Gratitude Walks
| "Gratitude Walks" | |
|---|---|
 Mercury cover | |
| Song by American Music Club from the album Mercury | |
| Released | March 15, 1993 |
| Format | LP / CD / CS |
| Length | 4:14 |
| Label | Reprise Records (US) / Virgin Records (UK) |
| Writer(s) | Mark Eitzel |
| Producer(s) | Mitchell Froom |
| Mercury track listing | |
| |
"Gratitude Walks" is the first song on American Music Club's sixth album, 1993’s Mercury. The 6th Street referred to in the lyrics is in San Francisco, a block and a half away from where Vudi was subleasing the second floor of a warehouse in the South of Market area of town, where American Music Club rehearsed and often lived at the time.[1]
The song, originally titled "The Torture of St. Cruelty," was written in the spring of 1992, as mentioned in an interview with Musician magazine.[2]
In the interview, Eitzel states, "I just wrote this new song, 'The Torture Of St. Cruelty.' It's about weakness. At first, I thought, 'No drums. It's just going to be acoustic guitar and a string section.' Now, I'm thinking, 'Let's try drums and maybe we'll do it heavy metal.' To me the song's realized as long as it does the same thing to me inside. And if a song doesn't groove, we'll drop it."[2]
Lyrics
Why don't you be good for something
And draw down the shade
On a sign that sat up all night shivering
On a sign that sat up all night afraid
Well now chains on the oasis that
Leads a man to drink
Drunk on the kind of applause
That gets louder the lower you sink
Gratitude walks on 6th Street
Pull it from the air
And they throw it in the blue
And you're spinning under their wheels
Trapped in your room
You're jumpy, you don't want to see
You don't want to see them have their fun
Slap her face if she should laugh
Push him down if he should try and run
Gratitude walks on 6th Street
Take a number for your big lament
They sold the rules of dream land
in cotton, wool, and cement
Well it's never what you want
It's just the kind of thing that always happens here
Yeah you watch the good old days pass you by
Leaving your cupboards bare
Gratitude walks on 6th Street
Video
American Music Club performing "Gratitude Walks" on April 5, 1993 in Scotland.
Personnel
- Mark Eitzel - vocals, guitars
- Danny Pearson - guitar, mandolin, backing vocals
- Vudi - guitar, accordion, backing vocals
- Tim Mooney - drums
- Bruce Kaphan - pedal steel guitar
Also appears on
- A Toast To You Live version
- The Mercury Band Demos April 1992 Demo
- Our First Trip to Nottingham Live version
References
- ↑ Stolder, Steve (1993). "Heart Of Darkness". Request Magazine. Santa Monica, CA: Marvin Scott Jarrett.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Fong-Torres, Ben (July 1992). "American Music Club's Mark Eitzel: Underground Hero". Musician. Retrieved January 16, 2018.
