On the surface you have it down. But this is Isbell we’re talking about so there’s always deeper meaning. As kids, our daddy is a perfect hero but as we get of age we see their real flaws. “Boys last dream, mans first loss” could be about his father as well not the football game. At the end he’s left, wakes up drinking coffee by an Indian mound which is a burial place. He’s buried his father and the memories and moved on to a better life from the speed trap town that “trapped” him. Lots of deeper meaning here and why Isbell is great songwriter.
He was an insane song writer when he was with the truckers, but the other two front men in it (hood and Cooley) were also really distinctive song writers and all three were considered great by fans. Then he was kicked out of the truckers and there were a couple years where he bummed around and released a couple great songs (Codeine, Dres Blues) and a lot of underwhelming ones. The Truckers in turn released one great album (brighter than creation’s dark) without him and then several mediocre ones, and so everyone assumed both were worse off without each other. Then Jason got sober about a year before releasing Southeastern and since then has combined his innate talent with consistency and also a stronger ability to see beyond himself that really made him the premiere American songwriter making this type of music. There were always glimpses of it before with the Truckers - TVA, Outfit, Danko Manuel, Decoration Day, Goddamn Lonely Love, but nothing like the sustained run he’s been on the last decade as a solo artist.
This song is one of my favorites and hits home very personally for me. My dad died of cancer after 6 years in a holding pattern and he took a turn for the worst so suddenly it was like whiplash. What Isbell gets so well here is the sense that you get over time when a loved one is sick that they will never get either better or worse and then things suddenly change. "Its a boys' last dream and a man's first loss". Damn, it was true for me certainly. I was 16 and felt utterly alone in the world. In the case of this song, his relationship to his father was far worse than mine, as his father was an adulterous philanderer who the son blames for causing his mother's untimely death. What he realizes when his father dies is it was the only thing keeping him in that small dead end town and in a more figurative sense in that mentality of negativity and pain around his parents. It reminds me somewhat of Bob Dylan's masterpiece "Its All Over Now, Baby Blue" but much more concrete and emotionally centered
If you haven't seen it, there's a great video with Jason Isbell and the writer George Saunders where they talk for almost an hour about storytelling, just asking each other about their processes and details of each other's work. Well worth watching.
This is quite possibly my favorite Isbell tune. This song is a about a lot of things. I think the overall theme is about growing out of the town you are from. A speed trap town is typically a small rural place, a dot on a map. The one cop in town doesn't have anything better to do than pulling people over as they speed through it on the highway. In this case it was his father. Nobody stops to visit these towns, they just pass through. You just gotta be careful of the speed trap. If you are actually from one of these towns it can be easy to get "trapped" there. The character in the song feels trapped and isn't able to move forward with his life. "everybody knows you in a speed trap town." It's a small place and everybody knows his business. And yet he feels alone. There's nobody left to ask if he's alright. Clearly everybody who has meant something to him growing up has moved on. His father is about to die, and he wasn't much of a father anyway. He's realizing there's nothing left for him in the town anymore and he has to get out. All there is to do is go to the local high school game and get drunk. The line "these 5a bastards run a shallow cross, it's a boy's last dream and a man's first loss" is simply one of the greatest lines I've ever heard in a song. Him calling them 5a bastards let's you know he is from a tiny town at a lower classification. A shallow cross is a pass route where the receiver runs across the middle of the field into traffic. It can be a dangerous play where he is looking to catch a pass and can't see the defenders around him. Sometimes it leads to a devastating hit and injury. I've always thought that he witnesses a high school player have a serious injury on the play. Perhaps its the end of the player's career. Its a typical storyline in small town America. Every boy's dream is to be a football star. For most, that usually ends some time in high school. Often it is the high point of their life. There isn't much else for them in a speed trap town. Thus its the end of their last dream, and there first loss as a man. It was probably even the experience of the character himself. His last dream was probably playing football. When it ended he became a man. The line "drank a cup of coffee by an indian man" is purely imagery. It's perhaps a racial stereotype, but i imagined him getting a cheap cup of coffee at a convenience store, like a 7-11, run by an Indian man.
@@chrispeerboom8300 Sounds like that to me too. I always imagined it's the statue of an Indian man you'd see on the porch of old-school tobacco/cigar stores along the interstate.
