American Band lyrics & interpretations

[Ben_J]

I will admit that this song brings tears to my eyes when I just sit and listen and think.

"Guns Of Umpqua"

Guns Of Umpqua (PATTERSON)

I see birds soaring through the clouds outside my window
Smell the fresh paint of a comfort shade on this new fall day
Feel the coffee surge through morning veins from half an hour ago
Hear the sound of shots and screams out in the hallway

Spent my last weekend camping out again down the road a ways
Just me and Joan and a couple of friends on this beautiful trail
Watched the sun slip down behind a mountain stream in these great Cascades
Saw a mighty hawk swoop down upon a stream to devour its prey

Now We're moving chairs in some panic mode to barricade the doors
As my heart rate surges on adrenaline and nerves I feel I've been here before
Made it back from hell's attack in some distant bloody war
Only to stare down hell back home

Outside my mind I wander freely past the rocky shore
Waves crash against the banks where Lewis and Clark explored
We're all standing in the shadows of our noblest intentions of something more
than being shot in a classroom in Oregon

It’s a morning like so many others with breakfast and birthdays
The sun burned the fog away, breeze blew the mist away,
my friend Jack just had him a baby
I see birds soaring through the clouds outside my window
Heaven's calling my name from the hallway outside the door
Heaven's calling my name from the hallway outside the door

This song hit me like an absolute ton of bricks, so much so that I had to do a quick bit of research on the background.

Interestingly, I don't even seem to remember this shooting making the news over here (I'm in the UK) which I guess is kinda the point of a few of the songs on the album (it was probably seen as "just another US school shooting" to UK newscasters).

Having a flick through the Wikipedia article (man, there's some hard to stomach stuff in there), this passage seems to feature quite a few of the song's lyrical themes:

Among the wounded was Chris Mintz, a U.S. Army veteran who was studying fitness training at the college, who responded when he heard screams coming from an adjacent classroom. He blocked the connected door with his body to allow his class to escape. He next left the building to alert students in the library to evacuate. Returning to the shooting scene, he advised a wounded student to stay down and be quiet. At that point, Harper-Mercer leaned out from the classroom into the hallway and shot Mintz five times as he was first standing, then falling to the floor, because he said Mintz had called police. Mintz pleaded that he not be killed on his son's birthday and said an apparently emotionless Harper-Mercer withdrew back into the classroom.

[phungi]

Bottles fall into the dumpster and a stale smell rises through the sickening summer haze
To the rhythm of a boot heeled hipster cowgirl's clunky sashay of shame
Monday mayhem the last of the AM's gasoline powered release
To the rest of the day in the afternoon's rising relentlessly stifling heat

Up around the corner a B Model Mazda sitting crooked between the lines
Feeling lucky that 27's the hardest thing she'll have to survive
Just don't mix your browns and your whites with your wines and don't sit on your cigarettes
You'll feel like shit soon enough and deserve's got no say in the stories passed

That's what a life feels like
Bored children caught between dog days when night turns them loose
All that's different for girls is the bragging and who it's done to

Everyone claims the times are a changing as theirs pass them by
And everyone's right

Way down beneath all the talk and tequila and reasons, excuses and doubts
Breathing steam from his cup and stink from his fingers he's starting to figure it out
But the old man's world was more doing than thinking and the doing was more cut and dry

Now girls collect trophies as much as the boys and come home just as filthy and fried
Now girls collect trophies as much as the boys and come home just as filthy and fried

I think in that middle verse it could be That's what a lie feels like
(not a "life")

And I'd say the old man is her dad, otherwise why would he be searching for reasons, excuses and doubts? He's trying to figure out why and where it all went wrong.

I have a somewhat different take on this. I think Cooley first established a "scene/scenario" in the first three paragraphs, and then introduced the actual protagonist of the song. In this context, the three lines:

Way down beneath all the talk and tequila and reasons, excuses and doubts
Breathing steam from his cup and stink from his fingers he's starting to figure it out
But the old man's world was more doing than thinking and the doing was more cut and dry

Describe a young man who "got some" the night before, and is trying to make sense of it... drunk, afraid, etc, the night before, like a girl might have been in his "old man's time", the next morning he is drinking coffee with 'stinky finger' and realizes that he was the one who was the piece of meat and the girl was the aggressor... in his "old man's time" roles were more clearly defined and there was less to analyze...

[Duke Silver]

^^ bingo

[Clams]

I've been wondering from the start about the stink from his fingers line and that would explain it.

[whatwouldcooleydo?]

