Re: Kansas was Cowboys to Girls
On Fri, 19 Feb 1999 11:47:28 -0500 (EST) "Terry A. Smith" [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: ps so what, specifically, is the Damnations TX's song "Kansas" about? There's no lyrics in the record, so I haven't been able to ferret out the words precisely, but the tune apparently involves the "bloody Kansas" pre-Civil War period (or maybe post-Civil War?). I thought it was pretty neat that a band has enough historical savvy to make a (very good) song out of a fairly obscure historical reference point. Or maybe they're singing about the rock band... Off the top of my head, Kansas was called "Bloody Kansas" in the decade or so leading up to the Civil War because it was a hotbed of unrest and violence due to the fact that it wasn't certain which way it would enter the Union -- slave or free. Thus it became sort of a magnet for extremists on both sides of the slavery issue. Shoot-outs, murders, lynchings, and what we would call terrorism today, all took place in Kansas in the 1850s, as both sides tried to win the upper hand. In a way it was a ghastly foreshadowing of what was to come. It's an interesting and mostly successful songwriting attempt in an album full of good songs. I especially like the imagery of (I'm paraphrasing here) the singer being frightened of "an old man standing there hot as a pepper." I get the image of some fanatical John Brown-type ready to kill everyone in sight or maybe a bitter slaveowner come to retrieve his "property." I don't know if the word "salivating" used in the song was in common parlance at the time, but poetic license I always say... I don't think I'm reading too much into a story song like this, but I've given this album a couple of hard listens and am finding that it keeps getting better with each playing. And it's one of those rare albums that actually gets better as it goes along. The last half is certainly as strong as the first. This is an impressive effort. Intelligent, well-written, country-tinged rock and roll. William Cocke Senior Writer HSC Development University of Virginia (804) 924-8432
Re: Kansas was Cowboys to Girls
Yeah, the Kansas song on Half Mad Moon is one I've listened to over and over because I had a hard time a) deciphering the lyrics, b) understanding how they all went together once I'd figured them out (there are still a couple of lines I don't get, in fact...). And being in Kansas, I felt duty-bound to figure it out g. As William says, the song refers to the "Bleeding Kansas" period of pro- and anti-slavery violence following the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854. Outrage against the way this act opened the door for a spread of slavery after the Missouri Compromise, etc., gave birth to the Republican party, bitter guerilla warfare between pro- and anti-slavery factions in Kansas itself (John Brown, a notorious massacre in Lawrence, the town I'm writing from right now, etc.), and the famous incident on the floor of the U.S. Senate in which Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner was beaten senseless by southern Senator Preston Brooks. (You think the House Managers were partisan last month!!!). Sumner denounced the "crimes against Kansas" and ended up in a bloody heap on the floor. And yet the Damnations song has a fun, jangly feeling, so that my daughter knows the words already and sings them happily as we're driving around Lawrence in the car: "Kansas Bleeding Kansas, back home!!" I still wonder how they came to write such a song. I initially thought perhaps one of them was from here, but from what everyone says they're from NY by way of the Southwest, etc. So who knows Someone should ask them. --junior, in Lawrence, KS...