Fwiw even when he was a baby faced lad in Drive by Truckers he was expected to be great, everyone could see his genius then but there was doubt he would live to see it fulfilled. He had serious issues with drink and drugs and he nearly died several times
Amazing song. Probably my favorite writing accomplishment of Jason's. I think you nailed it. High-school football is huge where we're from. Every player has aspirations of making it pro. The team was successful in their region but when the state playoffs started they met a team they couldn't beat. Their dreams were scattered. "It's a boy's last dream and a man's first loss". A senior in High-school is both a man and a boy at the same time. That's probably my favorite line in all of Jason's work. Great reaction 👍
Obscure American colloquialisms: 5A is the top high school football division. A shallow cross is a route a wide receiver runs and it is in the middle of the field and one has to be courageous to run it cuz you can get hit hard. Almost every rural American male knows exactly what he’s saying with the line directly after, “A boys first dream and a man’s first loss.” I interpret as all a boy wants is fame of being football star, but the old guys watching know it’s gone or that the first hit makes you a man. I don’t know but great line that sticks with me.
Here in Alabama at the time, 5a was the second biggest, now it's third. A shallow cross is a very simplistic play. I feel like he's making a point they took the easy route. It's Isbell, otherwise I'd think I was reading too much into it. Also he went to a small school, feel like it was almost a put down. I think his reference to a boy's last dream, and a man's first loss is perfect. Here especially, high school sports can be the last strands of childhood, but often your first real adult heartbreak.
@@smoothplezing I think you hit it. Also, in places where football=life, almost every young man faces a day where he realizes he’ll never be a football hero. So even as a spectator, he’s empathizing with the kids on the field too.
@@smoothplezing yeah, I was in 1A football, so 5 seems huge. It’s likely derogatory, the term shallow clearly means more than just a route. I took it as youthful enthusiasm but can definitely see the “simple path”interpretation too.
I always interpreted that line as suggesting football might have been the character’s ticket out of that town, but he took a nasty injury going over the middle against those 5A bastards. Playing football was the boys dream, but the loss of that is what made him a man. Just my thoughts
Newcastle lad living in the states for ages now. Loving your vids and happy to see the genre opening up, globally. Sending good vibes and wishing you all the best. Keep doing your thing
He is amazing. I have seen him in concert 6 times and will go again. I have to admit this last album he put out in 2020 I have not really listened to in depth so I am a little off on his up to date, but I go see him for these songs....and his band is amzing too. I met some of them in Knoxville Tn and they are mvp's themselves.
When he says there's nothing here that can't be left behind, I think it's because his mom has died. That's who the flowers were for, and what the lady at the store was referring to. He stayed because of his mom, but realized he had nothing left keeping him in this tiny town, so he decided to leave and start a new chapter.
No it's because his dad is ill or has died. The clerk knows his dad (in a small town people know the cops) died recently (or at least he's sick in the hospital) and that's what the flowers are for. Cheap flowers, cause dad was a dick. It's pretty clear the whole song is about his dad.
This is one my favorite Isbell songs as well. A very similar song to this is Dress Blues. It was covered and made popular by the Zac Brown band, who have much more commercial appeal, but I even prefer Isbell's musicality in the original version.
Glad you liked this song and good reaction. I notice most peoples intro to Jason is through songs like Elephant and If we were vampires but I would say he has so many better songs in my opinion. This song is one of my favourites from him but to be fair theres so many more great songs you can pick with anything off the Southeastern or something more than free album.
@@OliWilford 24 frames is a good song. Yeah lots of great storytelling in songs like Yvette, Live Oak and Dress Blue. Really enjoying the variety of reactions on this channel.
@@OliWilford forgive me, have you done Decoration Day yet? That’s Isbell at 22, writing about family secrets and stories because he knew he hadn’t lived enough to have his own. The much older and established guys in DBT made it the title track of that next album...
When he "signed his name", it was to take his father off life support. The main reason he's stayed was his father in the ICU. When deciding to "sign his name", there was nothing to hold him back. The indian mound in the ending also relates to letting his father go - sitting by a burial ground, finally gotten away from the Speed Trap Town...
Listen to Jeff Loops song The Ferryman! He was the bassist of Deep Chatham and Lost Dog Street Band but he's going solo. That song came out yesterday and hits the feels. 👍🏻👍🏻
Dress blues is one of my favorites by isbell, his first band was The Drive By Truckers and he wrote most of their songs. God Damn Lonely Love is fantastic. Edit: you mentioned DBT after I wrote comment, sorry
@@tubatalabal Very true, Patterson and Stroker Ace wrote most of them. But he wrote a lot of my favorite DBT songs like GDLL, Outfit, Danko/Manuel, Never Gonna Change, and Decoration Day. Just sayin' ...
