Hey. My song today comes from Tommy James and the Shondells classic album Crimson and Clover. The song is called “Smokey Roads”.  Check it out below (sorry for the poor quality rip):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07y8Xk7eQVM&list=PLF5ED06CCC4D4EC8D&index=31

I think this song is a real gem. From the introductory reversed lyrics to the first several hits on the snare, you can tell this song is going to groove. The band falls into a fantastic pocket, mostly due to how well the bassist (what a bassline!!) and the drummer get their parts to mesh. Tommy James does a great job handling this song’s slinking melody.

The subject matter is also interesting here: it’s all about someone (Tommy James?) returning to the place in which he grew up, and being slightly disappointed in what he finds. Upon his return, he finds that everything that was there before has changed and that all the people who he had known there have left. There is no longer any evidence that his childhood even occurred, which is kind of unpleasant for him and makes him lonely.

So, let’s look into the meaning of the reversed lyrics at the beginning and see what we can make of it. Here’s what he says, unreversed: “Extricate the quadruped from the vehicle and constabulate him to something nutritious. And when the aurora rises in the heavens I will return and compensate thee amply.”

Interestingly, this lyric is paraphrased from a speech called “Preaching the Gospel”, delivered by Elder George A. Smith in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City on August 12, 1855, in which he discusses the benefits of using concise language in one’s writing and speech. The quote Tommy James uses is Smith’s example of a sentence which completely loses its original meaning because it uses far too many showy words (the actual meaning of the sentence being “Unharness the horse, water and feed him, and I will pay you for it in the morning”).

My assumption would be that this idea of the loss of original meaning ties back to how Tommy James feels about his childhood residence: its development over the years since he left has resulted in the loss of its original meaning to him, and, in turn, has alienated him from his own past. The fact that the lyric is played backwards could signify even further disillusionment.

So, do with that information what you will.

Have a good day and night.

– DJYT

Tommy James