First Blood
Lyrics
Mail order body armor
Map to the Blue Bucket Mine
Guy who had a place* down by the lakeside
Changing water to wine
Devastating schematics
Rough drafts of the twenty-third psalm
Paul Kersey never left his apartment
John Rambo never went to Vietnam
Armor-piercing black talons
From the first production run
Nobody's seen them in the wild
Since 1991
Out in the cul-de-sacs at midnight
Where the candy for the cannons comes from
I heard Buford Pusser was dirty
John Rambo never went to Vietnam
Shall we rise to the occasion
Or go to sleep for good in the trenches?
Dug in beneath a brilliant blue sky
Helmets hanging high in the branches
Empty vessels by the dozen
Diamonds in the sun
We worship nothing in the foxholes
John Rambo never went to Vietnam
John Rambo never went to Vietnam
Banter
- Not to wax unnecessarily political but, like, there used to be old sexist jokes about how the person in the band who can't play, plays the tambourine. Motherfuckers, you try to play the tambourine! That is a sexist joke. The tambourine is hard! [audience: more cowbell!] (off mic) Don't make that joke! That joke is tired! [audience member: new jokes!] You need new jokes! (on mic) We could fix 'more cowbell' with 'more clave'. Same joke, but with claves. (2023-10-27 Cactus Theater)
- Fellas, should this one have a long, slow, like, drift (?), contemplative intro so that everybody thinks, like 'they can do a slow jam now'? [slow jams are played] Maybe they think it's a little country. And just when they're starting to feel relaxed, putting down their fourth whiskey of the evening, ready to lull into the sweet sound of the last fall copy from japan (?) just run it behind them and grab 'em by the neck. (2023-10-28 Longhorn Ballroom)
- I'll tell ya. This is a song - I like it - it's got a lot of violence in it. Very violent song. Somebody, they didn't really yell it, very tenderly, someone went "violence". The tender violence vibe. This song relies very heavily on the B string, so lemme get it in tune. Man, when I was a child, Cat Stevens had a song called Peace Train. And for about 25 years of my life, I thought he was saying "B string". [laughter] And I did not understand this song. What are you talking about, Cat Stevens? I thought I would understand it better if I became a better musician. That hasn't happened yet, so I still don't quite get it. He was very excited about it, would get all growly and sing [Cat Stevens imitation] "Ride on B string!!" I dedicate this song to Yusuf Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens. (2023-10-29 The Heights Theater)
Live Performances
Footnotes
- * Variant: "house" instead of "place" (2023-10-06, 2023-10-28, 2023-10-29)