What the hell does this lyric mean?

[Steve French]

"The only blood thats any cleaner is the blood thats blue or greener
without either you just get meaner and the blood you gave gives you away"

I mean, what the hell? whats blue blood or green blood? who'd he give it to? why?

This has bugged me for six years.

[GuitarManUpstairs]

This is a tricky one but here's what i got:

"Blood that's blue or greener" - referring to money and aristocracy - blue bloods. I think what he is saying is that when it comes to the law in this situation it don't matter black or white all that matters is rich or poor. Earlier in the song it talks about "the rich folks walk to the woods where my daddy stayed", and "tell me why the ones who got so much make the ones who don't go mad, witht the same skin stretched over their white bones and the same jug in their hand." In other words this hypocrisy is not about racism in this case its about social class. **

The next line is tougher but I think what he's saying is without money and position you just keep sinking generation after generation - resorting to "criminal'/illegitimate ways of surviving b/c of no options. Alot of times that entails violence and desperation. "And the blood you gave gives you away" Honestly i am not sure how to interpret this exactly but I'm gonna go with the blood you gave being the legacy you pass on to the next generation is not only measureed in DNA but also the reputation of being an outlaw. Example - I know alot of people who are viewed not necessarily through the lens of how they act or what sort of person they are but who their daddy was and sometimes they are judged on this basis.

**On a side note: I think this touches on a big source of racism in that poor whites, while historically not officially enslaved or subjected to the same sort of treatment as blacks, have been repressed - enslaved by their position and lack of upward mobility. Part of why this racism endures is b/c with civil rights and the creation of organizations like the NAACP which exist in support of minority groups - the poor white get lumped in to the "privilidged class" when there is really no additional means of breaking out of the poverty they find themselves in while minority groups have legitimate avenues of support and laws enacted to help facilitate their rize out of poverty.

[beantownbubba]

I more or less agree w/ GMU on the first part, I'd just refine it a little: "blue or green" refers to either status (blue bloods) or money (green), but either way those are the folks on top.

I also have more trouble w/ the last part, but assume it means that those w/out money or status are always the ones giving their blood, either because their lives are tougher and more violent because their choices are more limited, or because it's always the poor folks who fight the wars (e.g. Vietnam).

But what about the line that "your mama called the law"? That has always struck me as surprising and incongruous - isn't it TOTALLY against the "unwritten rules" for bootlegger/backwoods family to call the law about anything? E.g. the family & neighbors portrayed in Winter's Bone, or "Decoration Day" for that matter.

[GuitarManUpstairs]

But what about the line that "your mama called the law"? That has always struck me as surprising and incongruous - isn't it TOTALLY against the "unwritten rules" for bootlegger/backwoods family to call the law about anything? E.g. the family & neighbors portrayed in Winter's Bone, or "Decoration Day" for that matter

For alot of families this is true, but not so for others. Many families are splintered/divorced and maybe it was his ex that called the law on him. Or maybe it was b/c of domestic violence that drove her to do it? You never know there are tons of reasons.

[bovine knievel]

First line of Goddamn Lonely Love...

I got green and I got blues
and everyday there's a little less difference between the two.

[Duke Silver]

First line of Goddamn Lonely Love...

I got green and I got blues
and everyday there's a little less difference between the two.

I've always interpreted it as



and

.

But I could be wrong.

[GuitarManUpstairs]

First line of Goddamn Lonely Love...

I got green and I got blues
and everyday there's a little less difference between the two.

I've always interpreted it as



and

.

But I could be wrong.

HAHA!

My serious interpretation is green = money and blues is...well the blues and everyday there's less difference between the two, which given teh context odf the song i would imagine he's saying each day he has less money and more to be depressed about.

[Duke Silver]

First line of Goddamn Lonely Love...

I got green and I got blues
and everyday there's a little less difference between the two.

I've always interpreted it as



and

.

But I could be wrong.

HAHA!

F'real.

