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Veri e propri padri dell'alternative country gli Uncle Tupelo nascono nella seconda metà degli anni Ottanta a Belleville, nell'Illinois. Jay Farrar e Jeff Tweedy, cresciuti con le ballate di Hank Williams e la tradizione di Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly e della Carter Family, riescono pienamente nell'intento di fondere questi amori roots con l'altra loro grande passione, quella per il punk e il noise (Black Flag, Husker Du, Sonic Youth). Il loro esordio è appunto "No Depression", titolo di un pezzo anni Trenta sulla Grande Depressione della stessa Carter Family (a testimoniare l'importanza di questo disco ci sarà la nascita di una rivista che porta tale nome e si occuperà dei nuovi fermenti country).
Coadiuvati dal preciso batterista Michael Heidom i due leader danno vita ad un album vibrante che trova i suoi vertici nella potente Graveyard Shift, una stupenda cavalcata quasi hard-rock, e nei sapori tipici della intensa Whiskey Bottle (forte anche di una ottima versione acustica), oltre che nelle cover della title-track, abbastanza fedele all'originale, e nella rivisitazione del classico John Hardy di Leadbelly. La musica rabbiosa ed efficace si accompagna a dei testi piuttosto dimessi, in cui Farrar si dimostra attento scrutatore della realtà quotidiana. Da segnalare anche la veloce Train, la più tipicamente rurale Screen Door e la versione "metallica" di Blues Die Hard (presente nella ristampa).
Nonostante non siano stati i primi a prodigarsi nella ricerca di un connubio tra punk e country gli Uncle Tupelo si sono quindi dimostrati degne icone del movimento virando nei successivi tre lavori verso una matrice prettamente folk debitrice di Gram Parsons e Neil Young, per poi sciogliersi a causa dei dissidi tra Farrar, il quale fonderà i Son Volt, e Tweedy, leader dei più famosi Wilco.
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01 Graveyard Shift (04:43)
Hometown, same town blues
Same old walls closing in
Oh what a life a mess can be
I'm sitting here thinking of you, won't you give
A few thoughts to me
Well, time won't wait, better open the gate
Get up and start what needs to be done
It's winding down, there's much you missed
Working on that graveyard shift
Well, I'm not saying there's nothing wrong as the day comes along
If what I see is true I could learn to believe
Can't look away
The powers that be might take it all away
Together we burn, together we burn away
Some say a land of paradise
Some say a land of pain
Well, which side are you looking from
Some people have it all
Some all to gain
Well a man in a tie gonna break his twenty dollar bill
There's plenty of reasons in this world
To sit around or stand there still
But I'm not saying there's nothing wrong as the day comes along
If what I see is true I could learn to believe
Can't look away
The powers that be might take it all away
Together we burn, together we burn away
There's too much time spent looking for a reason
It's the simple ones that beat the most truth
Oh, what a life a mess can be
I'm sitting here thinking of you, won't you give
A few thoughts to me
Well, time won't wait, better open the gate
Get up and start what needs to be done
It's running down, there's much you missed
Working on that graveyard shift
But I'm not saying there's nothing wrong as the day comes along
If what I see is true I could learn to believe
Can't look away
The powers that be might take it all away
Together we burn, together we burn away
02 That Year (02:59)
The thousand times I lived before were just in my dreams
Well, I woke up to realize it didn't mean a thing
I've seen several better places, several better times
Somehow those memories got left behind
Give me back that year, good or bad
Give me back something that I never knew I had
I guess it all boils down to it was just a second guess
So god damn long ago it's hard to feel I did my best
And I think of our relationship and all
And why I can't see that anymore in your eyes
Give me back that year, good or bad
Give me back something that I never knew I had
Well, I sit and watch it go by
I sit and watch shit go by
Go by
That year
03 Before I Break (02:48)
On liquor I spent my last dime
Sunday morning, 8am
Just cursing myself again
Drinking like each one might be my last
Blurred memories of making toasts
To the cheapest beer and talk-show hosts
Funny then, but that's fading fast
Here's to waking up at night
Half drunk in a ditch by the side of the road
You're still thinking
That you can't go on like this
Headed for a break down
You keep saying thanks for tomorrow, 'cause I can't live
Thanks for tomorrow, 'cause I've had enough
Well, it'd do me just fine to make it through the night
On liquor I spent my last dime
A worried man drinks a healthy drink
But he drinks nine or ten until he's done