Hey man. I really like what you’re doing. I’m from the sticks in Georgia not too far from Athens. Spent many years following DBT. Loved Jason’s songs then and I’m really glad he’s getting the respect he deserves. The Drive by Truckers song you reacted to was not a very good recording. Please give them another listen. Two more fantastic songwriters there in Mike Cooley and Patterson Hood. Thanks. Have a safe holiday!
Really love your reactions and especially your lyric breakdowns. I’d love for you to react to Death Cab for Cutie “What Sarah Said” or Iron and Wine “trapeze swinger” or Death Cab “Brothers on a hotel bed”. They’re all deep meaningful indie songs that always make me feel a ton, and the lyrics really shine
You really can't go wrong with any of Jason's songs. I see "Dress Blues" recommended a lot, and I'd urge you to review it. Another one that isn't mentioned much is "Anxiety." Please react to it at some point in the near future. Knowing Jason's backstory allows you to really appreciate the lyrics more than you might otherwise. Take care...
I'd give you some great Isbell songs to go to next...but I couldn't narrow it down. He is just the best. If you want to look at up-to-date things, his duet with Amanda Shires (his wife) just came out and it is amazing: ua-cam.com/video/rWRpxdkljC8/v-deo.html It's Amanda's song (she wrote it) and it's pretty controversial.
![Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit -- Outfit [REACTION/RATING]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Zqp3HPMTcNY/mqdefault.jpg)
On the surface you have it down. But this is Isbell we’re talking about so there’s always deeper meaning.
As kids, our daddy is a perfect hero but as we get of age we see their real flaws. “Boys last dream, mans first loss” could be about his father as well not the football game. At the end he’s left, wakes up drinking coffee by an Indian mound which is a burial place. He’s buried his father and the memories and moved on to a better life from the speed trap town that “trapped” him. Lots of deeper meaning here and why Isbell is great songwriter.
I genuinely love this comment. I think you've hit the nail on the head with this. Thank you for sharing Jody.
ua-cam.com/play/PL9iaZeN6MyPLCOnSfMNPUu3Dxh-CGoh41.html
My favorite reaction channel. Please keep making content brother. I'll always love it.
He was an insane song writer when he was with the truckers, but the other two front men in it (hood and Cooley) were also really distinctive song writers and all three were considered great by fans. Then he was kicked out of the truckers and there were a couple years where he bummed around and released a couple great songs (Codeine, Dres Blues) and a lot of underwhelming ones. The Truckers in turn released one great album (brighter than creation’s dark) without him and then several mediocre ones, and so everyone assumed both were worse off without each other. Then Jason got sober about a year before releasing Southeastern and since then has combined his innate talent with consistency and also a stronger ability to see beyond himself that really made him the premiere American songwriter making this type of music. There were always glimpses of it before with the Truckers - TVA, Outfit, Danko Manuel, Decoration Day, Goddamn Lonely Love, but nothing like the sustained run he’s been on the last decade as a solo artist.
This song is one of my favorites and hits home very personally for me. My dad died of cancer after 6 years in a holding pattern and he took a turn for the worst so suddenly it was like whiplash. What Isbell gets so well here is the sense that you get over time when a loved one is sick that they will never get either better or worse and then things suddenly change. "Its a boys' last dream and a man's first loss". Damn, it was true for me certainly. I was 16 and felt utterly alone in the world. In the case of this song, his relationship to his father was far worse than mine, as his father was an adulterous philanderer who the son blames for causing his mother's untimely death. What he realizes when his father dies is it was the only thing keeping him in that small dead end town and in a more figurative sense in that mentality of negativity and pain around his parents. It reminds me somewhat of Bob Dylan's masterpiece "Its All Over Now, Baby Blue" but much more concrete and emotionally centered
If you found this song to be sad and do not want to bawl your eyes out, please do not listen to "Elephant".
I love how you break down Jason’s songs. I find myself saying “Yeah! That makes sense
If you haven't seen it, there's a great video with Jason Isbell and the writer George Saunders where they talk for almost an hour about storytelling, just asking each other about their processes and details of each other's work. Well worth watching.
