SOTW #155: Grand Canyon

[Tyler]

We went to Grand Canyon and we stood at the expanse
and we watched the rocks change colors
and we watched the shadows dance
We probably didn’t say anything til the sunset turned to night
We let the spirits do the talking with cascades of faded light

We drove across the desert, saw the mountain range at dawn
Heard the thunder rumbles echo
against the rocks that Gods were made from
We drove across the wastelands until we finally reached the sea
and I wonder how a life so sturdy could just one day cease to be

I’m never one to wonder about the things beyond control
I stare off in the distance as I feel the highway roll

We roll on in the darkness to some city far away
Lug our sorrows, pains and angers and turn them into play
There’s no time to dwell upon it, it’s this life that we chose
that made it all worth living through the horrors that life throws

If the recently departed make the sunsets
to say farewell to the ones they leave behind
There were technicolor hues to see our sadness through
as the sun over Athens said goodbye

There’s a white owl out my window soft-lit in fading light
He’ll go soaring through the clouds and hunting through the night
and in my dreams I’ll still see him flying through a western sky
I’ll think about Grand Canyon, and i’ll lift my glass and smile

[Beaverdam]

When Craig died, I posted on 3DD that I didn't have a personal relationship with him like some of you on here. Yes, I bantered with him while buying tee-shirts and other memorabilia after shows, but I didn't really know him; he was always very personable during such exchanges. Whenever I listen to Grand Canyon, I feel like I knew Craig a little better than I actually did!

Grand Canyon is such a moving tribute, and that's the opinion of someone who didn't really know Craig. I love the lyrics and the music and think that each works to compliment the other. I really liked the show closer of Angels in the Fuselage/Shut Your Mouth and Get Your Ass on the Pane, but I think Grand Canyon works really well!

[phungi]

There are many ways people deal with the universal experience of death, and yet, for musicians and artists, this is often a process that plays out through/to the public.

In this context, I can't think of a more humbling and well-grounded tribute than these 6 lines:

I’m never one to wonder about the things beyond control
I stare off in the distance as I feel the highway roll

We roll on in the darkness to some city far away
Lug our sorrows, pains and angers and turn them into play
There’s no time to dwell upon it, it’s this life that we chose
that made it all worth living through the horrors that life throws

[LastLawson]

I love how the music on this one changes from uplifting to gloomy at the end. I think it fits perfectly with the theme.

The way I see it: The lyrics are a eulogy - Patterson is trying to put his best face forward and deal with the loss - "I'll lift my glass and smile". But after the funeral, the reception, etc., it's not so easy to carry on with the loss - it's there in the background, more threatening and gloomy, just like the ending music. It's harder to deal with when it can pop up at any time. At a funeral, you're ready for it...

[Clams]

Thank you Tyler, for that inspiring introduction!

Some thoughts: I think it was Zip who wrote in the EO thread about Patterson being so good at writing musical elegies. The Living Bubba, Come Back Little Star, Grand Canyon. It's probably not something he enjoys doing, but goddam, those are some pretty moving - and really fucking good - songs. And if you think songs like that are easy to write, contrast the above three songs with Springsteen's "Terry's Song," where the best the Boss could come up with to memorialize his longtime assistant and friend was a tired old cliche of a chorus: When they built you brother, they broke the mold.

And here's a totally random thought/story about Grand Canyon. Craig passed away on the Friday of 2013 homecoming weekend. That Friday night show was memorable and intense to say the least, and In the months that followed I spent a good amount of time listening to the recording. If you listen to the version of World of Hurt from that show, after Patterson sings "It's a beautiful world when you can put away the sadness and hang on to every ounce of beauty upon you" he then adds: I mean goddam it, did you mean did you see that sunset today? And I don't know why, but I remember that line from when he sang it at the 40 Watt, and I heard it every single time I listened to the recording, that part about the sunset got stuck in my head. Fast forward a year to the first time I heard Grand Canyon and sure enough there's a line about that same sunset with the technicolor hues. I'm probably rambling here, and I have no idea why that sunset is so ingrained in my brain, but it is. I bet it was pretty fuckin' beautiful.

