just double checked, i did not rc:
"Jesus was the only one that ever raised the dead," the Misfit continued, "and He shouldn't have done it. He thown everything off balance. If He did what He said, then it's nothing for you to do but thow away everything and follow Him, and if he didn't, then it's nothing for you to do but enjoy the few minutes you got left the best way you can--by killing somebody or burning down his house or doing some other meanness to him. No pleasure but meanness," he said and his voice had almost become a snarl.
I've read that story at least a dozen times and somehow I never noticed "thown" before. Little marvels.
― aka the pope (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Wednesday, 22 December 2010 04:58 (thirteen years ago) link
Voted Used Cars without a second thought
― Trip Maker, Wednesday, 22 December 2010 05:05 (thirteen years ago) link
somewhat surprisingly state trooper was used as part of the soundtrack to last nights top gear show as clarkson was driving across america.
― mark e, Wednesday, 22 December 2010 09:48 (thirteen years ago) link
love how each song on this is someone recalling the defining moment/time in their life and for each song it's a completely different someone, but then there are echoes/ghosts of one in the other.
― enfuque (Matt P), Wednesday, 22 December 2010 16:36 (thirteen years ago) link
ended up voting for 'my father's house.' i can imagine the dream and the story so vividly. gives me goosebumps every time.
― enfuque (Matt P), Wednesday, 22 December 2010 16:43 (thirteen years ago) link
listened to this today after glancing at this poll. 'atlantic city' wins. 'state trooper' a close second. 'open all night' is mad under-rated tho.
― the Chinese firewall of the heart (Michael B), Wednesday, 22 December 2010 16:51 (thirteen years ago) link
I love how he pronounces that line about pokin' the dead dog with the stick -- he makes you rewind the track and go, "Huh?"
this was the album where he really began incorporating that hard southern twang in his voice that doesn't sound like anyone else from new jersey that i've ever met but totally works.
― fact checking cuz, Wednesday, 22 December 2010 16:55 (thirteen years ago) link
"Atlantic City," by a mile. (Distant second: "State Trooper.")
― xhuxk, Tuesday, December 21, 2010 8:06 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark
yes. i voted for "open all night" though, just cuz someone should.
(echoing michael b, it seems)
― a man called hearse (contenderizer), Wednesday, 22 December 2010 16:55 (thirteen years ago) link
fwiw iirc this is a direct lift from flannery o'connor's "a good man is hard to find"
so much of this album is a direct lift from a story or a movie or another song. compare, for example, "atlantic city" to louis malle's great "atlantic city," even down to details like the line about how maybe everything that dies someday comes back.
and, yeah, it doesn't diminish nebraska an iota. a perfect album.
― fact checking cuz, Wednesday, 22 December 2010 17:01 (thirteen years ago) link
I voted for Open All Night too!
― rake rock reggae (kkvgz), Wednesday, 22 December 2010 17:02 (thirteen years ago) link
it's the only thing that bugs me about the album, I'm like dude you're from FREEHOLD
― Є|Э (Edward III), Wednesday, 22 December 2010 17:06 (thirteen years ago) link
He can get away w/ it tho, just like Mick Jagger. It is a tricky thing to pull off & really make yr own, but he does it.
― jerkstore cowboy (Pillbox), Wednesday, 22 December 2010 17:13 (thirteen years ago) link
thought digging it up and listening again would clarify what the right choice is, but it just made it harder
― http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMf0MTweXYc (Princess TamTam), Wednesday, 22 December 2010 17:57 (thirteen years ago) link
tipsy mothra and balls have me wavering, b/c the version of reason to believe on the live set is devastating. johnny 99 on that one cuts pretty deep too.
but if it's strictly on the Nebraska tracks, I think atlantic city edges nebraska for me, just barely.
― all yoga attacks are fire based (rogermexico.), Wednesday, 22 December 2010 20:37 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah this is Atlantic City vs Nebraska for me (as well) i like the MOOD on the rest of the albums, but in hypercritical mode, "songs" etc.
i think I'll go for Nebraska.
― Ludo, Wednesday, 22 December 2010 20:52 (thirteen years ago) link
*album*
just noticed the ones I find most effective on the album are the jersey based ones (ac and state trooper), like his own sense of home carried the songs to some place his masks couldn't
my father's house hitting hard too, that last line is great
― Є|Э (Edward III), Wednesday, 22 December 2010 20:59 (thirteen years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― System, Friday, 14 January 2011 00:01 (thirteen years ago) link
Wonder if every song will get a vote
― Mark, Friday, 14 January 2011 02:57 (thirteen years ago) link
listened to ghost of tom joad recently and it seems pretty awesome now
― mekka lekka hi mega-hiney hoes (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 14 January 2011 02:59 (thirteen years ago) link
"State Trooper," if only because a friend of mine accused me of driving him near the brink of madness for playing a mixtape (while driving across Michigan during the middle of the night) that went DJ Shadow's "What Does Your Soul Look Like, Pt. 2" -> the Jesus Lizard's "White Hole" -> This Heat's "Horizontal Hold" -> "State Trooper" -> Suicide's "Frankie Teardrop."
― Andy K, Friday, 14 January 2011 03:10 (thirteen years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Saturday, 15 January 2011 00:01 (thirteen years ago) link
pretty sure I voted for "Highway Patrolman" but never wrote about cos I was on the road at the time; but that song's a killer, heartbreaking obv. but with a gorgeous melody, esp. esp. esp. on the chorus with the harmonica. Did Bruce cop this melody from some folk song à la Dylan? & on the verses Bruce's voice is a drone so that the rises near & then into the chorus hit twice as hard. I don't know how many times I've broken down listening to this song; I have a brother, I know what blood feels like; but the song manages to bring out the ambiguity of family bonds, how those ties bind while at the same time repulsing you because I didn't choose these people & I have to bleed for them? A man turns his back on his family, well, he just ain't no good.
― Euler, Saturday, 15 January 2011 00:10 (thirteen years ago) link
first verse of reason to believe gets my vote as the single best thing bruce has ever written
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Tuesday, 1 August 2017 20:20 (six years ago) link
Johnny 99 1
Huh.
― Making Plans For Sturgill (C. Grisso/McCain), Wednesday, 18 July 2018 04:59 (five years ago) link
I have a question about this record, and about BS more generally - I really like that it's put together in a straightforward way, and isn't a polished production (although, as far as I'm aware, it's some demos that were worked up a bit). As far as I'm aware, it's a bit anomalous in terms of his releases, but I really, really like it so I'm keen to figure out if there are other records of his that I might like too. Can you recommend any? If so, do please let me know.
― neilasimpson, Monday, 10 June 2019 16:29 (four years ago) link
Yeah it's pretty much an outlier but check out The Ghost of Tom Joad and then Devils & Dust.
― van dyke parks generator (anagram), Monday, 10 June 2019 17:54 (four years ago) link
Fantastic. Thank you!
― neilasimpson, Wednesday, 12 June 2019 15:07 (four years ago) link