dbt track week 85 - Get Downtown

[Clams]

This one's dedicated to Sterling Big Mouth. He and I butted heads about this song while discussing stuff on the floor of the 9:30 Club prior to the show the other night. He really loves this song and believes it's up there with Cooley's best. I just merely like it and wonder how it has slipped into the encores alongside the likes of Zip City, Marry Me and Shut Up and Get Yer Ass on the Plane. To me, I love the lyrics and I love the Skynyrd-style boogie, but I don't think it's top shelf Cooley like Sterling does (but then again he's really smart, so he's probably right). What do y'all say?



Kim said Jimmy you better get yourself up off of that raggedy couch
I'm too pretty to work and I'm tired of you uglying up my house
Jimmy said Baby the guys at the top are doing bad as the guys on the street
Kim said the guys at the top ain't about to be paying alimony to me

Get downtown
see what you can find
put your face in someone's that ain't mine
looks like the unemployment blues
are wearing out your house shoes
Baby left when your boots came untied

Jimmy said baby ain't you seen the news its as far as the eyes can see
Foreigners are coming in and doing our jobs for half of what they would've paid me
You mean half of what you would've made for something you've never done
Sounds like the bright side to all this Jimmy is you're asking price went up
Now get downtown

Jimmy said baby if I work for you're daddy its worse than being his son
Kim didn't like what he said one bit and it didn't surprise him none
She said my daddy took good enough care of my mama she hardly had to say a thing
Jimmy said that's part of what's wrong Kim said don't you say another damn thing
Just get downtown

[Cole Younger]

I agree with you.

To me this one is just good. Not great.

I like it and seeing it played live made me like a lot more but it's not in the same class with Zip City, WWW, Devil, Ghost, or several more that I could name.

It's a good song. Like I said the version on the record really doesn't do it justice and I think it should be heard live before a decision is made about how good or bad it is, but it's kind of in that second tier for me.

Can you imagine what TBTD would have been like if Cooley had not come in with Birthday Boy at the last minute?

To me Birthday Boy is another one that's head and shoulders above GDT. But of course, this only an opinion.

[GuitarManUpstairs]

I'm gonna go with Sterling on this one. I really dig this tune. Love the barbs traded back and forth between parties and neither recognizing that both lines of thinking are contributing to their situation. Her vanity and sense of entitlement coupled with his laziness and pride all contribute to their ship sinking down the shitter. On a musical note, when live, aside from the ripping guitars I really dig that its an opportunity to bring Jay out of the background and into the forefront for a moment.

Thoughts on the voice effect put in on the recording? DBT doesn't do this too often and I'm glad but i like it in this case.

[bovine knievel]

love these lines...

looks like the unemployment blues
are wearing out your house shoes

the song feels like Daddy's Little Pumpkin from the John Prine tribute album

[Tequila Cowboy]

On record I think this one is ok, not wonderful but passable. It's just not a sit in your living room and listen to song IMHO. Now live, on the other hand, it's a barn burner. It's everything a live rock & roll tune should be, fast, foot stomping and fun. They can play it in the encore any ol time they like and I'll be stomping my foot, pumping my fist and singing along.

[Zip City]

Great lyrics, nice arrangement. Too bad it's EXACTLY THE SAME MELODY AS LITTLE PONY AND GREAT BIG HORSE

[lotusamerica]

Great lyrics, nice arrangement. Too bad it's EXACTLY THE SAME MELODY AS LITTLE PONY AND GREAT BIG HORSE

Why is that too bad? I like it on record and a lot more live, Jay's keyboards are fun, and the lyrical approach of only including things the two say to each other instead of commenting on the situation is a nice touch.

[Smitty]

Least favorite DBT song.

[PeterJ]

I love the song, and I think of it a lot like Marry Me. It really has a barroom boogie to it that you just have to move to whenever it is on. Totally agree with GMU about both people being to blame for their situation. Plus I think everybody knows at least one couple like the one in the song.

[Zip City]

Least favorite DBT song.

wow

[RevMatt]

I really like the song. After almost two years, I still get a laugh out of some of the lines. "I'm too pretty to work and I'm tired of you uglying up my house."

I've always considered this song to be the sequel to "Love Like This." It is a few years later. The guy lost the job where he had to live away from home five days a week. All he wants now is a break for a bit; spend a few months drawing unemployment. But the old lady ain't having none of it.