And as long as we're asking random questions about The Dirty South, here's one. In the liner notes Jason says the horn parts for Danko/Manuel came to him in a dream. What horn parts? I've listened to that song a million times and have never heard horns.

[Clams]

First line of Goddamn Lonely Love...

I got green and I got blues
and everyday there's a little less difference between the two.

I've always interpreted it as



and

.

But I could be wrong.

It could be:



and

[Smitty]

First line of Goddamn Lonely Love...

I got green and I got blues
and everyday there's a little less difference between the two.

I've always interpreted it as



and

.

But I could be wrong.

It could be:



and

Going with Bovine, since he says this in the commentary:

Jason Isbell: I tried real hard to come up with a different way of saying this, but it just seemed to fit.
Loneliness can be drowned if you hold it under long enough, but it takes a lot of other things with it.

Except I thought he was referring to weed (Green) and valium (blue)
He's referred to indulging in valiums in stories during his live shows....

[GuitarManUpstairs]

F'real.

And as long as we're asking random questions about The Dirty South, here's one. In the liner notes Jason says the horn parts for Danko/Manuel came to him in a dream. What horn parts? I've listened to that song a million times and have never heard horns.

I never got what he was referring to either...

[Smitty]

First line of Goddamn Lonely Love...

I got green and I got blues
and everyday there's a little less difference between the two.

also,
you could be my silver springs
blue-green, colors flashing

[mwh]

My western KY public education interpretation - I've got envy and I've got sadness and every day there's a little less difference between the two.

[beantownbubba]

The drug interpretation makes as much sense as any, except i'm bothered by the singular "green" - that's a weird way to refer to "greens" or "greenies" - it's pretty much always one of those 2, isn't it? "Greenies" wouldn't fit but "greens" would so why not refer to 'em that way if that's what he meant?

I sort of leaned towards the green = money, blues = the blues interpretation but haven't been totally satisfied w/ it. But I like mwh's version, so for now, that works for me

['Scratch]

First line of Goddamn Lonely Love...

I got green and I got blues
and everyday there's a little less difference between the two.

I have money and I am depressed. Money doesn't alway buy happiness.

[dbtfan4life]

i dunno just from what i know green can mean any quantity of canadian tomatoes, doesnt have to be plural

[njMark]

Clearly he is refering to green vulcan blood.

[Smitty]

I have money and I am depressed. Money doesn't alway buy happiness.

I'm sorry, Scratch - you wanna talk about it?

[hendooman]

My western KY public education interpretation - I've got envy and I've got sadness and every day there's a little less difference between the two.

I tend to lean towards this interpretation as well

[Smitty]

It works a few different ways, and I bet Jason was aware of that when he wrote it/

[beantownbubba]

It works a few different ways, and I bet Jason was aware of that when he wrote it/

Who died and made you a politician?

[Smitty]

It works a few different ways, and I bet Jason was aware of that when he wrote it/

Who died and made you a politician?

SeanP

[beantownbubba]

It works a few different ways, and I bet Jason was aware of that when he wrote it/

Who died and made you a politician?

SeanP

I said politician, not sycophant. Related, but not synonymous.

[midniterambler]

To the original point of this post..........everybody made some good points with their personal interpretations. Cooley has stated in interviews before though that sometimes he just writes the songs not really understanding what some of the lyrics mean. So it's hard to say what he was going for in this case or if he just found a few things that sounded good and stuck them together with a pre-existing theme.

Great song regardless.

[Smitty]

I wish we could see a copy of Cooley's uncle's poem that inspired "Where the Devil.."

[GuitarManUpstairs]

To the original point of this post..........everybody made some good points with their personal interpretations. Cooley has stated in interviews before though that sometimes he just writes the songs not really understanding what some of the lyrics mean. So it's hard to say what he was going for in this case or if he just found a few things that sounded good and stuck them together with a pre-existing theme.

Great song regardless.

