Cultural Opportunity: Down Concert

This past Friday I went and saw one of my favorite bands in concert: Down. Most people haven't really heard of them before. The lead singer is Phil Anselmo and the bass player is Rex Brown, both from Pantera. This was the 3rd time I've seen these guys and it was their best show yet! I rocked out the entire time and had a fucking blast!

During the show, they played many of my favorite songs: New Orleans is a Dying Whore, Stone the Crows, The Seed, Lifer, and Temptation's Wings.

New Orleans is a Dying Whore is probably their most badass song in my opinion. The guys of Down are from New Orleans and because of Hurricane Katrina, they never played the song at their shows. That is, until Friday! When the song came on, my brother and I freaked out! This song deals with the not-so-pretty side of the city. With lyrics like "...straight to the street run, no bar room virgin, double vision - cocaine, to a whore house of pain..." you can begin to understand the sort of things the guys were involved with in their home town. Other lyrics include "Mob world politics, so broke it can't fix, trapped in a time zone, there's no place like home..." But even with words like that, the song also shows that no matter what, these guys love New Orleans.

Stone the Crows would have to be one of my favorite Down songs. The beautiful riff is what makes the song. But let’s take a deeper look into the slightly depressing words of the tune. “A bout of deep depression. Can't seem to move it forward…I never died before. Can't live what happened yesterday…No one can share this hurt that is mine, mine, mine…No matter how I try, no matter what I say, I'm blamed, I'm Shamed, I'm judged unfairly.” Back in 2004, when Dimebag Darrel, Pantera’s guitarist, was murdered, many people blamed Phil for what happened. These lyrics demonstrate the hurt and pain that Phil dealt with during those hard times. But lyrics like “You too have died before. I'm not as stoned as yesterday. I never stoned the crow, stoned the crow no, no…” show that he has been able to work through the pain.

The Seed is all about marijuana. The very first line of the song says “Smoke up, do what you must do, wake up, inhale the earth grown fumes.” The rest of the song talks about all the marijuana grown around the world and “the perfection of the seed.”

Lifer is a song that Phil always dedicates to the late Dimebag Darrel. With lyrics like “free at last” and “I’m standing way on the other side,” it’s obvious what this song represents: Just because Dimebag is gone, his legend and spirit live on. He’s a Lifer.

Temptation’s Wings is a very heavy song that deals with Phil’s addiction to heroin and several other drugs. “I feel the pressure it lightens” expresses the pain of addiction. The entire chorus talks about how he pretty much gave his life to drugs: “I gave my life to reason, so now I'm watching my life go, my wit is falling apart, I can't shake temptations wings.” The final verse gives the heartbreaking details of his struggle: “I bury my head with frustration and I look at others and wonder why I'm feeding my cancer. A broken vision that stole my sight.”

Overall, the lyrics of Phil Anselmo and the other members of Down show a wide range of writing abilities and experiences. These guys put their hearts and souls into their music, and the lyrics perfectly demonstrate this.

Keep on Rocking!