Re: Kansas was Cowboys to Girls
William T. Cocke wrote: On Fri, 19 Feb 1999 11:47:28 -0500 (EST) "Terry A. Smith" [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: ps so what, specifically, is the Damnations TX's song "Kansas" about? There's no lyrics in the record, so I haven't been able to ferret out the words precisely, but the tune apparently involves the "bloody Kansas" pre-Civil War period (or maybe post-Civil War?). I thought it was pretty neat that a band has enough historical savvy to make a (very good) song out of a fairly obscure historical reference point. Or maybe they're singing about the rock band... Off the top of my head, Kansas was called "Bloody Kansas" in the decade or so leading up to the Civil War because it was a hotbed of unrest and violence due to the fact that it wasn't certain which way it would enter the Union -- slave or free. Thus it became sort of a magnet for extremists on both sides of the slavery issue. Shoot-outs, murders, lynchings, and what we would call terrorism today, all took place in Kansas in the 1850s, as both sides tried to win the upper hand. In a way it was a ghastly foreshadowing of what was to come. It was "Bleeding Kansas", but William's memory is pretty right on otherwise. Like every other state admitted to the Union after the Missouri Compromise, Kansas' slave or free status was hotly debated, and was left to the residents themselves to decide by vote. Thus both sides tried everything possible to get the "right" vote. The definitive history of the Missouri-Kansas Civil War by Jay Monaghan is aptly titled "Civil War On The Western Border 1854-1865". The war started here in a sense, and was fought here in a way that directly affected and involved "civilians" like never before. (Ever heard of "Bloody Bill" Anderson, or Jesse James?gJohn Brown got his first kills here.) In a sense it was thus a precursor to modern warfare in much the same way as the rifled musket and entrenchments were. (The Union's infamous Order Number 11 forcibly removed many locals from their property without compensation and swelled the ranks of the guerrillas) Kansas went for the Union eventually, but Missouri natives were by and large Southern sympathisers- The Missouri State Guard went over to the South along with most of the state government, and were led by Missouri's leading citizen, Sterling "Ol Pap" Price. It was the large influx of mostly German and Irish immigrants in the St. Louis area (many of whom had escaped conscription or revolution or famine in their native countries) that formed the backbone of early Union resistance in Missouri and at the battle that saved the state for the Union, Wilson's Creek. (Nice battlefield tour, BTW)Junior and I discussed some of this at some length awhile back onlist, and it doesn't probably belong here, but it is fascinating to the locals at least. Noted director Ang Lee finished filming a movie here last spring, "To Live On", that supposedly deals with the issues of the neighbor against neighbor guerrilla warfare around these parts. Notables include Skeet Ulrich, Jim Caviezel and, um, Jewel. How much of it the movie gets "right" is definitely up for grabs (I'd be thrilled with a "Glory"-like proximity to realism) but the exposure of the border conflict to a wider public will be kinda cool. Oh, got all carried away there. Twang content from William re: Damnations TX: Intelligent, well-written, country-tinged rock and roll. He got that right too. g b.s. p.s. Oh yeah and Steve Earle's "Ben McCulloch" is an excellent piece of historical writing as well as a good song of some southern recruits who "see the elephant" at Pea Ridge.
Re: Kansas was Cowboys to Girls
William Cocke writes: Off the top of my head, Kansas was called "Bloody Kansas" in the decade or so leading up to the Civil War because it was a hotbed of unrest and violence due to the fact that it wasn't certain which way it would enter the Union -- slave or free. Thus it became sort of a magnet for extremists on both sides of the slavery issue. Shoot-outs, murders, lynchings, and what we would call terrorism today, all took place in Kansas in the 1850s, as both sides tried to win the upper hand. In a way it was a ghastly foreshadowing of what was to come. It's an interesting and mostly successful songwriting attempt in an album full of good songs. I especially like the imagery of (I'm paraphrasing here) the singer being frightened of "an old man standing there hot as a pepper." I get the image of some fanatical John Brown-type ready to kill everyone in sight or maybe a bitter slaveowner come to retrieve his "property." I don't know if the word "salivating" used in the song was in common parlance at the time, but poetic license I always say... The John Brown image is one that comes to my mind when I hear the lines William is referring to: "What we've all come to fear/Is a pepper on fire like that old man." The lyrics I've been able to decipher thus far are approximately: I'm the law I've been sent over yonder mountains From the civilized side, this all looks so wild A land that has never been tempered Can't properly quench this savage call What we've all come to fear Is a pepper on fire like that old man I don't know why you're standing there salivating When folks have taken to naming This Free Soiler state you're laying in They say "Kansas, yeah, Kansas bleeding Kansas," back home I'm fuzzier on the second verse, so I won't attempt to transcribe it here, but it's got references to jayhawks and rifles and other Kansan sorts of things. I can't begin to guess what prompted them to write it--maybe Amy was reading Russell Banks' recent novel about John Brown--but I think it's cool as hell, and I admit, a little reluctantly, to being pleased to see a girl lyricist covering things other than conventional girl songwriter topics--y'know, like love and that kind of thing. Before anybody flames me, I'm not suggesting that Amy and Deborah are the first girls to write about a range of topics other than l-u-v; I'm just admiring their lyrical approach. --Amy, who could talk about the Damnations all day long
