Track of the Week 146 Primer Coat

[Beaverdam]

I believe this is my favorite song from the new album. Additionally I believe I read somewhere that English Oceans had been described as a band not rocking less but sounding older and more mature. Regardless of whether or not that assertion is true, the song makes me think about getting older. I have a great life which I wouldn't change, but at this point I'm bound to wonder what the consequences of a few alternative choices might have been, and I believe that is what the "old man" in Primer Coat is doing.

Primer Coat
The old man's out by the swimming pool
He goes there to think
He talks on the phone sometimes
hardly mentions a thing
Said he needed it for his knees
He used to swim back in school
Graduated in '84, quit drinking in '92

He used to call her a basket case for hanging on like she did
The only girl of a foreman's wife She'd never let him forget
It comes to women and they survive but when the same comes for to men
Someone comes for their babies something dies there and then

Slinging gravel in parking lots and looking tough on the hood
A girl as plain as a primer coat leaves nothing misunderstood
Her mother and I through trembling lips, a stead hand on his own
The future of every rebel cause, when all the fight in him is gone

My sister's marrying in the spring and everything will be fine
Mama's planning the wedding, Daddy's planning on crying
She's slipping out of her apron strings
You best leave him be
He's staring through is own taillights and gathering speed

I don't have a swimmin' pool, but the song makes me want to sit on my back porch or take a walk and just contemplate it all. I believe this is a song about mid-life and the choices we've made to get there.

I'd have to say that one of the ultimate compliments a fan could play a band is to play the band's song at his or her wedding. I wasn't a DBT fan when I got married, but my daughter was born less than a month ago, and the nurse's in the delivery room must have heard my singing Primer Coat...couldn't get it out of my head. The line about "Mama's planning the wedding, Daddy's planning on crying" gets me every time, and I was singing it (most of the time in my head I think) throughout the entire delivery process!


Getting old's not bad, and I don't even think the "old man" is sad that he's getting older; however, he realizes that the choices he made twenty years ago lead him to life he now leads.

Open forum for discussion....

[beantownbubba]

I think there's a ton to talk about in this song, but just one thought for now because it just struck me reading your post, beaverdam. To the extent that the song is about musing on getting older, choices made and not made, etc, the fact that the song is not narrated first person by the Dad is an interesting approach.

[Zip City]

I've had a lot to say about this song, so I won't clutter up the thread too much. Suffice to say that I don't like this one nearly as much as everyone else, as it has simply never clicked with me on a purely sonic level (melody, arrangement, etc.)

[phungi]

I think there's a ton to talk about in this song, but just one thought for now because it just struck me reading your post, beaverdam. To the extent that the song is about musing on getting older, choices made and not made, etc, the fact that the song is not narrated first person by the Dad is an interesting approach.

Agreed... There is an interesting switch from what appears to be the son/brother's perspective in the first two verses, to the father's in the third, and then back to what I assume is the son/brother...

There is quite a lot if commentary and interpretation in the EO thread, but the "primer coat" line is amazingly vivid and a point around which the song pivots.

[beantownbubba]

Agreed... There is an interesting switch from what appears to be the son/brother's perspective in the first two verses, to the father's in the third, and then back to what I assume is the son/brother...

Yeah, there was a fair amount of discussion on this point in the EO thread. My conclusion about all that is that it makes the song more mysterious, confusing or deep, depending on my mood.

[pa_heathen]

The very first time I heard this song it reminded me of my father. Every time I hear the song it makes me flash back to different times in our lives together, but most importantly my wedding day. I guess this is why this song has held steady as my favorite on EO.

[lotusamerica]

Agreed... There is an interesting switch from what appears to be the son/brother's perspective in the first two verses, to the father's in the third, and then back to what I assume is the son/brother...

Yeah, there was a fair amount of discussion on this point in the EO thread. My conclusion about all that is that it makes the song more mysterious, confusing or deep, depending on my mood.

