Uptown Blues

from Static on Every Station by Tom Andes

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about

This came from a Steve Earle songwriting exercise. He suggests taking the first line of someone else's song and rewriting it to make it your own, so I cribbed the beginning of this from his "South Nashville Blues": "Went downtown, was just to ease my pain." When I lived in Uptown New Orleans 25 years ago, it was the kind of place where you bumped elbows with people from all different walks of life, to quote Dylan, "some on their way up, some on their way down." This also owes a huge debt to Mississippi John Hurt. One of the challenges of recording it was making nearly five minutes of the same four chords in the same pattern have a sense of rising action, which the drums, bass, and accordion help to do, especially during the "Hey hey Jackie" verses and the rockabilly-style break, when David plays his lead. I wanted to capture a sense of somebody being on the edge of something, maybe closer to the edge than he thinks he is. Though this was ostensibly the simplest song we recorded, it required the most takes—10 in all before we got it right.

lyrics

Went Uptown was just to pass the time
Walked all the way with loving on my mind

My woman stays on Magazine and State
She works in the morning and I sleep till late

Hey hey Jackie, won't you open up your door
I can't believe you don't want me anymore

I made a hundred twenty bucks in tips
And I can't want to kiss my baby's lips

The neighbors drink and party all night long
I want to do right but my mind's all wrong

Hey hey Jackie won't you open up tonight
I don't want your friends to hear us fight

My baby won't let anybody ride
And the Mississippi's half a mile wide

And if you've got the money I've got the time
I work and work can't seem to make a dime

Hey hey Jackie won't you open up your gate
It's wet out here and my mind's just not straight

Went Uptown was just to pass the time
Walked all the way with loving on my mind

Hey hey Jackie won't you open up tonight
I don't want your friends to hear us fight

credits

from Static on Every Station, released January 24, 2022
Tom Andes: lead vocals, acoustic guitar
George "Beau" Bishop: backing vocals, drums
Stoo Odom: bass
David Symons: accordion

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Tom Andes Albuquerque, New Mexico

Originally from New Hampshire, Tom has lived all over the country, on both coasts and (twice) in New Orleans. Currently, he lives in Albuquerque, NM.

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