DBT Track #71 - Plastic Flowers On The Highway

[Rocky]

I wonder if this will happen again. Last time I did the song of the week Patterson responded.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2357&p=87233#p87233
2 for2?

Plastic Flowers On The Highway
He was ready for the big trip, he was moving to the city.
He had packed his prize possession and gave away the rest.
He was almost doing ninety, sky was blue, sun was shining.
All the shit he left behind for the big world waiting there.
He was almost out of Leighton, when the phone truck didn't see him.
Hit the brake, slided sideways, he never had a chance.

Plastic flowers on the highway,
bits of glass for the machine to sweep away.
Had to pass it on my way to where I's going.
For the next few minutes, I drove a little slower.

Them M.A.D.D. mothers couldn't help him. He was sober, it was Sunday.
He was full of good home cooking as he crashed the savior's door.

Plastic flowers on the highway.
Greasy spot in the asphalt for a while.
Every morning, new babies being born,
who'll do the best they can to hang around a little while.

My community service had me working for the county,
cutting grass on the off-ramps and medians and such.
Every quarter mile or so, stands a brand new reminder,
another traffic death in town. Something new to cut around.
Crashed out on the highway. Plastic cross and a plastic bouquet.
Paramedics in the bystander's gaze.

Plastic flowers on the highway.
Bits of glass for the machine to sweep away.
Had to pass it on my way to where I's going.
For the next few minutes I drove a little slower.

I believe the back story to this song is fairly well known among the Trucker Faithful. This song is at least partially about a local guy named Chris Quillen (who I think Cooley also wrote Marry Me about and Patterson also wrote Careless and Tales Facing Up about) who was an incredible musician and a great friend to Patterson, Cooley, Rob Malone, etc. back in the day and probably would have been in the Drive-By Truckers but regrettably he drove drunk one night and died in a single car crash.

In a moving story Patterson said at the funeral a couple of the attendees were comparing stories and apparently a few people had a shared experience where Chris came to them and comforted them and showed Patterson a way to make being a professional musician become a reality.

Like a lot of folks I became aware of the Truckers through Southern Rock Opera due to the kick ass review in Rolling Stone, I think. I was fairly blown away after the first listen and I remember making notes of my favorite tracks. Plastic Flowers was my favorite after the first few listens and although now I am very familiar with their entire catalogue I’d have to say this is still my favorite DBT song. Like all great pieces of music it speaks of a universal truth that unfortunately a lot of us can relate to.

All of us that grew up in small towns in the South know someone that was awesome and a great friend that didn’t make it – either out of the small town life or on to bigger and better things. I have a friend like that that’s gone now and to me, this song is a toast to that friend. Thanks Patterson.

[Zip City]

I've been lucky enough to see this on twice live. SOOOOO good

[BigTom]

This song hits close to home for me. I grew up in Richmond living next door to my four cousins Beverly, Dee, Dawn and Johnny. All of us around the same age except for Johnny who was about 10 years older. Johnny had just accepted a job in Baltimore and before leaving town he dropped by to visit his parents and sisters and my family since we lived right next door. Everything happened almost exactley as it does in the song except this was in the early 80's and before the plastic flowers and crosses on the highway phenomena. This happened on Route 1 around Ashland, VA. The really sad part is that he left behind a 3 year old son and wife. They were going to meet him in Baltimore a few weeks later. I hadn't seen his son, Scott, since he was about 7 or 8 until a few months ago when I found out he was living in the DC area. Scott came to visit for the weekend and we talked about his father a lot. I will see him again in a few weeks and will mention the song and let him decide if he wants to hear it or not.

[Kudzu Guillotine]

Even though I may have heard them play this in concert prior to the release of Southern Rock Opera, another of my earliest memories of this song is from tuning into a webcast one night to watch the DBTs perform at Arlene's Grocery in New York City.

Like others, I also have tied this song to memories of a very dear friend who passed away when he was far too young. He died in a four-wheeler accident back in '96. He was coming home from my brother's house on a dirt road out in the country in the rain. Unbeknownst to him, there was a van pulled off to the side of the road that he didn't see until it was far too late. I can't listen to "Plastic Flowers On the Highway" without thinking of him, especially the "drive a little slower" part. Instead of plastic flowers, some of his friends erected a makeshift cross on the side of the road where he was killed that said, "The Great Motovater". Yeah, it was misspelled but that was huge part of it's charm. Understandably, his family didn't want it or any kind of marker on that road as a reminder of his death. I'm sure none of us can drive down that road without thinking of him anyway. I know I haven't driven down it in years. I prefer to be reminded of how he lived rather than how he died.

[wineisgood]

Musically, one of their best. A friend of mine (not into the Truckers) said it sounded like Steely Dan playing an Allman Brothers song. That's high praise.

[Kudzu Guillotine]

Musically, one of their best. A friend of mine (not into the Truckers) said it sounded like Steely Dan playing an Allman Brothers song. That's high praise.

Depends on how much you like Steely Dan. Then again, I remember someone once saying that the DBTs reminded them of Train. I believe this was around the time of Decoration Day, not sure of the specific song that caused that reaction.

