Isbell SOTW Week 2 - Sunstroke

[adiantumpedatum]

Sunstroke

They tell me you walk on the water now
I know who showed you the stones
You pray that I banish my appetite and lie there alone

I hope that you've practiced your instrument
I fear it will take you away
You ain't the type to be traveling, so why not just stay?

Here it is morning for some folks
And twilight for those of us left
Who sleep while the soldiers get sunstroke
And make little fools of ourselves

Are we supposed to get good at this?
What does it mean to give up?
Why did I call you? I shouldn't be giving a fuck
Answer these questions for everyone
So maybe they'll stop asking me
What really happened and where is your masterpiece?

Here it is morning for some folks
And twilight for those of us left
Who give up the dangers of sunstroke
And make little fools of ourselves

They tell me you walk on the water now,
but I know who showed you the stones

I need some things to look forward to
Maybe these colors will fade
I never meant to get bored with you
But I never meant to stay



I love this song. I love the whole album in a tragic, ugly-beautiful, self loathing sort of way-- it's the one I pull when something devastating happens, and no matter what, it works its magic.

That first couplet is phenomenal-- the song is good just because of that one couplet. The rest of the song doesn't quite live up to that level of quality, admittedly. "Sleep while the soldiers get sunstroke" has always bothered me. It just seems thrown in there. What do soldiers have to do with him getting fired from DBT? I think he just threw it in because it sounds good and it's a good image, a good one to show the contrast between the dudes working to stay alive in the desert and the dudes sleeping off a drunk at 1pm.

"Pray that I banish my appetite" is another great phrase. That's a pretty common idea in JI's songs, isn't it? Damn near strangled by my appetite, as if she had defeated her desire...

I also really like "Answer these questions for everyone, so maybe they'll stop asking me, what really happened, and where is your masterpiece?" It makes me think of how rough it must've been for him leaving DBT, maybe thinking SOTD was going to be this huge success, thinking hey, I'll be fine, I'm way better than those punks, and then... realizing... oh right, I'm still kind of a nobody. It's a long road. Who knows what he thought at the time, but that's what I imagine, anyway.

Okay, discuss!

[Sirk]

I always thought the sunstroke line was more of a Casablance-esque "the problems of three little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world" type of thing. There's all this drama and heartache about Jason & Shonna and Jason & DBT and the problems that result from those splits, but as important as it all seems to the principals, there are admittedly bigger issues going on in the world.

[Zip City]

Easily my favorite on the s/t album

[lotusamerica]

An alcoholic's lament, a hopeless reflection from a place almost beyond caring.

Petty jealousy, bitterness, resentment, remorse, rage, neediness, self-condemnation and self-pity all wander through. The bridge goes to a place as musically dark as any in his or the extended Trucker's repertoire, before suddenly stumbling into the morning light. The hopefulness lasts a few seconds then disappears again. And at the end, something appears that is less than hope but more than hopelessness - a moment of recognizing possibility, and an impulse that speaking truth is the only way to truly shake off the consequences of the lies you've told or truths you've hidden, no matter how ugly it is or how hurtful it may be to share it.

[adiantumpedatum]

I always thought the sunstroke line was more of a Casablance-esque "the problems of three little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world" type of thing. There's all this drama and heartache about Jason & Shonna and Jason & DBT and the problems that result from those splits, but as important as it all seems to the principals, there are admittedly bigger issues going on in the world.

Sirk, that's a great way to put it. This song is interesting because it's like a drama within an anti-drama-- he's not just griping about a bad situation, he's clearly feeling guilty and ridiculous that something so petty in the grand scheme of things means so much.

They tell me you walk on the water now, but I know who showed you the stones. I feel like that tells you everything you need to know about why Jason got kicked out of the band. He was a drunk, cocky mofo (at the time) thinking he made DBT successful or something. Obviously he made positive contributions, and unquestionably broadened their appeal, but the infrastructure (for lack of a better word) and the longevity, and of course SRO, their most well-known work, was all Patterson and Cooley.