I've been wondering from the start about the stink from his fingers line and that would explain it.

the explanation above was the only one I had come up with, though I didn't think it out anywhere near as awesomely as Phungi did

[beantownbubba]

I've been wondering from the start about the stink from his fingers line and that would explain it.

the explanation above was the only one I had come up with, though I didn't think it out anywhere near as awesomely as Phungi did

I thought we put this one to bed a couple of weeks ago, around the time Pony Girl offered her most excellent exegesis.

[whatwouldcooleydo?]

I've been wondering from the start about the stink from his fingers line and that would explain it.

the explanation above was the only one I had come up with, though I didn't think it out anywhere near as awesomely as Phungi did

I thought we put this one to bed a couple of weeks ago, around the time Pony Girl offered her most excellent exegesis.

deepest apologies, I haven't read all that has been written on the matter

Props for using "exegesis"

[beantownbubba]

As long as I'm here, what say y'all about this one from Kinky Hypocrite?

According to the semi-official lyrics distributed at about the same time as the semi official leak came out, Cooley sings "Book tours, miracle cures, affirmation and the end times immanence"

I hear it as "end times imminent" but it turns out that a different word, immanent, is pronounced the same way.

For the less obsessed, as I understand it the differences are that

"immanence" means a theological concept relating to God's presence in the real. every day world
"immanent" means something internal, existing solely w/in the mind
immanence and immanent overlap and are sometimes used interchangeably; to the extent they are different immanence seems geared specifically to God's presence and immanent seems to be more generally inward directed thoughts or presence
"imminent" means likely to occur soon

I can make all three work if I try hard enough but imminent still seems like the best fit to me. Thoughts?

[pearlbeer]

sitting crooked between the lines
Feeling lucky that 27's the hardest thing she'll have to survive
Just don't mix your browns and your whites with your wines and don't sit on your cigarettes
You'll feel like shit soon enough and deserve's got no say in the stories passed

That's what a life feels like
Bored children caught between dog days when night turns them loose
All that's different for girls is the bragging and who it's done to

Everyone claims the times are a changing as theirs pass them by
And everyone's right

not to nitpick, but I think the lyric is "it's what ALIVE feels like"

[Smitty]

I thought we put this one to bed a couple of weeks ago, around the time Pony Girl offered her most excellent exegesis.

I think we did except about whether or not there is an old man in the song. Considering most of the blurbs about the song refer to the song as being about "youth and parenthood" I think that supports that there is an old man (specifically a father). Other than that,

Patterson had this to say about the song:

"We are undergoing a huge dynamic shift in male/female relationships and all of the accompanying push back. His song touches on that among many other things.”

[Swamp]

not to nitpick, but I think the lyric is "it's what ALIVE feels like"

Been watching the official lyric video and it is "alive". I really dig this cut. Phungi's interpretation is my favorite so far.

[phungi]

any insight into who/what this line might be referring to in "What it Means"?

and our heroes may be rapists who watch us while we dream

[Duke Silver]

any insight into who/what this line might be referring to in "What it Means"?

and our heroes may be rapists who watch us while we dream

[boyyourself]

Not mention Darren Sharper, Jerry Sandusky, and joe paterno. Did Joe paterno commit an actual act of assault? He may as well have. Respect to Patterson for having the balls to write and perform this song.

[Clams]

Did Joe paterno commit an actual act of assault? He may as well have.

You oughta educate yourself before saying stupid shit. Who are you, Donald Trump?

[phungi]

I figured I could ID Cosby as a rapist, but not as a hero... that said, the "who watch us while we dream" part is beyond creepy...

[Duke Silver]

Cosby fits because IIRC he was accused of literally raping women while they slept.

[boyyourself]

Clams, I am actually very educated on the situation. And what I mean is that paterno new about sanduskys behavior going back decades. Being aware of something like that and keeping to yourself is just As evil as the act itself, or close to anyways in my opinion. I don't take the subject of sexual assault lightly. Bleeding heart for those affected by it, no empathy for those who participate. I assuming I'm not alone in that so I'm not sure what the problem with my statement is clams.

[brett27295]

Did Joe paterno commit an actual act of assault? He may as well have.

That's truly a dumbass statement.

[whatwouldcooleydo?]

Did Joe paterno commit an actual act of assault? He may as well have.

That's truly a dumbass statement.

How so? If it is true that he knew about this as far back as 1976 (as is claimed) yet allowed Sandusky to stick around, then he's pretty damn culpable in my book. Obviously he did not literally commit an assault, but unless we're arguing semantics, he pretty much looked the other way and has no claim to any innocence or high ground of any kind

[boyyourself]

what I mean is if Sandusky raped my child and I found out paterno new about Sandusky raping others and didn't say anything about it ( which actually happened ) I would want paterno to fry along with Sandusky. I stand by that 1000 percent and urge you to check out the facts for yourself about who knew what when.