This is quite possibly my favorite Isbell tune. This song is a about a lot of things. I think the overall theme is about growing out of the town you are from. A speed trap town is typically a small rural place, a dot on a map. The one cop in town doesn't have anything better to do than pulling people over as they speed through it on the highway. In this case it was his father. Nobody stops to visit these towns, they just pass through. You just gotta be careful of the speed trap. If you are actually from one of these towns it can be easy to get "trapped" there. The character in the song feels trapped and isn't able to move forward with his life. "everybody knows you in a speed trap town." It's a small place and everybody knows his business. And yet he feels alone. There's nobody left to ask if he's alright. Clearly everybody who has meant something to him growing up has moved on. His father is about to die, and he wasn't much of a father anyway. He's realizing there's nothing left for him in the town anymore and he has to get out. All there is to do is go to the local high school game and get drunk. The line "these 5a bastards run a shallow cross, it's a boy's last dream and a man's first loss" is simply one of the greatest lines I've ever heard in a song. Him calling them 5a bastards let's you know he is from a tiny town at a lower classification. A shallow cross is a pass route where the receiver runs across the middle of the field into traffic. It can be a dangerous play where he is looking to catch a pass and can't see the defenders around him. Sometimes it leads to a devastating hit and injury. I've always thought that he witnesses a high school player have a serious injury on the play. Perhaps its the end of the player's career. Its a typical storyline in small town America. Every boy's dream is to be a football star. For most, that usually ends some time in high school. Often it is the high point of their life. There isn't much else for them in a speed trap town. Thus its the end of their last dream, and there first loss as a man. It was probably even the experience of the character himself. His last dream was probably playing football. When it ended he became a man. The line "drank a cup of coffee by an indian man" is purely imagery. It's perhaps a racial stereotype, but i imagined him getting a cheap cup of coffee at a convenience store, like a 7-11, run by an Indian man.
The linenis Indian mound...you usually find those in southern Illinois.and Indiana...a 1000 miles away from the South where Jason grew up.
@Jonah Mainwaring could be. It just doesn’t sound to me like he says mound at all. From everything I’ve seen the lyric is Indian man.
@@chrispeerboom8300 Sounds like that to me too. I always imagined it's the statue of an Indian man you'd see on the porch of old-school tobacco/cigar stores along the interstate.
The first time I heard the version I broke out in tears when the guitar solo comes in after the verse about signing his dad's papers.
Great song!
Fwiw even when he was a baby faced lad in Drive by Truckers he was expected to be great, everyone could see his genius then but there was doubt he would live to see it fulfilled. He had serious issues with drink and drugs and he nearly died several times
Amazing song. Probably my favorite writing accomplishment of Jason's. I think you nailed it. High-school football is huge where we're from. Every player has aspirations of making it pro. The team was successful in their region but when the state playoffs started they met a team they couldn't beat. Their dreams were scattered. "It's a boy's last dream and a man's first loss". A senior in High-school is both a man and a boy at the same time. That's probably my favorite line in all of Jason's work. Great reaction 👍
So many masterpieces from this guy.
Obscure American colloquialisms: 5A is the top high school football division.
A shallow cross is a route a wide receiver runs and it is in the middle of the field and one has to be courageous to run it cuz you can get hit hard.
Almost every rural American male knows exactly what he’s saying with the line directly after, “A boys first dream and a man’s first loss.”
I interpret as all a boy wants is fame of being football star, but the old guys watching know it’s gone or that the first hit makes you a man. I don’t know but great line that sticks with me.
Really appreciate this brother!!
Here in Alabama at the time, 5a was the second biggest, now it's third. A shallow cross is a very simplistic play. I feel like he's making a point they took the easy route. It's Isbell, otherwise I'd think I was reading too much into it. Also he went to a small school, feel like it was almost a put down.
I think his reference to a boy's last dream, and a man's first loss is perfect. Here especially, high school sports can be the last strands of childhood, but often your first real adult heartbreak.
@@smoothplezing I think you hit it.
Also, in places where football=life, almost every young man faces a day where he realizes he’ll never be a football hero. So even as a spectator, he’s empathizing with the kids on the field too.
@@smoothplezing yeah, I was in 1A football, so 5 seems huge. It’s likely derogatory, the term shallow clearly means more than just a route. I took it as youthful enthusiasm but can definitely see the “simple path”interpretation too.
I always interpreted that line as suggesting football might have been the character’s ticket out of that town, but he took a nasty injury going over the middle against those 5A bastards. Playing football was the boys dream, but the loss of that is what made him a man. Just my thoughts
Newcastle lad living in the states for ages now. Loving your vids and happy to see the genre opening up, globally. Sending good vibes and wishing you all the best. Keep doing your thing
This is wonderful. There's a live version of Jason doing Dress Blues that will tear your heart out.. He's great at that ❤️
He is amazing. I have seen him in concert 6 times and will go again. I have to admit this last album he put out in 2020 I have not really listened to in depth so I am a little off on his up to date, but I go see him for these songs....and his band is amzing too. I met some of them in Knoxville Tn and they are mvp's themselves.