[Zip City]

My post from the EO Discussion thread:

re: Grand Canyon


I met Craig once or twice, and I was saddened by his passing, but I don't pretend to claim even 1/100th of 1% of the relationship with him that many of you had. As such, this song is never going to touch me in the way it touches many of you.

That said, it's a brilliant song by a man who I'm starting to believe is one of the best songwriters ever at writing eulogies.

"Come Back Little Star" is what I'd term a "who he was" eulogy. Patterson tells us about Vic from a personal place, but it's basically part biographical, part mourning. Brilliant song

"The Living Bubba" is also a "who he was" song, but the twist is that Hood let's Smalley (sp?) tell us about himself.

"Grand Canyon" is unique because it's not "who he was", it's "who we were." No one else could have written this song, and it's poignancy comes from the shared lives of Patterson and Craig. I can't think of a better way to celebrate someone's life than in sharing those stories.

[Shakespeare]

not crazy about this one honestly

i obviously appreciate the real life sentiment behind it, and i get what patterson was trying to do, but the song falls flat for me. it just never reaches that emotional height hes aiming for. i keep reading posts here and reviews elsewhere about what an emotional epic closer this one is but i dont get it. solid enough song but i cant help but feel disappointed when i hear it.

[Tequila Cowboy]

I've said many times that the next time I make it through this song, live or on record, without a tear will be the first time. There are times I just can't listen to it all to be honest. Live though it's always welcome because it's such a great tribute to Craig and a reminder that as long as there is a Drive-By Truckers he can always be as close as the next song. I think the lyrics are brilliant in that Patterson briefly but eloquently tells the story of their friendship and then he tells us how he felt when that was taken away so very suddenly. To me I don't think you have to have known Craig to get that, but I did know him so I guess I'm not qualified to answer that. A great many of us are at an age where we've lost people along the way and the words and emotions here are very familiar. In the end though all you can do is do what you do and move on the very best you can.

We roll on in the darkness to some city far away
Lug our sorrows, pains and angers and turn them into play
There’s no time to dwell upon it, it’s this life that we chose
that made it all worth living through the horrors that life throws

The other thing that Patterson and the boys do here that is so fucking brilliant is the ending which pays tribute to who Craig was as a musician and frankly as a man. He was weird and eclectic and wild and the noise at the end of the studio track and the constantly changing noise live reflect that beautifully. Craig was larger than life and some figures who are that way have statues built for them but for him there is no greater tribute than a song, particularly one that lives and breathes and changes every time it's played. Even those of us with pretty complicated belief systems sense that somewhere he's smiling.

In the end this song is about friendship, life, and loss and without those things the days and nights we spend here on earth would mean nothing. To be able to put that in word and song is a gift and Patterson and all of DBT have shared that gift here. I love most of the songs and some of them really tug on the heartstrings but this one, this one well this one goes even deeper than that and I'll be forever grateful for it.


PS. Clams, I can't listen to the show from that night. I've tried and I turn it off with seconds every time. You've given me a reason to check it out though because I would like to hear that. Someday it will be time.

[Zip City]

The only negative I can even consider about this song is that it's pushed Angels & Fuselage out of the live rotation

[beantownbubba]

not crazy about this one honestly

i obviously appreciate the real life sentiment behind it, and i get what patterson was trying to do, but the song falls flat for me. it just never reaches that emotional height hes aiming for. i keep reading posts here and reviews elsewhere about what an emotional epic closer this one is but i dont get it. solid enough song but i cant help but feel disappointed when i hear it.

Huh. It just proves that can't please all the people all the time. I think the song is a fantastic tribute to Craig so maybe that means I really can't evaluate it independent of that* but I love the song, I think it's a great song and I think it's among Patterson's best. That's not to argue w/ you, Shakes, you hear what you hear and it moves you (or not) the way it moves you (or doesn't). I just wanted to be counted on the "pro" side.

