Brian's Explanation Master List

Even though Brian says he wants fans to interpret the songs for themselves, at shows he tends to explain a bit about one or two. I'll post what I know/what I've heard and you fill anything in that you've heard.

Sink or Swim

Wooderson The "alright, alright" is an ode to Dazed and Confused and guy Brian used to work construction with who used to say that all the time.

1930 I think I've read around here that 1930 is about Brian's grandmother passing away. It was originally written and recorded as a demo for Brian's previous band, This Charming Man. The song was originally called "She Coulda Raised The Titanic."

The Navesink Banks Navesink is about Jersey, mainly and about a river down the road from Asbury Park

I'da Called You Woody, Joe Woody, Joe is about Brian's trip into a record store one day where the clerk steered him away from whatever the trendy music was at the time, the guy bought him The Clash's self-titled album from 1979 which in his words, "changed my life."

Angry Johnny and The Radio Brian told me last year that a lot of his songs were written for friends of his and this was one of them. It was inspired also by a roadtrip to Baltimore.

Drive Drive was the first song that Brian wrote for Gaslight.

We're Getting a Divorce, You Keep The Diner Brian was talking about Divorce and he explained that when you are dating someone in Jersey it's common for the two of you and your friends to all meet at a specific diner and it almost become part of the relationship. He said one of the hardest parts of breaking up is deciding who gets to keep going to the diner because you want to keep contact with this other person at the minimum; almost like a child in a divorce.


Señor And The Queen

Blue Jeans & White T-Shirts This song was written about a photograph of Brian and a few friends singing around a microphone at an early band performance at Asbury Lanes. Everyone in the picture was wearing blue jeans and white t-shirts which spurred Brian to write a song about it. The song is very much about Jersey, the attitudes and what Brian wants to be able to do as a teen and in life (sing with his heroes and buy someone a house on Asbury Park's Cookman Ave.)


The '59 Sound

Great Expectations This was the second song written for the record. It was written specifically as the first track, "always with Great Expectations," as the where Brian's mind was at the time of writing.

The '59 Sound This was the first song written for the album. It's about 10 different friends of Brian's but specifically about one who died right near where he was playing a show when he was about 17. The song was written with the idea in mind that it would incorporate every element of the album in one song.

Old White Lincoln This song is about a girl who Brian used to race up and down the Jersey Parkway where he would meet her for coffee after school sometimes, later in the afternoon. She drove an old white lincoln with a big V-8 engine and would smoke him in his Toyota Corolla.

High Lonesome High Lonesome took a Counting Crows' line and ran with it, playing on the idea that we've all wished at one point or another that we were someone else.

Miles Davis & The Cool This song was written about Brian trying to woo a girl with some Miles Davis. He'd throw rocks at her window to try to wake her up, but not her big bad bruiser of a dad

Here's Looking At You, Kid Here's Looking At You, Kid was written about the different girls throughout Brian's life. Most specifically, Anna, at the end of the song, was a girl that Brian went to the Stone Pony with one night to a punkrock show. She was wild and dangerous, Brian said, and Brian thought he was cool being with the crazy girl. She wound up ditching him that night for another guy leaving him high and dry. She tried to get back together with him and they may have for a short time before another girl grabbed him away from "Anna." The title is a line from the famous movie Casablanca.

I like this. Also, Brian has said that The Navesink Banks was "about stealing wallets" and "stealing from pirates"

This is off topic but does anyone know Ted Leo's song The Angels' Share? I never knew what it was from, but I like how Ted introduced it once at a show. "This song is about that little bit of whiskey that evaporates in the barrel. And that's the angels' share."

Depends how much detail you want; if you want to add more to the 'Woody' explanation, I've heard him say he was 'looking for Rancid or something' and that it was the record store owner and another woman at the counter who both put up $6 (I think thats the right amount) to get the Clash record.

6 bucks each. 12 bucks total. and though he usually says he was looking for a Rancid album, he's said it might've been The Offspring or Op Ivy

Yeah, that's what it was. I'll add it in there.

When they were on tour with The Draft I believe, that or The Loved Ones Brian was talking about We're getting a divorce, You keep the diner and he explained that when you are dating someone in Jersey it's common for the two of you and your friends to all meet at a specific diner and it almost become part of the relationship. He said one of the hardest parts of breaking up is deciding who gets to keep going to the diner because you want to keep contact with this other person at the minimum; almost like a child in a divorce.

Thats an interesting one for Divorce, something people not from New Jersey would not know about, I shouldn't think.

That's awesome hostutca, thanks. I'll add it to the list.

I heard them say (at a show) that it was meant to be "We're Getting A Divorce, You Keep The Dinner" but the guy who typed it up was drunk!

Stalls_Standing wrote:

I heard them say (at a show) that it was meant to be "We're Getting A Divorce, You Keep The Dinner" but the guy who typed it up was drunk!

thats funny...maybe that was just one of those stories brian likes to tell at shows...

love this thread its pretty cool! keep up the good work!

Area 4 festival saw Brian saying some weird things... not really explaining the songs but:
before Casanova, Baby
-"And in that girl's trunk, she had a fish the size of Alaska. And it was a magical fish. And it would talk about tarot cards and reading the future. And I'm not sure what she saw in those things, but I'm sure she had blue eyes"

before Say I Won't (Recognize)
-"And then she tried to change the tire when we got a flat. And she did it with a corkscrew and a bottle-opener. And she turned tire air into wine. She was trying to be like Jesus, didn't get it right, but whatever we had wine at the end of the day."

also in the middle of Say I Won't, before the "do you like good music?" song, he says something like "Yeah but I have to ask her dad if I can take her out, I don't have any money" an obvious derivation from Springsteen's Rosalita.

yeah, he was high

Jukebox Romeo wrote:

yeah, he was high

I had my suspicions when listening to the bootleg! That's where my signature (see below) was taken from!

wait who was high?

Brian, we think.

ha brian fallon does not seem like the kind of guy to smoke weed before going on stage at least

haha ok I've seen the Area 4 festival video now, and he doesn't look high or anything, he's known to tell crazy stories, either way it was hilarious

im going to assume you guys are joking as its well documented that he doesnt even really drink, let alone smoke weed or anything else

he was high on life! duh!

Jukebox Romeo wrote:

he was high on life! duh!

something a lot of people seem to forget is actually possible

steph wrote:

im going to assume you guys are joking as its well documented that he doesnt even really drink, let alone smoke weed or anything else

He smokes, not weed but he smokes ordinary cigarettes.

Brian explains here how Backseats isn't about making out in the back of cars, but about how, as a kid, you squirm around in backseats to try and feel comfortable and how that is representative of what you experience when you begin to grow up.

Check the video out, he explains it much better and an awesome performance too.

(First post )

Gday Midnight, hows it going? Thanks for the link, it's interesting! BTW, introduce yourself in the Intro section, so we can get to know you.

don't know how I missed this thread before; great work