[Smitty]

Did Joe paterno commit an actual act of assault? He may as well have.

That's truly a dumbass statement.

How so? If it is true that he knew about this as far back as 1976 (as is claimed) yet allowed Sandusky to stick around, then he's pretty damn culpable in my book. Obviously he did not literally commit an assault, but unless we're arguing semantics, he pretty much looked the other way and has no claim to any innocence or high ground of any kind

Yeah. I know it's a sensitive subject for some here but from the outside looking in I see absolutely nothing wrong with that statement.

[whatwouldcooleydo?]

I'll probably get run outta 3DD on a rail for this, but.....

Football and its cult is the root of a whole lotta evils

[brett27295]

Did Joe paterno commit an actual act of assault? He may as well have.

That's truly a dumbass statement.

How so? If it is true that he knew about this as far back as 1976 (as is claimed) yet allowed Sandusky to stick around, then he's pretty damn culpable in my book. Obviously he did not literally commit an assault, but unless we're arguing semantics, he pretty much looked the other way and has no claim to any innocence or high ground of any kind

A friend of mine said it best the other day on Facebook, which I've posted below. I actually tired of explaining this to lazy people who took in a few "gotcha" headlines about the situation and then go out of their way to comment every chance they get to make wildly inaccurate statements that they clearly know almost nothing about. That's why the comment above is a dumbass comment:

but a few things:
1) There is no legitimate evidence that Paterno had any clue that Sandusky had issues prior to 2001.
2) Paterno DID try to have Sandusky banned from the football facilities, but of all people, that POS Rod Erickson (the guy that the discraceful BOT appointed as interim President) overrule him.
3) Paterno reported what he heard (which the messenger, McQuery, admitted was a "watered down" version that he told Paterno) to the Administration, and put McQuery (you know, the guy who supposedly actually witnessed something) in touch with very high people in the Administration to handle the situation. Paterno, correctly, knew that was not the job of the shcool's football coach.
4) While there's no indication that the Penn State administration contacted the police about Sandusky, they did contact outside agencies including the child protective services, and his current employer and charity, TSM, about the incident that McQuery purports to have seen.
Oh, and...
5) The NCAA recently released guidelines as to how those in the athletics programs/departments should handle situations that arise that are similar in nature to what McQuery and Paterno were faced with. Those guidelines are, to a T, exactly how Paterno handled it.

There are still questions as to how the Administration handled this situation, but based on what we now know, it looks like a combination of lack of clear communication from McQuery, ignorance, and "hot potato" syndrome. But what is abundantly clear to anyone who is abreast of all the information and wants to be objective, is that Paterno's actions with regards to the situation had absolutely nothing to do with putting football ahead of anything, and in fact, his actions were 100% spot on what they should have been -- given his position/role, and what he was told.

[Smitty]

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/13/sport ... pe=article

Don't pretend it's so cut & dry, Brett, or that anyone who doesn't agree with you is wildly ignorant or "knows nothing about the case".

[brett27295]

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/13/sport ... pe=article

Don't pretend it's so cut & dry, Brett, or that anyone who doesn't agree with you is wildly ignorant or "knows nothing about the case".

Jesus fucking Christ...that's what you link to? That "testimony" has been WIDELY discredited by virtually everyone that has anything to do with the situation on EITHER side. Seriously, you're going to have to do a better Google search unless you want to continue to prove my point about widely ignorant comments on something people clearly know nothing about.

Something terrible happened at Penn State, no doubt about it. And that something was Jerry Sandusky.


And just for the record...I'm done arguing about this on 3DD. It doesn't belong here.

[brett27295]

And I just want to quickly apologize to everyone here for even getting involved in something on this thread that has absolutely nothing to do with the thread title or the content of the thread itself.

[Smitty]

.

[Clams]

Ridiculous to be discussing this here, and as Brett knows, I'm hardly a Paterno apologist - I believe he and others knew all along and swept it aside which is just awful. But he didn't sexually assault anyone and to suggest that he did is ludicrous. We have enough mistruths being spread every day, we don't need anymore. That's all I'm gonna say.

Now back to American Band lyrics and such....

[beantownbubba]

And I just want to quickly apologize to everyone here for even getting involved in something on this thread that has absolutely nothing to do with the thread title or the content of the thread itself.

I am not going to stand idly by while you suggest that there's something wrong w/ thread hijacking, a time honored 3dd tradition if ever there was one. Well, maybe I will.