*For example, I'm usually not a fan of "big noise" codas but I love this one precisely because of how it relates back to Craig and his music. That's clearly an instance of the particulars outweighing the...I'm not sure what to call it...musicality?

[one belt loop]

Everything bubba wrote and most of what TC wrote. I think I made it through without crying the third time they played it the night of the black party. Otherwise, no way.

I think this and Pauline Hawkins are two of the best songs Patterson has ever written and to have them on the same album is incredible. For me, they tap into some very deep emotional wells and we all know there's water at the bottom of a well.

I hope I don't offend anyone with this, but the song has taken on a new and very personal meaning for me. As I was traveling from Maryland to Maine for DBT shows this summer, I knew that I was going to be heading home to a dog who was nearing the end of his life. We lived together for well over 13 years, and I was worrying about him. Every night when they played this song (at four of the five shows I saw that week), I couldn't help but think of Bruno and bawl. As it happened, I did have to put him to sleep two days after I got home, and I'm very grateful they did not play this song in Memphis. I don't know when I'll be able to handle it again. I'll jump off that bridge when I come to it.

We drove across the wastelands until we finally reached the sea
and I wonder how a life so sturdy could just one day cease to be

[Clams]

I hope I don't offend anyone with this,

Great post OBL and I don't see how anyone could take offense. That's why it's said that once a song is released it doesn't belong to the artist anymore, but to the listener. You took Grand Canyon and made it your own, applied it to your own set of circumstances. People do that all the time, and I don't think anything about the song is lost in the translation. Anyway, if PH had ever met Bruno I'm sure he'd understand.

[Cole Younger]

Thank you Tyler, for that inspiring introduction!

Some thoughts: I think it was Zip who wrote in the EO thread about Patterson being so good at writing musical elegies. The Living Bubba, Come Back Little Star, Grand Canyon. It's probably not something he enjoys doing, but goddam, those are some pretty moving - and really fucking good - songs. And if you think songs like that are easy to write, contrast the above three songs with Springsteen's "Terry's Song," where the best the Boss could come up with to memorialize his longtime assistant and friend was a tired old cliche of a chorus: When they built you brother, they broke the mold.

And here's a totally random thought/story about Grand Canyon. Craig passed away on the Friday of 2013 homecoming weekend. That Friday night show was memorable and intense to say the least, and In the months that followed I spent a good amount of time listening to the recording. If you listen to the version of World of Hurt from that show, after Patterson sings "It's a beautiful world when you can put away the sadness and hang on to every ounce of beauty upon you" he then adds: I mean goddam it, did you mean did you see that sunset today? And I don't know why, but I remember that line from when he sang it at the 40 Watt, and I heard it every single time I listened to the recording, that part about the sunset got stuck in my head. Fast forward a year to the first time I heard Grand Canyon and sure enough there's a line about that same sunset with the technicolor hues. I'm probably rambling here, and I have no idea why that sunset is so ingrained in my brain, but it is. I bet it was pretty fuckin' beautiful.

I remember that Clams. I had not thought about that in a really long time but I remember Patterson adding that line. I also remember the sunset that he was referring to and it was unbelievable. I didn't know Craig. I only met him once and just talked with him briefly. But that Homecoming was such a conflicting of emotions. I was excited as always about Homecoming but hearing the news about Craig and seeing how it was affecting everybody impacted me as well. It was great meeting so many of you for the first time that weekend but my wife was unable to come with me and I was feeling a little sad about that. I remember being in my room at the Holiday Inn in Athens and looking out the window as I was about to head out to a bar before heading to the 40 Watt. The sunset that day was stunning. I guess Patterson was watching too and it must have helped him on what had to be an awful day for him.

[Hud]

Shit, I got choked up just reading Clams post about homecoming.

The only thing I really hate about it is .....the rock show is over!

[RevMatt]

I started going to DBT shows and hanging out in the "Trucker World" as Craig referred to it in 2010. I'd been a music fan all my life, started going to shows when I was sixteen, recorded and toured professionally when I was nineteen and was among the "uber" fans on Frank Coleman's Echo and The Bunnymen site in 1997 when I first got an internet connection. But I'd never experienced anything like the Trucker World before. The closeness of the community, the connection between the band, crew and fanbase was something unique. It was almost like a mobile version of a local music scene when the Truckers came to town. I never needed to find somebody to go to the show with because I always knew that when I arrived in whatever town the band was playing in I would already know at least 25 people on any given night.