Lotus, I like your point about how the song shifts in and out of hopefulness and despair. Like he's trying out a more positive attitude before just crashing back into "everything's fucked."

What's the general consensus (ha) on "Maybe these colors will fade"? What's fading? His drinking? Fame? Hurt?

[Smitty]

I always thought the sunstroke line was more of a Casablance-esque "the problems of three little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world" type of thing. There's all this drama and heartache about Jason & Shonna and Jason & DBT and the problems that result from those splits, but as important as it all seems to the principals, there are admittedly bigger issues going on in the world.

Sirk, that's a great way to put it. This song is interesting because it's like a drama within an anti-drama-- he's not just griping about a bad situation, he's clearly feeling guilty and ridiculous that something so petty in the grand scheme of things means so much.

They tell me you walk on the water now, but I know who showed you the stones. I feel like that tells you everything you need to know about why Jason got kicked out of the band. He was a drunk, cocky mofo (at the time) thinking he made DBT successful or something. Obviously he made positive contributions, and unquestionably broadened their appeal, but the infrastructure (for lack of a better word) and the longevity, and of course SRO, their most well-known work, was all Patterson and Cooley.

Lotus, I like your point about how the song shifts in and out of hopefulness and despair. Like he's trying out a more positive attitude before just crashing back into "everything's fucked."

What's the general consensus (ha) on "Maybe these colors will fade"? What's fading? His drinking? Fame? Hurt?

I took the " showed you the stones" as being directed towards Shonna.

[Cole Younger]

Good thread. I like the self titled record a lot more than most here. I think lotus and I are the only ones who really love it. Sunstroke is one of my favorites from the record.

It's really a brilliant song in my opinion on a lot of levels. Jason is putting it all out there about his being kicked out of the band but is being just ambiguous enough that there are still questions. And he's almost uncomfortably honest about how this has left him feeling. No doubt he is hurt, angry, jealous, and regretful. He's started to realize his role in his own demise with the band. At least to a point. But he's still plenty angry and it sucks having to play to twenty or fewer people a night, have to go back to riding in a van, and having to answer questions everyday about what happened and when he will have a record of his own that separates him from them. All of this while watching the band not only continue on, but thrive, putting out a great record filled with their most daring material. Knowing someone else is playing guitar in his old spot and doing a a fantastic job. The band doesn't even seem to remember him. And some of the fans don't either.

I've always taken the sunstroke line the same way as Sirk. But I've always kind of taken it like Jason is trying to convince himself this is true. From the very first line this song is full of pretty direct shots at his former band mates. I always thought the first line was directed at Cooley. It was around a month or so after being kicked out that Jason was publicly saying nice things about Patterson and describing their relationship as anything but hostile. It very well could be about Shonna but there are other lines that seem like they are more intended for her. "Are we supposed to get good at this? What does it mean to give up? Why did I call you I shouldn't be giving a fuck." Given how his split from the band ended and what everyone has made public, I can see his being mad at Cooley more than anyone else. I'm not saying he should have felt that way.

One of the interesting things about this song to me is one half of a line seems meant for one person when the second half seems like it's about a different person.

The line that makes me feel bad for him is the "where is your masterpiece?" Line. Wow. It took balls to include that and not try and make himself look better by just leaving that out. He is incredibly honest as a writer and never spares things that might make him look bad to someone else.

As for the fading colors line, to me it's a way of saying, "maybe time does help everything and maybe I won't feel this way when I get a little more distance from this."

[Iowan]

FWIW, I got the impression for a long time that Jason had butted heads with Cooley more than Patterson.

[Cole Younger]

FWIW, I got the impression for a long time that Jason had butted heads with Cooley more than Patterson.

Yep.

