2. "would you tie down" (2015-04-02, 2013-06-14) Linda Blair was Born Innocent
Linda Blair was Born Innocent
Lyrics
Gentle hum of the old machines
Here we come scrubbed and scoured
Patches on our jeans
When the drone sounds
In the cool night wind
We pick up the call
Kick all the traces in
Hungry for love
Ready to drown
So tie down the sails
We're going downtown
Great big drain on the power grid
You may not like Tate's methods
But you've got to admit
She's a real nice kid
We walk light[3]
Down the wires[1]
Higher than weather balloons
Empty hearts on fire
Hungry for love
Ready to drown
So tie down[2] the sails tonight
We're going downtown
Banter
It's about some people I used to know. Well, it's not really about them, because by now they look pretty awful. And I moved 'em down the coast from Portland where I met these- all these speed freak people who used to hang out and stealing people's money, or stealing their stuff and selling it in order to get money, and holing up in these little hotel rooms. Ah, if you've never seen the inside of one of these speed freak hotel rooms, they're really just something to see. Anyway, I moved 'em all down to Pomona because it's warmer there. And this is sort of- it's like their theme song, if they had any songs, but they can't really have songs, 'cause they don't have time for that sort of thing and they would tell you about it for about half an hour, if you had the time, but if you see them coming, make an excuse now. (2003-02-01)
It's about a bunch of people and their little amphetamine problem. (2003-02-20)
I set the whole next album in Pomona, California, but just between you and me, most of the people, or a fair number of them, are actually people I knew in Portland, up around Thirteenth and Taylor. And that in fact is where this song takes place, but that's a secret. It is, uh, about our mutual friends, the tweak fiends, and it's called 'Linda Blair Was Born Innocent.' (2003-10-03)
This is my other favorite and much briefer Dave story, is like- when he had gone on a particularly long speed jag, which I really enjoyed the side benefits of being Dave's pal during, right. Week long, right. Then he runs out of speed, can't score, that's how it works, if you, eh- I know how many of you have sordid pasts like me but you know I- once in a while all the wells run dry, guess we're gonna have to do without. End of the week, Dave's gonna have to do without speed, 'course there's always other stuff around if you're not a purist about it. So- so Dave's been up for four days, but he can't score anything to keep him up any longer, so he drops acid! After being up for four days on speed. I was with Dave when the acid began to come on. And I saw him burst into tears. Dave, this one's for you. (2004-05-27)
This is a song about all my friends who died because they took too much speed and heroin. It's called 'Linda Blair Was Born Innocent.' (2004-10-18)
This is a song about all my dear, lovely, fabulously dressed friends who are all doubtless dead or in jail by now. (crowd cheers) I hope that's what they're saying. (2004-10-11)
This is on the newest album. It's about all your friends who borrow money from you and they say they're gonna use it to fix the car but what they're actually going to do is use it to buy speed. God bless them. Love them while you have them. They'll all be dead by the time they're 24. It's called 'Linda Blair Was Born Innocent.' (2004-10-19)
Peter: Brandon, can I get some more guitar?
[various bass and guitar noises]
Peter: Maybe more of everything.
JD: Man, I missed that one note in the end there. And, I mean, obviously, I should take full responsiblity.
Peter: Own that missed note.
JD: But. There's this piece of red tape there, that red piece of tape is there for the bridge of Amy, Spent Gladiator 1 song, because that thing is played with a capo, and its bridge is a little atypical, and I'd keep missing and not know where to go, so I put a little piece of tape there, or probably somebody put it there for me, so that I would stop doing that. But then the red tape is like a beacon in the night, and so whatever else you're trying to do, when you play, the red tape's like, check out that fret. It looks pretty juicy right there. That's probably where the action is at, the red one. Go for the red one. And it's usually not the right one, because it's a C# if there's no capo on, that's not the right one. So, no, it's an Eb, even worse. I'm trying to put this off 'cause I got this idea to put this second in the set list, and I don't think we've played this song in something like five years. [much cheering] (2013-06-05 - Maxwell's, Hoboken)