8 - Ghost to Most
Son of Swamp wrote:isn't this song about how America took Godzilla and made a terrible adaption of a wonderful Kaiju tradition? I mean come on! The Japanese obviously knew how to make a great Godzilla film, and we took it and crapped all over it.
Saving everybody takes a man on a mission
with a swagger that can set the world at ease
Some believe it's God's own hand on the trigger
and the other dumping water in the streets
Talking tough is easy when it's other people's evil
and you're judging what they do or don't believe
It seems to me you'd have to have a hole your own
to point a finger at somebody else's sheet
This sums it up! America sees Godzilla, and just takes it, then makes their own version and does not care what people think. They think its wonderful, as if God made it, but we all know the truth.
how dare you.
There is no doubt about this.
I do think there is one wrinkle. I think the "swagger who could set the world at ease" refers to the classic King Kong vs Godzilla match up. You may recall this battle took place near the ocean and there was sufficient flooding as a result of these two behemoths engaged in an epic tilt.
"
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Re: DBT Tracks - Week #8 - Ghost to Most
I thought it was about bridges as well and also settled a long time ago. Wow,37 posts
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Re: DBT Tracks - Week #8 - Ghost to Most
OtisTheBulldog wrote:Son of Swamp wrote:isn't this song about how America took Godzilla and made a terrible adaption of a wonderful Kaiju tradition? I mean come on! The Japanese obviously knew how to make a great Godzilla film, and we took it and crapped all over it.
Saving everybody takes a man on a mission
with a swagger that can set the world at ease
Some believe it's God's own hand on the trigger
and the other dumping water in the streets
Talking tough is easy when it's other people's evil
and you're judging what they do or don't believe
It seems to me you'd have to have a hole your own
to point a finger at somebody else's sheet
This sums it up! America sees Godzilla, and just takes it, then makes their own version and does not care what people think. They think its wonderful, as if God made it, but we all know the truth.
how dare you.
There is no doubt about this.
I do think there is one wrinkle. I think the "swagger who could set the world at ease" refers to the classic King Kong vs Godzilla match up. You may recall this battle took place near the ocean and there was sufficient flooding as a result of these two behemoths engaged in an epic tilt.
"
down w/OTB yeah you know me
In my blood, there's gasoline..
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