Rock Immortals Have Never Died
"Green Grass & High Tides" Proves It
I have a love-myeh relationship with so-called “southern rock.” From Charlie Daniels’ “Uneasy Rider” (a hilarious ‘70s take on Guthrie-esque storytelling) to “Sweet Home Alabama” (if Alabama’s so great, why did they record it in Arkansas?) to “Jim Dandy to the Rescue” (as close to a novelty song as a seriously written tune gets), these songs don’t withstand multiple replays for me. Though they’re skillful, they don’t stick like the Allman Brothers’ “La Bres in A Minor,” Head East’s “Never Been Any Reason,” and many pieces by the Drive-By Truckers (my favorite being “Where the Devil Won’t Stay”)—all “southern rock” artists who defy genre. Then there’s the Outlaws’ “Green Grass and High Tides” (GGHT).
Damn, I’d dance to it if I didn’t always just listen in sheer wonder, whether the 10-minute studio version or the 23:27 epic live encore. People who love music made this piece of art, and hell if it isn’t music to love. The song’s weave of bluegrass, rock, and blues is no era-nostalgic homage to rockstars who died young (e.g., “American Pie,” “Rock and Roll Heaven”). GGHT ponders the eternal experience of music itself:
In a place you always dream of, where your soul is always free,
Silver stages, golden curtains, filled my head plain as could be.
As a rainbow grew around the sun, all my stars above who died
Came somewhere beyond the scene—you see
These lovely people played for me.
Thomasson doesn’t name past greats because this song is about … us.
Now, if I let you see this place where stories all ring true,
Will you let me past your face to see what's really you?
It's not for me I ask this question as though I were a king!
For you have to love, believe, and feel
Before the burst of tambourines take you there.
Green grass and high tides forever.
Castles of stone, soul, and glory.
Lost faces say we adore you
As kings and queens bow and play for you.
Those who don't believe me, find your souls and set them free.
Those who do, believe and know that time will be your key.
Time and time again I've thanked them for a peace of mind
That helped me find myself amongst the music and the rhyme
That enchants you there.
Immortality isn’t heaven. Immortality is right now, present and accessible. In the explosive dervish that follows the last lyric, Thomasson and the band dowse us in an invitation to joy, where guitars, bass, and drums braid the listener into green grass, high tides, and castles of stone, soul, and glory. Lost faces are never really lost, and every note that’s real is always found … right here, in us.
Write me off as a fan-girl for a rock song I love. Jazz, classical, baroque, and other styles also inspire adoration. That’s the point of GGHT. It calls us to see who we really are in a way the humdrum world can’t. Rock and Roll greats aren’t immortal because they’re strumming harps with the angels, nor do they persist because we remember them. Rather, they live right now and right now invite us to immortal enchantment.
Tap your foot, strum those strings, and let the burst of tambourines take you there.
If you enjoy this piece about transformation and self-recognition through art, you’ll enjoy Shadow and the Cobra or my nonfiction memoir about being trans, How to NOT Know You’re Trans.