I dont think there's a shift in the narrator. It's all about the dad from the son's perspective. There is a quote from the father "Her mother and I" but the son is quoting the father there, describing him.

[beantownbubba]

Agreed... There is an interesting switch from what appears to be the son/brother's perspective in the first two verses, to the father's in the third, and then back to what I assume is the son/brother...

Yeah, there was a fair amount of discussion on this point in the EO thread. My conclusion about all that is that it makes the song more mysterious, confusing or deep, depending on my mood.

I dont think there's a shift in the narrator. It's all about the dad from the son's perspective. There is a quote from the father "Her mother and I" but the son is quoting the father there, describing him.

Well that makes it doubly mysterious, confusing or deep lol. You may be right, I don't know (and it would certainly make sense to write the song from 1 point of view), but that verse doesn't sound like a brother's perspective to me.

[John A Arkansawyer]

Agreed... There is an interesting switch from what appears to be the son/brother's perspective in the first two verses, to the father's in the third, and then back to what I assume is the son/brother...

Yeah, there was a fair amount of discussion on this point in the EO thread. My conclusion about all that is that it makes the song more mysterious, confusing or deep, depending on my mood.

Only Cooley knows for sure (and even he may not, as the artistic process has its own mysterious ways), but I still think this may show that the parents are separated, that the wife has primary custody, and that the son/brother was also sometimes standing in for the father in the daughter/sister's life.

That's more consistent. It's also much more complicated. I'm less convinced I'm right than I was, but I'm not sure I'm wrong, either.

[Clams]

Nice write-up Beaver Dam, and congrats on the new baby. This is probably my favorite song on English Oceans, or at least it's the one I come back to most often. I'll leave the dissection of the protagonists and the song as a whole to others who are better at that than me. I'll just say that for me there are a number of lyrics that really hit home. The guy in the song graduated in '84 and so did I, he leads a fairly normal life and so do I (or at least I like to think so), he's got kids who are growing up too fast and so do I, he's known to get misty when it comes to his family and so do I (phungi hasn't seen that side of me but Mrs Clams sure has). And he's watching those taillights gathering speed and goddamit so am I. I think of all these things pretty much every time I hear the song. I also see this as yet another of Cooley's great family-centric songs: Daddy's Cup, Space City, Eyes Like Glue, Great Big Horse and the Little Pony, and now Primer Coat. For someone who's built his rep on badassery, he really knows how to tug on the heart strings too.

Musically, Zip I couldn't disagree with you more (but that's par for the course). I love the "wall of sound" feel to the song and also Jay's guitar solo and when his keyboard comes in near the end. It's got a great fade-out too. And if you really want a treat, go to this link and check out track #5, it's the version of Primer Coat with Peter Buck from a few months ago at Homecoming. http://southernshelter.com/2014/02/driv ... 014-02-15/ Buck was playing a sweet twelve-string Epiphone and he kept playing these descending fills that add a whole new REM-like layer to the song. It's fantastic.



Huge thumbs-up for Primer Coat.

Also - PM me if interested in writing one of these threads. Lots of EO songs left.

[John A Arkansawyer]

I also see this as yet another of Cooley's great family-centric songs: Daddy's Cup, Space City, Eyes Like Glue, Great Big Horse and the Little Pony, and now Primer Coat. For someone who's built his rep on badassery, he really knows how to tug on the heart strings too.

[Duke Silver]

Agreed... There is an interesting switch from what appears to be the son/brother's perspective in the first two verses, to the father's in the third, and then back to what I assume is the son/brother...

Yeah, there was a fair amount of discussion on this point in the EO thread. My conclusion about all that is that it makes the song more mysterious, confusing or deep, depending on my mood.

I dont think there's a shift in the narrator. It's all about the dad from the son's perspective. There is a quote from the father "Her mother and I" but the son is quoting the father there, describing him.