[dime in the gutter]

FWIW, I got the impression for a long time that Jason had butted heads with Cooley more than Patterson.

i wanna know who's inducting whom into the HOF.

for jason, inexorably linked.

if he re-upped with dbt tmrw, they would be the biggest rock band on the planet. and then release a crap record....but it would sell a shit ton.

i like this song.

cole, really nice breakdown earlier. you nailed the killers and stars album, too. in whatever thread that was.

[Iowan]

FWIW, I got the impression for a long time that Jason had butted heads with Cooley more than Patterson.

i wanna know who's inducting whom into the HOF.

for jason, inexorably linked.

if he re-upped with dbt tmrw, they would be the biggest rock band on the planet. and then release a crap record....but it would sell a shit ton.

i like this song.

cole, really nice breakdown earlier. you nailed the killers and stars album, too. in whatever thread that was.

Patterson introduces the both of 'em.

[Cole Younger]

FWIW, I got the impression for a long time that Jason had butted heads with Cooley more than Patterson.

i wanna know who's inducting whom into the HOF.

for jason, inexorably linked.

if he re-upped with dbt tmrw, they would be the biggest rock band on the planet. and then release a crap record....but it would sell a shit ton.

i like this song.

cole, really nice breakdown earlier. you nailed the killers and stars album, too. in whatever thread that was.

Thanks dude. I did an album of the week review on Killers and Stars.

It's amazing how high Jason's star is rising. It's one of those things we've all always thought should happen but now that it's happening it's almost too hard to believe.

You really think they would make a crap record if Jason came back? It is hard to imagine what it would sound like.

[dime in the gutter]

using my own mind's history.....always seems very tough to go home again, metaphorically speaking.

i'm trying to think of other examples of bands reforming after a non-friendly split and it resulting in non-crap music. relative to their own previous work. except for the kinks. and kiss. and neil young. but not with crosby stills and nash.

i guess if you use their sample size, it would have to be a winner. i would rather see neff return on pedal steel. but only after patterson works with blitzen trapper while in portland.

[adiantumpedatum]

Good thread. I like the self titled record a lot more than most here. I think lotus and I are the only ones who really love it. Sunstroke is one of my favorites from the record.

It's really a brilliant song in my opinion on a lot of levels. Jason is putting it all out there about his being kicked out of the band but is being just ambiguous enough that there are still questions. And he's almost uncomfortably honest about how this has left him feeling. No doubt he is hurt, angry, jealous, and regretful. He's started to realize his role in his own demise with the band. At least to a point. But he's still plenty angry and it sucks having to play to twenty or fewer people a night, have to go back to riding in a van, and having to answer questions everyday about what happened and when he will have a record of his own that separates him from them. All of this while watching the band not only continue on, but thrive, putting out a great record filled with their most daring material. Knowing someone else is playing guitar in his old spot and doing a a fantastic job. The band doesn't even seem to remember him. And some of the fans don't either.

I've always taken the sunstroke line the same way as Sirk. But I've always kind of taken it like Jason is trying to convince himself this is true. From the very first line this song is full of pretty direct shots at his former band mates. I always thought the first line was directed at Cooley. It was around a month or so after being kicked out that Jason was publicly saying nice things about Patterson and describing their relationship as anything but hostile. It very well could be about Shonna but there are other lines that seem like they are more intended for her. "Are we supposed to get good at this? What does it mean to give up? Why did I call you I shouldn't be giving a fuck." Given how his split from the band ended and what everyone has made public, I can see his being mad at Cooley more than anyone else. I'm not saying he should have felt that way.

One of the interesting things about this song to me is one half of a line seems meant for one person when the second half seems like it's about a different person.

The line that makes me feel bad for him is the "where is your masterpiece?" Line. Wow. It took balls to include that and not try and make himself look better by just leaving that out. He is incredibly honest as a writer and never spares things that might make him look bad to someone else.

As for the fading colors line, to me it's a way of saying, "maybe time does help everything and maybe I won't feel this way when I get a little more distance from this."

Cole, nice work. I'm with you on loving S/T. I love it almost as much as I love SE, and for completely different reasons. It's a "mood" album more than any of the others, I think. But I digress.

