DBT Tracks - Week #8 - Ghost to Most

[Clams]

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

[Zip City]

It's about bridges

[TruckerClown]

I think lyrically it is one of his masterpieces. It's really the ultimate existentialist rock song...

[beantownbubba]

"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?

[4sooner]

"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?

That's the way I've taken it.

[Smitty]

"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"

[Fool No Where]

"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.

[beantownbubba]

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.

[Clams]

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.

[Fool No Where]

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.

[dime in the gutter]

katrina

[pearlysnaps]

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.

[Smitty]

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

[The Black Canary]

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.

[Steve French]

katrina

thats what i thought from the "dumping water in the streets" part and the looting and shit that went down after.

[The Black Canary]

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!!!!

[jdwolf]

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!

[lotusamerica]

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?

[Mrs Swamp]

[bovine knievel]

Cooley has hard time finding "suits that fit him right".

[Rocky]

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

[Duke Silver]

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?"

[Penny Lane]

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..

[lotusamerica]

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.

[Iowan]

The best song on BTCD and a Top 10 DBT song. Possibly Top 5. This may be Cooley's finest work.

[Son of Swamp]

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.

[OtisTheBulldog]

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.


"

[mark lynn]

I thought it was about bridges as well and also settled a long time ago. Wow,37 posts

[Penny Lane]

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

[Son of Swamp]

Otis is dead on!