^^^ ding ding ding

[lotusamerica]

I dont think there's a shift in the narrator. It's all about the dad from the son's perspective. There is a quote from the father "Her mother and I" but the son is quoting the father there, describing him.

Well that makes it doubly mysterious, confusing or deep lol. You may be right, I don't know (and it would certainly make sense to write the song from 1 point of view), but that verse doesn't sound like a brother's perspective to me.

I'm missing what is mysterious. How I see it:

The verse describes dad and daddy's girl. He took her out for joy rides, kept her looking plain so nobody would get any ideas about her as he had mixed feeling about her growing up, finally did what he had to do and gave her away but was overwhelmed doing it and his wife had to give him support, and now that phase of life is over and he's seeing it all slip away...

[Clams]

I'll leave the dissection of the protagonists and the song as a whole to others who are better at that than me.

How I see it:

The verse describes dad and daddy's girl. He took her out for joy rides, kept her looking plain so nobody would get any ideas about her as he had mixed feeling about her growing up, finally did what he had to do and gave her away but was overwhelmed doing it and his wife had to give him support, and now that phase of life is over and he's seeing it all slip away...

Some people are just really good at breaking down songs. Lotus, it took you just one paragraph and it makes perfect sense as to the song and the title. Excellent work.

[misterbrow]

I don't post a lot here but this a tune that sticks with me. If you are a father with daughters it really clicks something deep. It does not open with one of those Cooley lines that makes your ears perk up, but that first verse makes me visualize a friend of mine and I can see my own dad standing on the porch by the pool on the phone and I know that I have caught myself on the phone listening and thinking just thinking how this is how my dad looks sometimes.

A couple of lines:

"It comes to women and they survive but when the same comes for to men
Someone comes for their babies something dies there and then"

Last show I went to I found myself locking eyes with a girl in her twenties and we both sang this line together. I know she was thinking about how her being in her twenties was affecting her dad and I just think about how filled with terror I am as a dad about this day coming.

"A girl as plain as a primer coat leaves nothing misunderstood"

Coming from a "Daddy's Cup" kind of family, the primer simile is just perfect in many ways.

"The future of every rebel cause, when all the fight in him is gone"

In the last couple of years I find myself regularly asking myself how much fight I have left when it comes to things that I used to think were important. It's a maturity that I never knew was coming.

"He's staring through his own taillights and gathering speed"

The acceptance of that next stage of life is truly a circular thing.

[Beaverdam]

I dont think there's a shift in the narrator. It's all about the dad from the son's perspective. There is a quote from the father "Her mother and I" but the son is quoting the father there, describing him.

Well that makes it doubly mysterious, confusing or deep lol. You may be right, I don't know (and it would certainly make sense to write the song from 1 point of view), but that verse doesn't sound like a brother's perspective to me.

I'm missing what is mysterious. How I see it:

The verse describes dad and daddy's girl. He took her out for joy rides, kept her looking plain so nobody would get any ideas about her as he had mixed feeling about her growing up, finally did what he had to do and gave her away but was overwhelmed doing it and his wife had to give him support, and now that phase of life is over and he's seeing it all slip away...

I like your interpretation Lotus; however, I'm not sure if the Daddy keeps her looking plain as much as she just is plain-spoken. "Plain" may not describe her looks as much as it does her personality; that's why she "leaves nothing misunderstood."

I've enjoyed reading other folks' thoughts on this song, but I'd love to hear Cooley's...Really I feel that way about a lot of songs, but I"m sure we'll never know! Raise one for ambiguity!!!

[RolanK]

I also see this as yet another of Cooley's great family-centric songs: Daddy's Cup, Space City, Eyes Like Glue, Great Big Horse and the Little Pony, and now Primer Coat. For someone who's built his rep on badassery, he really knows how to tug on the heart strings too.

Someone probably already mentioned... also Zip City (the song), only that song was from the opposite perspective, and perhaps 10 years earlier. Not really saying it's the same family, but there are parallels in the cast of characters.