I got to know Craig fast and like so many people immediately made a friend. Craig had a gift for friendship. The most outgoing among us can usually only manage a few dozen friendships. Craig was different. He could manage a couple hundred.

Like any good friend, Craig kept confidences. Being friends with Craig DID NOT mean you would ever get "the inside scoop" about Drive By Truckers. I only learned a handful of tidbits about the band from Craig: Patterson Hood stays up late and likes to read, Cooley can practically fart at will, Shonna's cooking is even better than advertised and Brad Morgan does not like jazz. He also never spoke badly about another crew member to a member of the band even if that person was causing problems among the crew. Where I come from we call that being a stand up guy.

Craig did, however, have a strong belief that Drive By Truckers are a historically significant band and being in a position to live, work and watch them play night after night was a rare privilege. Once he told me -- at Levon Helm's barn -- that being on the road with The Truckers was like being on the road with The Band in the 1970's. It was a ringside seat to music history.

The irony is that as a musician Craig is nothing like Patterson or any other member of Drive By Truckers. He was able to recognize their greatness without having the sort of musical affinity that would ever earn him a guest spot on a DB T album. He was a huge Velvet Underground fan. (One day I will post the story about his first encounter with Moe Tucker which is probably the greatest Velvet Underground related story I've ever heard, the sort of incident that if they ever make a movie or television show about the history of the Athens music scene has to be included.) He loved prog rock, experimental rock, the whole No Wave movement in New York and Krautrock. The afternoon I arrived at his house he told me to select any record from his collection. I chose the first King Crimson album. By the time the title track came on the two of us were marching around the living room singing "In the court of the crimson king."

Almost as soon as I became friends with Craig I started bugging him about coming to New York and playing a show. By 2012 he had become discouraged. The music scene in Athens had changed; scenes tend to be cyclical and for the past several years fewer and fewer of the college students were coming out for the local bands. His own band had trouble drawing ten people. Finally he agreed to do a show. The Truckers were on hiatus, Melinda had a family wedding on Long Island, and he would be able to play the first set of a Thursday evening show on Bleeker Street in New York. He recruited two other musicians who recorded for John Zorns label and put on a show for close to 30 3DD people in the New York area. At the end of the night he was handed $150. Craig was ecstatic. When he returned home to Athens he booked a tour of art galleries and, during the last few months of his life played a bunch of shows. He even confided to me that he was considering going into the studio and putting out a record.

The last morning of his life we chatted. The Truckers had announced their spring tour and were playing The Wellmont Theater in Montclair, NJ. Craig and Melinda were huge fans of The Sopranos. I told him that the Wellmont was about a ten minute drive from the luncheonette where Tony Soprano had his last meal. We were making plans to have lunch there.

Craig's favorite times on the road were the long trips back to Athens at the end of the tour. Usually, the circus leaves town after the load out and arrives in the next town early the next morning. The bus rarely travels during the daytime. On Craig's last northwest tour with the band the final show was someplace like Seattle, Portland or Vancouver -- the details escape me. Then the bus would return to Georgia. I asked Craig if he was looking into getting a cheap flight out of Seattle to avoid the bus trip home. "Absolutely not," he told me before explaining that he would not pass up the opportunity to travel across the American landscape during daylight hours. "I never get to see the country because the bus is always travelling at night." "Grand Canyon" is the perfect tribute to Craig because it recalls one of those rare times on a DBT tour when they actually had the chance to enjoy the natural beauty of the land they were travelling through. Musically, the ending is a tribute to the sort of music Craig played.

