Passaic, 1975

Lyrics

Write something down in illegible script
As we're approaching the landing strip
New Gibson SG, inlaid with pearl
Tonight Passaic, tomorrow the world

In a Holiday Inn by a nameless river
Renew the assault on my lungs and my liver
And while I'm waiting for the company man
Slip on my kimono that I bought in Japan

Tell the crowd, tell the world
I want everyone to get high
Tell the press, tell the cameras[1]
I want everyone to get high

And the tech crew in Memphis has a present for me
A screen that scrolls lyrics
Like the ones they have on TV
The deluxe model
One of only four thousand[2] made
Black out that night in front of ten thousand paid

And in the back lounge in between the stops
Contingency plans[3] in case the new one flops
Sometimes I wake up coughing up blood
Tonight Indianapolis, tomorrow the flood

Tell the person next to you
I want everyone to get high
Tell your boss, tell your mother[4]
I want everyone to get high
Get high

Banter

• I know what I'm gonna play, there's nothing wrong with requests, I'm just not taking them at the moment. This is a song about a guy who is on tour with a rock band, but a much bigger band than the Mountain Goats, and it's 1975 and he's playing in giant stadiums in the US, but his band is sort of running into some difficulties as far as changing the face of the musical landscape, and also they are taking a lot of drugs. Things become a little difficult on the bus and/or buses. When a band has to have two buses because people can't share the same bus or they'll fight, this is a bad sign for the band. Very bad sign. That's where this band, Black Sabbath, was at, at the time of this song. I've given it a long intro because I've only just figured out how to play it like, two hours ago. (2015-05-29 - The Showbox, Seattle)
• JD: Peter, I have a question.
  Peter: [off mic]
  JD: You gotta say it in the mic or I can't hear you.
  Peter: What is the question?
  JD: So, this song is normally an acoustic guitar song, but I've been curious all night, does it work on the Gibson or no? Should we go for it, or should we do what we already know how to do?
  Audience: [cheers enthusiastically]
  Peter: Uh, I don't see any reason why it couldn't work on the Gibson.
  JD: Let's fuckin' do it, let's scrap the rest of the night, I think that'll make me the only Gibson playing when I mention a Gibson. Cool. This song is sung by Ozzy Osbourne. It's important to the song that you know that. Most people would like, put some sorta notation about that in the song, in the booklet, with the record, or whatever, I myself am hoping that you guess from the references, because that is me. So Ozzy, I don't know how intimate you are with Ozzy's developmental arc, but '75, kinda rough year for the Oz, 'cause Quaaludes are going out of fashion and cocaine is coming in. This was an even harder turn for the Grateful Dead to navigate five years later, but that will be the subject of a differnet song arc. I'll be focusing mainly on their 1980 album Go To Heaven, and its immortal airbrushed cover, but that's a different question. Anyway, so, there's a legendary show where somebody, I can't remember who, but I feel like it was, like, Graham BOnnet or somebody had to fill in for Ozzy, 'cause they couldn't find him. Cause he had passed out in the wrong hotel room. He had somehow gotten the concierge to give him somebody else's key and he went to the other room, and he ran out of steam, as you do when you're living on rails, and he passed out. So he couldn't make the show. I think - I find this story oddly inspirational, to actually completely miss your own show. That's a level of dedication to your addiction that even the hardened addicts will find hard to understand. And yet Ozzy was nowhere near done. That was just the beginning, only five years later he would be known to snort a line of ants. That, too, is a different song. (2019-04-30 Brooklyn Steel)

Live Performances

• 2015-05-29 - The Showbox, Seattle (JD solo - recording)
• 2015-05-30 - Wonder Ballroom, Portland OR (JD solo)
• 2019-04-30 Brooklyn Steel

Footnotes