Whenever I hear those thundering chords that kick of this repetune, I know Kevin Kinney will be singing in my head all day about being lost (metaphorically) in the south. You can even hear a little Allman Brothers in it. When I was in college in Atlanta every college cover band used to do this song. This one and ‘It’s the End of the World as We Know It’, but that one is for another day.
Have ever seen the Blue Ridge Mountains, boy, or the Chattahoochee
Now let me explain this real quick. It’s ‘Blue’, like the music of depression, isolation, and hopelessness. But it also means ‘Bloom’ in the song as well, as in rebirth and hope. It’s really kinda clever (because there is no blue honeysuckle in the south)
Feel the southern breezes and the southern winds/ blowin’ round this dying land
This is one of the few songs that has a video that follows the song pretty closely, in this case the you that fee to the city looking for something more.
A boy fifteen, nothing in his pockets
You see that a lot in Atlanta, not like New York or L.A. but here too. Kids getting chewed up by the city an left disillusioned along with the older folks it happened to long ago.
An old hotel serves like a shelter for children of the street
It sounds a little depressing but it is really a hopeful song. Kinney offers the kids a welcome home back to the land of clean sheets and tree lined streets.
I’ll show you where the dog woods bloom it’s true
And it is not just an offer to the rag-a-muffin kids either but to anyone that needs to get away from that life.
I got a ticket in my pocket for the corner man, he’s never been
That blend of hard electric guitars, strummed acoustic guitars and a message of hope ring in your head over and over, making it a great repetune