When he says there's nothing here that can't be left behind, I think it's because his mom has died. That's who the flowers were for, and what the lady at the store was referring to. He stayed because of his mom, but realized he had nothing left keeping him in this tiny town, so he decided to leave and start a new chapter.
No it's because his dad is ill or has died. The clerk knows his dad (in a small town people know the cops) died recently (or at least he's sick in the hospital) and that's what the flowers are for. Cheap flowers, cause dad was a dick. It's pretty clear the whole song is about his dad.
. @bvaljalo Well, that's certainly a simpler way to interpret it.
He had some amazing storytelling in his truckers days, too. You should check out "Outfit"
This is one my favorite Isbell songs as well. A very similar song to this is Dress Blues. It was covered and made popular by the Zac Brown band, who have much more commercial appeal, but I even prefer Isbell's musicality in the original version.
Great song....love Jason Isbell. Has some Bob Dylan in him
Check out flagship by Jason. One of his best song writing efforts in my opinion. At least in terms of painting a picture for the listener.
Glad you liked this song and good reaction. I notice most peoples intro to Jason is through songs like Elephant and If we were vampires but I would say he has so many better songs in my opinion. This song is one of my favourites from him but to be fair theres so many more great songs you can pick with anything off the Southeastern or something more than free album.
Yess!! Excited to get into more Isbell. My intro was actually through 24 frames. I'm only 4 songs in now, but he is brilliant.
@@OliWilford 24 frames is a good song. Yeah lots of great storytelling in songs like Yvette, Live Oak and Dress Blue. Really enjoying the variety of reactions on this channel.
@@OliWilford forgive me, have you done Decoration Day yet? That’s Isbell at 22, writing about family secrets and stories because he knew he hadn’t lived enough to have his own. The much older and established guys in DBT made it the title track of that next album...
He was kicked out of the band. For drugs and alcohol. Been sober over 10 years now
When he "signed his name", it was to take his father off life support. The main reason he's stayed was his father in the ICU. When deciding to "sign his name", there was nothing to hold him back. The indian mound in the ending also relates to letting his father go - sitting by a burial ground, finally gotten away from the Speed Trap Town...
Listen to Jeff Loops song The Ferryman! He was the bassist of Deep Chatham and Lost Dog Street Band but he's going solo. That song came out yesterday and hits the feels. 👍🏻👍🏻
ua-cam.com/video/L3IW2RJnOes/v-deo.html
Dress blues is one of my favorites by isbell, his first band was The Drive By Truckers and he wrote most of their songs. God Damn Lonely Love is fantastic.
Edit: you mentioned DBT after I wrote comment, sorry
He didn't write most of their songs.
@@tubatalabal Very true, Patterson and Stroker Ace wrote most of them. But he wrote a lot of my favorite DBT songs like GDLL, Outfit, Danko/Manuel, Never Gonna Change, and Decoration Day. Just sayin' ...
@@bvaljalo Absolutely! But he was in that band for 5 years out of the almost 30 they've been around. It's Patterson and Hood's band.
You should do god damn lonely love by drive by truckers. Speaking of his old band and songs he wrote.
Johnny Come Lately - Steve Earle
Love the guitars just as much, if not more, than the songs. Two great guitarists!
Hey man. I really like what you’re doing. I’m from the sticks in Georgia not too far from Athens. Spent many years following DBT. Loved Jason’s songs then and I’m really glad he’s getting the respect he deserves. The Drive by Truckers song you reacted to was not a very good recording. Please give them another listen. Two more fantastic songwriters there in Mike Cooley and Patterson Hood. Thanks. Have a safe holiday!
Really love your reactions and especially your lyric breakdowns. I’d love for you to react to Death Cab for Cutie “What Sarah Said” or Iron and Wine “trapeze swinger” or Death Cab “Brothers on a hotel bed”. They’re all deep meaningful indie songs that always make me feel a ton, and the lyrics really shine
Love to see you react to Whiskey Myers "Dogwood" from The Texas Music Scene.
You really can't go wrong with any of Jason's songs. I see "Dress Blues" recommended a lot, and I'd urge you to review it. Another one that isn't mentioned much is "Anxiety." Please react to it at some point in the near future. Knowing Jason's backstory allows you to really appreciate the lyrics more than you might otherwise. Take care...
I'd give you some great Isbell songs to go to next...but I couldn't narrow it down. He is just the best. If you want to look at up-to-date things, his duet with Amanda Shires (his wife) just came out and it is amazing: ua-cam.com/video/rWRpxdkljC8/v-deo.html It's Amanda's song (she wrote it) and it's pretty controversial.
What a great tune!