[Zip City]

I really like the song. After almost two years, I still get a laugh out of some of the lines. "I'm too pretty to work and I'm tired of you uglying up my house."

The verse about illegals stealing jobs is priceless (and timely) as well

[LBRod]

On record I think this one is ok, not wonderful but passable. It's just not a sit in your living room and listen to song IMHO. Now live, on the other hand, it's a barn burner. It's everything a live rock & roll tune should be, fast, foot stomping and fun. They can play it in the encore any ol time they like and I'll be stomping my foot, pumping my fist and singing along.

X2

[jimmyjack]

Any time the boys get Stones-y is a-ok with me. I actually really like how this one sounds on the record - you can hear that it's unmistakably recorded to tape. That opening riff really does sound like some lost Stones jam. And I love the way Cooley explains this song in interviews as being an homage to 70s style sitcoms - they may have been dumb, but they were also a vehicle for writers to discuss the important matters of the day (I'm paraphrasing). It's actually pretty brilliant how he uses slightly-funny-but-not-ha-ha-funny barbs between lovers as a thinly-veiled commentary on the unemployment crisis. I'm with Sterling on this one - this is a classic.

[Iowan]

On record I think this one is ok, not wonderful but passable. It's just not a sit in your living room and listen to song IMHO. Now live, on the other hand, it's a barn burner. It's everything a live rock & roll tune should be, fast, foot stomping and fun. They can play it in the encore any ol time they like and I'll be stomping my foot, pumping my fist and singing along.

This.

I hate the production on Cooley's voice on the record. However, it's a very good song, and absolutely kicks ass live. I can definitely hear the "Daddy's Little Pumpkin" influence.

[Iowan]

Least favorite DBT song.

Huh.

Sort of mind blown.

Carry on.

[Bill in CT]

I agree with Clams on this one but I can see TC's point as well. It does indeed rock live and it's not a very long song. There are less-played songs I'd rather hear on occasion (like Careless or Cottonseed to name just two), but that's okay.

[psychobillycadillac]

I love this song for multiple reasons, the first being is that it's so much different from everything else on the album and it's placement in the track order for me is perfect. To piggyback off of that idea it does the same thing for me live as it does on the record, it picks things up and gets them moving again. Like it was said before, it's a barn burner and a great one to have in your lineup for amping up the crowds energy or blowing the roof off the place during an encore. I think Cooley knocked it out of the park with this one.

[mwh]

Least favorite DBT song.

Not my least favorite, but definitely in the bottom 10%.

[dogstar]

Not one of my favourites - it's a bit too fast for my liking and a bit too functional; Cooley's often seems to use it as his go to song when he wants to get the energy levels back up again. Nothing wrong with that as every band needs one or two tunes like that but not a standout for me.

[Gaetzi]

I like the back and forth Cooley sets up in the lyrics but at this point I have to assume Cooley can write cool lyrics in his sleep. I don't dislike it but it wouldnt make my top 10 Cooley favorites either. That said, even a decent Cooley song beats 98% of whats out there these days.

[Sterling Big Mouth]

Clams, thanks a lot for the thought. And while I defer to you in the smarts department, I'm damn right about this one.

You definitely touched on one reason why I love the song - Skynyrd is one of my favorite bands so I'm prone to loving rock with a walking bass. I've also mentioned that Alabama Ass Whuppin is my favorite record and Get Downtown fits in the Rock Show like a glove.

I'm slammed at work, so here's some quick notes on why Get Downtown rocks:

-There's a solo part for everyone and the rhythm part is just sheer power and fun

-It's a perfect pair with This Fucking Job ala Pin Hits the Shell/Do It Yourself

-Cooley sounding like two different people "You mean half of what you would've made!!!"

-The song is so powerful and infectious it created a firestorm of swing dancing at Brooklyn Bowl last year - just ask Penny Lane and Jonicont who put on a show!

* * *

My favorite version from Sirius's studios

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16ADeKYSWNY

[bovine knievel]

The song is so powerful and infectious it created a firestorm of swing dancing at Brooklyn Bowl last year - just ask Penny Lane and Jonicont who put on a show!

wwop

[joshN]

definitely not one of my favorite Cooley tunes, but it is fantastic live, a shining moment for Jay