We drove across the desert, saw the mountain range at dawn
Heard the thunder rumbles echo
against the rocks that Gods were made from
We drove across the wastelands until we finally reached the sea
and I wonder how a life so sturdy could just one day cease to be

[John A Arkansawyer]

Craig did, however, have a strong belief that Drive By Truckers are a historically significant band and being in a position to live, work and watch them play night after night was a rare privilege. Once he told me -- at Levon Helm's barn -- that being on the road with The Truckers was like being on the road with The Band in the 1970's. It was a ringside seat to music history.

I'd just gotten to this point when On The Beach stopped playing and I went to look for the next record. In the top CD case, for an Ani DiFranco EP with a broken lid, was disc 1 of Fully Loaded. Well, yes! And then I went back to read:

The irony is that as a musician Craig is nothing like Patterson or any other member of Drive By Truckers. He was able to recognize their greatness without having the sort of musical affinity that would ever earn him a guest spot on a DB T album. He was a huge Velvet Underground fan.

As anyone who ever played a part can tell you, it's great to be alive.

[John A Arkansawyer]

The irony is that as a musician Craig is nothing like Patterson or any other member of Drive By Truckers. He was able to recognize their greatness without having the sort of musical affinity that would ever earn him a guest spot on a DB T album.
<snip>
"Grand Canyon" is the perfect tribute to Craig because it recalls one of those rare times on a DBT tour when they actually had the chance to enjoy the natural beauty of the land they were travelling through. Musically, the ending is a tribute to the sort of music Craig played.

So the one song DBT has recorded so far where Craig might've sounded right in a guest spot is the one that's an elegy for him. That's a nice twisty thought.

[Clams]

Mrs Swamp took this pic of Craig playing with Thundercrack at the 40 Watt just hours before he passed away. I can only hope I'm having that much fun and look that cool the night before I go.



There were technicolor hues to see our sadness through
as the sun over Athens said goodbye

[Tequila Cowboy]

We were all right there, the Swamps, me, Lurleen, my buddy Lester and I can't remember who else and that image is pretty well etched in my brain foreveras well as the "see you tomorrow" at the door at the end of the night. It was a hell of a night and I think if we all could choose our last day on earth we might choose something like that.

I wonder how a life so sturdy could just one day cease to be

[bovine knievel]

Pic of a double rainbow over the stage during the performance of GC at Primavera Sound.

[backroads]

Pic of a double rainbow over the stage during the performance of GC at Primavera Sound.

Very cool!

I’ll think about Grand Canyon, and I’ll lift my glass and smile!

[CooleyGirl]

The first time I ever heard this song was at Craig's memorial service at the 40 Watt, just a few weeks after he passed away.
Daniel captured the moment on film:


I knew Craig well enough for him to have started calling me his little sister. There is no way I can be objective about this song, nor can I separate it from Craig to try to analyze it on its own. It is a beautiful song and a fitting tribute. It is a 50/50 chance that I will cry if I hear this at a show. Sometimes I focus on the positive, on how happy he was the night before he died. Other times, I mourn for him again, and for all the people (and pets) we've lost.

For us, it started on Thanksgiving in 2012 when our young cat, Shelby, had a heart attack and passed away in our bedroom. Next my mother-in-law passed away at a young age from lung cancer. My last text message from Craig was to tell Luke to call him if he needed somebody to talk to regarding his Mom. Then Craig. Then we got back from Craig's memorial and my Dad was hospitalized for over a month with heart failure and was not expected to survive. (Happy to say Dad has beaten all the odds and is home and doing well).

All this to say that the song has taken a strong personal meaning for me, and I absolutely see the connections between not only Craig, but loss of family, friends and pets as well.

[Cactus Ken]

What an honest and loving ode....
My Heart is just overflowin...

[John A Arkansawyer]

I just heard today that the wife of a musician from a Fayetteville band I knew--not well, but well enough to hurt a little over it--had died, young and unexpectedly. He'd said, in announcing the news, "Raise a glass; she'd want you to." I posted my condolences and it didn't seem like quite enough, so I dug up that great 2/14/14 performance with the great jonicont video and put that with it. Then I realized I'd been using that as a tribute, an offering, for people who died on other occasions. How many of you have been doing the same?