I used to think this song was all for Shonna, but some pieces didn't quite fit. Then I found some thread on here and it dawned on me that it was about DBT, too. I agree that the "Shouldn't be giving a fuck" part is all Shonna. What does it mean to give up? That's a great question to ask yourself after a divorce.

And yeah, that masterpiece line. I'd put it right up there with the heaviest lines he's ever written, actually, right next to "Sharecropper eyes and her hair almost all gone." Anyone who's ever been fired from something meaningful knows that sick feeling of who am I now, what do I have to show for myself? The difference is Jason had to do all that while fielding calls from reporters and watching SOTD go out into the world and not make him a smashing success.

I wonder what his expectations were for that album. I think they were pretty fucking high.

[lotusamerica]

Not that it matters, but I've always taken this song to be a fictionalized conversation with Shonna, like he helped her musically, got her into DBT, then when all the shit went down and it was clear one of them needed to go, they decided to keep her and kick him out instead of the other way around. Don't see how it goes to DBT more generally, but in the end, I don't care about his life as much as my own, so I just sing along and occasionally have my own meanings for it.

[Smitty]

Not that it matters, but I've always taken this song to be a fictionalized conversation with Shonna, like he helped her musically, got her into DBT, then when all the shit went down and it was clear one of them needed to go, they decided to keep her and kick him out instead of the other way around. Don't see how it goes to DBT more generally, but in the end, I don't care about his life as much as my own, so I just sing along and occasionally have my own meanings for it.

My thoughts exactly.

[Sirk]

Just thought of something....

So maybe they'll stop asking me
"What really happened? Where is your masterpiece?"

Four years after this song came out, Jason openly and honestly answered both of those questions in a big way.

[adiantumpedatum]

Just thought of something....

So maybe they'll stop asking me
"What really happened? Where is your masterpiece?"

Four years after this song came out, Jason openly and honestly answered both of those questions in a big way.

Indeed. I thought SE was his peak, his be-all, end all record, but now I see it was a stop on the journey to THIS, this crazy new all-time career high. Who'd a thunk this was all in the cards, four years ago?

(Still like SE better than SMTF, and probably always will. But I'm starting to see the brilliance in the new one, now.)

Lotus, I like your take a lot. I always thought the "Answer these questions for everyone" part was to the Truckers. I imagine the "everyone" is the media-- and I'm guessing they were a lot more curious about the getting fired than the divorce. But it works for Shonna, too.

[Tequila Cowboy]

Lotus, I like your take a lot. I always thought the "Answer these questions for everyone" part was to the Truckers. I imagine the "everyone" is the media-- and I'm guessing they were a lot more curious about the getting fired than the divorce. But it works for Shonna, too.

I always thought it was the fans, although the media by extension is part of that. You should have seen the old 9 Bullets (the predecessor to 3DD) in the few years following Jason's departure. The split, the divorce and everything else was analyzed constantly and before and after some of the sparsely attended shows I heard more than a few ask him directly.

[adiantumpedatum]

Lotus, I like your take a lot. I always thought the "Answer these questions for everyone" part was to the Truckers. I imagine the "everyone" is the media-- and I'm guessing they were a lot more curious about the getting fired than the divorce. But it works for Shonna, too.

I always thought it was the fans, although the media by extension is part of that. You should have seen the old 9 Bullets (the predecessor to 3DD) in the few years following Jason's departure. The split, the divorce and everything else was analyzed constantly and before and after some of the sparsely attended shows I heard more than a few ask him directly.

Yikes. That must've been awkward as fuck.

[John A Arkansawyer]

FWIW, I got the impression for a long time that Jason had butted heads with Cooley more than Patterson.

Yep.

