I wrote this song ten years ago, recorded half a dozen versions of it, and played it at nearly all of my thousand or so shows in the last decade. I just can’t shake the damned thing. I guess it’s because it’s a bit of a timeless and borderless theme. A guy grows disillusioned with the world and further away from society, turns to idol worship, and prepares for the apocalypse. When I wrote it, that guy was a Vietnam War veteran in my hometown in Missouri and that idol was Elvis on the thirtieth anniversary of his death. Nowadays when I sing it I imagine that guy could be just about any scared, hateful, rightwing, conservative person anywhere and that idol could be Trump, Putin, Erdogan, Hoffer, Le Pen, Wilders, or any other psychopath, wannabe demagogue. I wrote this song as an attempt to understand them. That’s the only real way to defeat them or get them to change their minds. I recorded it on Cherokee Street in St. Louis, Missouri, with one of my oldest friends and musical partners, Ben Majchrzak, at Native Sound Studio. Ollie Samland, otherwise known as the best pedal steel guitarist in Germany, was there and he played piano. I played electric guitar so loud that my ears are still ringing.
lyrics
i lit a candle for elvis wax pouring down my cheeks i know he’s still alive and i just can’t wait to meet him - when i go down to graceland i’m going down to graceland and i’ll buy that fat man a drink and talk like it’s the 70’s in my sequined suit and grey sideburns - i saw candles for children on my tv set from some kind of earthquake but i don’t give a shit - cause i’m going down to graceland i’m going down to graceland and i’ll buy myself a drink and i’ll talk like it’s the 70’s in my sequined suit and grey sideburns - so if the end is coming then where are the horsemen? i don't think I'd mind it at least it's seven days of something i don't have a first-born and I don't mind the frogs and I've seen rivers of blood in my dreams since Vietnam so come on jesus or come on allah i hope you have my number cause I've been waiting for your call - last night I lit a candle when my power died and of my youth it did remind i compared my youthful dreams to my modern life and I realized if I were a child again myself I wouldn't recognize - cause I'm going down to graceland i'm going down to graceland and I will drown my dreams in drinks and settle on my things like my sequined suit and grey sideburns
credits
from Koffer,
released November 18, 2016
Ian Fisher - Lead Vocals / Guitar
Ollie Samland - Pedal Steel Guitar / Piano / Organ
Kevin Bachman - Bass
Ben Majchrzak @ Native Sound Studios - Engineer / Mix / Drums / Backing Vocals
On “Meet Me By the River,” Dawn Landes’s self-described “Nashville record,” buoyant country melodies settle deep into lush instrumentation. Bandcamp New & Notable May 7, 2018