I'm gonna call B.S. on Cooley. For some reason I don't believe him when he says these things. I mean I think its just him saying "Awe shucks..." He comes up with too much really good, profound shit for it to just be there happenstance 'cause it sounds right.... He probably just doesn't want to explain himself everytime he turns around about subjects that can be pretty complex if you really want to get into them. Or maybe he just enjoys the fact that folks interpret his lyrics differently - maybe that's why he never chimes in on his songs like Patterson does in the liner notes. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think its him being modest in his own way.

[Swamp]

**On a side note: I think this touches on a big source of racism in that poor whites, while historically not officially enslaved or subjected to the same sort of treatment as blacks, have been repressed - enslaved by their position and lack of upward mobility. Part of why this racism endures is b/c with civil rights and the creation of organizations like the NAACP which exist in support of minority groups - the poor white get lumped in to the "privilidged class" when there is really no additional means of breaking out of the poverty they find themselves in while minority groups have legitimate avenues of support and laws enacted to help facilitate their rize out of poverty.

G-man Up!!
Spot on brother.
As Patterson sings in the Southern Thing "to the fucking rich man all poor people look the same"

[Jeremy]

I get something different from this song than everyone else has talked about, and what really changed the way I thought about it was when I saw the documentary "The Last One" about Popcorn Sutton and the whole history with alcohol in the South. Really good movie by the way.

If you look at the whole last verse, like a lot of Cooleys lyrics it could have several meanings. This is my take: His daddy played poker in the woods next to a still( also playing poker could mean he gambled on his freedom by making liquor) and the world was gray(pre prohibition) and then it became illegal with prohibition and the line turned black or white. Also in many counties in alabama, prohibition never ended and they stayed "dry". There was a famous reverand who claimed to be the man that "dried" out alabama, making the way that many people made there living to be illegal. Then he says the only blood(his family or his liquor) thats any cleaner is the blood thats blue or greener( the purest high quality moonshine gives off a blue flame or has a nice blue tint to it, means it has no impurities and wont make you blind or sick, similar to blue blood I guess, rich people's blood. Also the greener might have sounded good and rhymed with meaner.) The last line I think refers to his dad sitting in jail, he has lost everything and sitting in a cell miserable and everyones life is ruined from making liquor and trying to be rich. Also the shine that isnt as pure and as good makes a mean drunk that slaps around his family, according to Popcorn. And he was ratted out by his blood(family) even though he was busting his ass in the woods to make there life better. Also according to Popcorn, when you made a batch of liquor, depending on when that bottle was filled(beginning, middle, end) also determines if it is the best purest bluest liquor or if its the stuff you sell cheap to the poor alcoholics. The "blue" blood gets the "blue" liquor maybe. The lure of money during prohibition made lots of people try and set up a still, which put out lots of rotgut dirty liquor which coincidentally led to mixed drinks to cover up that nasty taste.

So in a nutshell, the only liquor thats cleaner is the good stuff with the blue tint, just like his assumption that rich blue bloods have a better life than poor people even if it means breaking the law and getting turned in by your family; and when its all taken away after you gave your blood and sweat(the liquor and your family and the better or worse life) you sit in a small cell hating everything.

[Duke Silver]

To the original point of this post..........everybody made some good points with their personal interpretations. Cooley has stated in interviews before though that sometimes he just writes the songs not really understanding what some of the lyrics mean. So it's hard to say what he was going for in this case or if he just found a few things that sounded good and stuck them together with a pre-existing theme.

Great song regardless.

I'm gonna call B.S. on Cooley. For some reason I don't believe him when he says these things. I mean I think its just him saying "Awe shucks..." He comes up with too much really good, profound shit for it to just be there happenstance 'cause it sounds right.... He probably just doesn't want to explain himself everytime he turns around about subjects that can be pretty complex if you really want to get into them. Or maybe he just enjoys the fact that folks interpret his lyrics differently - maybe that's why he never chimes in on his songs like Patterson does in the liner notes. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think its him being modest in his own way.

I agree with this... More than modesty, I think it's his polite way of saying, "If I wanted to spell out what the song was about, I wouldn't have bothered writing it..."

[Clams]

I would love to hear Rev Matt's thoughts. He's our premier lyric breaker downer.