They're more alike as songwriters than either of them are like Patterson. I suspect that had something to do with it. And don't laugh at me--at least, not any more than I deserve--but I often mistook songs by one of them on those three albums as by the other. In particular, they both have a way with a long line which isn't (I think--I haven't noticed it) in Patterson's extensive tool bag. Think about how full and yet uncrowded some of their lines are:

They said that he was moving on a federal level but they couldn't really make it stick

They turned what was into something so disgusting even wild dogs would disregard the bones

[lotusamerica]

What's the general consensus (ha) on "Maybe these colors will fade"? What's fading? His drinking? Fame? Hurt?

Blue with sadness
Green with envy
Red with rage

[Tequila Cowboy]

They're more alike as songwriters than either of them are like Patterson.

I'd have to disagree with this. I think Jason's style falls somewhere in between the two. His character sketches have the exposition that Patterson brings but with some of the language flourishes of Cooley but he writes much more outwardly personal than either one. Compare each songwriter's best (arguably) song; Elephant, The Living Bubba and Zip City. All are character sketches, all have tragedy to varying degrees but yet Elephant more closely resembles TLB in a narrative sense than it does Zip City. On the other hand from a descriptive standpoint it bears some similarity in style to Zip City. If you wee to call Patterson a master at exposition and detail, Cooley a master of phrase and color you would have to say Jason is able to do either, sometimes both in the same song but with a perspective all his own.

[Sirk]

What's the general consensus (ha) on "Maybe these colors will fade"? What's fading? His drinking? Fame? Hurt?

Blue with sadness
Green with envy
Red with rage

Wow. I thought I responded with those three very colors earlier in the thread, but it turns out I never got around to addressing it. It's one of those "thought it but forgot to go back and type it" things. That's EXACTLY how I have always viewed that line. I'm so glad you responded with this because I totally spaced on addressing it.

Plus, it's good to know someone else sees that line the exact same way.

[Sirk]

They're more alike as songwriters than either of them are like Patterson.

If you wee to call Patterson a master at exposition and detail, Cooley a master of phrase and color you would have to say Jason is able to do either, sometimes both in the same song but with a perspective all his own.

I agree with this. Lyrically, I've always felt that Jason is somewhat of a Hood-Cooley hybrid in the best possible sense, which is why his songs fit perfectly alongside theirs when he was in the band. Add in his exceptional gut-punching ability, and it's a potent mix.

It still blows my mind that three A+ songwriters of their caliber were all in the same band. I didn't discover DBT/Isbell until January of 2008, so I was several months too late for that stage of their careers, but man...that's amazing.

[John A Arkansawyer]

They're more alike as songwriters than either of them are like Patterson.

If you wee to call Patterson a master at exposition and detail, Cooley a master of phrase and color you would have to say Jason is able to do either, sometimes both in the same song but with a perspective all his own.

I agree with this. Lyrically, I've always felt that Jason is somewhat of a Hood-Cooley hybrid in the best possible sense, which is why his songs fit perfectly alongside theirs when he was in the band. Add in his exceptional gut-punching ability, and it's a potent mix.

I'm not going to disagree with this (or agree with it, necessarily), but I was thinking less in terms of content than form.

[Cole Younger]

I've never admitted this before but when I first bought ABAAC which was my first truckers record, I ever so briefly had Jason and Patterson confused.

[Duke Silver]

I've never admitted this before but when I first bought ABAAC which was my first truckers record, I ever so briefly had Jason and Patterson confused.

My first show (TDU, 2007 or 8) I thought Neff was Jason and wondered why they didn't let him sing any of his songs.

[lotusamerica]

I've never admitted this before but when I first bought ABAAC which was my first truckers record, I ever so briefly had Jason and Patterson confused.

My first show (TDU, 2007 or 8) I thought Neff was Jason and wondered why they didn't let him sing any of his songs.

Hahaha that's good! Those bastards!

[Cole Younger]

I've never admitted this before but when I first bought ABAAC which was my first truckers record, I ever so briefly had Jason and Patterson confused.

My first show (TDU, 2007 or 8) I thought Neff was Jason and wondered why they didn't let him sing any of his songs.

that's awsome.