[dime in the gutter]

guitar

[Rocky]

guitar

A man of few (sometimes just one) words.

[Zip City]

Even though it's just the same 4 chords throughout the song, I can't figure them out for the life of me

[Clams]

I guess I'm lucky that I don't have a personal connection to this song like so many of you do.

The lyric that always gets me is where he sings "For the next few minutes, I drove a little slower." So typical that you only slow down for a few moments, then you speed right back up and life goes on.

I was listening to this song last night while reading the thread and I was struck by how it seems to cap off the first half of disc 2 of SRO, and just how fucking good that first half is: Let There Be Rock, Road Cases, Women Without Whiskey, Plastic Flowers. Then you have Cassie's Brother which kind of stands alone as a bridge to the final salvo of Life in the Factory, Shut Up, Greenville to BR and A&F. Hell yeah.

[Rocky]

I was listening to this song last night while reading the thread and I was struck by how it seems to cap off the first half of disc 2 of SRO, and just how fucking good that first half is: Let There Be Rock, Road Cases, Women Without Whiskey, Plastic Flowers. Then you have Cassie's Brother which kind of stands alone as a bridge to the final salvo of Life in the Factory, Shut Up, Greenville to BR and A&F. Hell yeah.

"Let There Be Rock", "Road Cases", "Women Without Whiskey" and "Plastic Flowers on the Highway" - that is a murderer's row right there.

Is there a better 4 song sequence on any DBT record?

[Zip City]

Is there a better 4 song sequence on any DBT record?

Marry Me
My Sweet Annette
Outfit
Heathens
Sounds Better in the Song

[Clams]

I was listening to this song last night while reading the thread and I was struck by how it seems to cap off the first half of disc 2 of SRO, and just how fucking good that first half is: Let There Be Rock, Road Cases, Women Without Whiskey, Plastic Flowers. Then you have Cassie's Brother which kind of stands alone as a bridge to the final salvo of Life in the Factory, Shut Up, Greenville to BR and A&F. Hell yeah.

"Let There Be Rock", "Road Cases", "Women Without Whiskey" and "Plastic Flowers on the Highway" - that is a murderer's row right there.

Is there a better 4 song sequence on any DBT record?

Sounds like a challenge. You could just as easily go with the last four on that same record: Life in the Factory, Shut Up, Greenville to BR and A&F

Or:

Living Bubba, Late for Church, Panties in Your Purse, Why Henry Drinks
or
Daddy's Cup, Never Gonna Change, Lookout Mtn, Goddam Lonely Love
or
Putting People on the Moon, Carl Perkins, Sands of Iwo Jima, Danko/Manuel
or
Tracks 1-8 from Decoration Day
or
Ronnie & Neil, 72, Dead Drunk & Naked, Guitar Man

[Kudzu Guillotine]

The lyric that always gets me is where he sings "For the next few minutes, I drove a little slower." So typical that you only slow down for a few moments, then you speed right back up and life goes on.

Sort of like how when someone dies people tend to makes all sorts of promises to themselves and others about things they want to do. Some of them end up happening and some of them don't. You grieve and then move on.

[Rocky]

Is there a better 4 song sequence on any DBT record?

1. Marry Me
2. My Sweet Annette
3. Outfit
4. Heathens
5. Sounds Better in the Song

[mwh]

Can't really explain why, but this is the line that always gets me:

Every morning, new babies being born, who'll do the best they can to hang around a little while.

[Smitty]

Can't really explain why, but this is the line that always gets me:

Every morning, new babies being born, who'll do the best they can to hang around a little while.

x2. This is really one of my favorite Hood songs - RIP Chris Quillen. (even if it's almost completely fictionalized...)

[Rocky]

I was listening to this song last night while reading the thread and I was struck by how it seems to cap off the first half of disc 2 of SRO, and just how fucking good that first half is: Let There Be Rock, Road Cases, Women Without Whiskey, Plastic Flowers. Then you have Cassie's Brother which kind of stands alone as a bridge to the final salvo of Life in the Factory, Shut Up, Greenville to BR and A&F. Hell yeah.

"Let There Be Rock", "Road Cases", "Women Without Whiskey" and "Plastic Flowers on the Highway" - that is a murderer's row right there.

Is there a better 4 song sequence on any DBT record?

Sounds like a challenge. You could just as easily go with the last four on that same record: Life in the Factory, Shut Up, Greenville to BR and A&F

Or:

Living Bubba, Late for Church, Panties in Your Purse, Why Henry Drinks
or
Daddy's Cup, Never Gonna Change, Lookout Mtn, Goddam Lonely Love
or
Putting People on the Moon, Carl Perkins, Sands of Iwo Jima, Danko/Manuel
or
Tracks 1-8 from Decoration Day
or
Ronnie & Neil, 72, Dead Drunk & Naked, Guitar Man

I went back and re-read my post and it does read like a challenge. Is there a better 4 song sequence in the DBT canon question was addressed to the board in general. Or Hell, maybe it's a rhetorical question I don't know. I think I need more coffee this morning.