Then he'll tell you his life story
But he won't stop until he's told you and everyone
Well here's to waking up at night
Half drunk in a ditch by the side of the road
You're still thinking
That you can't go on like this
Before I break down
You keep saying thanks for tomorrow, 'cause I can't live
Thanks for tomorrow, 'cause I've had enough
Well, it'd do me just fine to make it through the night
On liquor I spent my last dime
Blurred memories of making toasts
To the cheapest beer and talk-show hosts
Funny then, but that's fading fast
Here's to waking up at night
Half drunk in a ditch by the side of the road
You're still thinking
That you can't go on like this
Before I break down
You keep saying thanks for tomorrow, 'cause I can't live
Thanks for tomorrow, 'cause I've had enough
Well, it'd do me just fine to make it through the night
On liquor I spent my last dime
04 No Depression (02:20)
Fear the hearts of men are failing
These our latter days we know
The great depression now is spreading
God's word declared it would be so
I'm going where there's no depression
To a better land that's free from care
I'll leave this world of toil and trouble
My home's in heaven
I'm going there
In this dark hour, midnight nearing
The tribulation time will come
The storms will hurl the midnight fear
And sweep lost millions to their doom
I'm going where there's no depression
To a better land that's free from care
I'll leave this world of toil and trouble
My home's in heaven
I'm going there
I'm going where there's no depression
To a better land that's free from care
I'll leave this world of toil and trouble
My home's in heaven
I'm going there
05 Factory Belt (03:13)
It's funny how it all works out
Mad men in suits walking about
I'd like to change your point of view someday
But I feel my patience slipping away
Looks like it's time to lay this burden down
Stop messing around
Don't want to go to the grave without a sound
Give this whole place a rest
Not to ride on the factory belt
Not to ride on the factory belt
You do all you can to just get by
With poison all around
It needs no disguise
You can see it on faces
Parcel at your door
You know there ain't no chance our respect is no more
Looks like it's time to lay this burden down
Stop messing around
Don't want to hurry to the grave in the ground
06 Whiskey Bottle (04:46)
Persuaded, paraded, enebriated, and down
Still aware of everything life carries on without
'Cause there's one too many faces with dollar sign smiles
Got to find the shortest path to the bar for a while
A long way from happiness
In a three-hour-away town
Whiskey bottle over Jesus
Not forever, just for now
Not forever, just for now
There's a trouble around, it's never far away
The same trouble's been around for a life and a day
I can't forget the sound, 'cause it's here to stay
The sound of people chasing money and money getting away
A long way from happiness
In a three-hour-away town
Whiskey bottle over Jesus
Not forever, just for now
Not forever, just for now
In between the dirt and disgust there must be
Some air to breathe and something to believe
Liquor and guns the sign says quite plain
Somehow life goes on in a place so insane
A long way from happiness
In a three-hour-away town
Whiskey bottle over Jesus
Not forever, just for now
Not forever, just for now
07 Outdone (02:48)
Everything's fine for now, no one's really laughing
Everything's just all right, or is it now
? up to the round, but keep moving on
You can cut the cord now, just dragging along
Now there's too many people trying too hard
Not to be outdone
They follow close behind their proud smoking gun
It's up to you and me whether to pay them any mind
Some people turn to tomorrow, and some, a bottle of wine
Remember back when there could be no wrong
It's different for everyone until it's gone
Now there's too many people trying too hard
Not to be outdone
They follow close behind their proud smoking gun
Things are breaking down
Not that stuff
Think it over again
Dreams come and go, and one thing remains
In the back of your mind, it won't go away
Saying, "take a look around and tell me everything's just fine
From what I can see now, we'd be fools or lying"
Now there's too many people trying too hard
Not to be outdone
They follow close behind their proud smoking gun
They say take your leave from the common view
First look around past the college grounds
Were people aware of more than themselves, they'd care
08 Train (03:19)
A quarter after two
Sittin' in my car, watching
Waiting on a train
Ninety-seven flatcars
Loaded down with troop trucks and tanks
Rolling by
I'm twenty-one, and I'm scared as hell
I quit school, I'm healthy as a horse
Because of all that I'll be the first one to die in a war
The whole damn town was sleeping
Dreaming the same dream
The radio was playing
Roger McGuinn singing
"To each and every thing there's a time and a season
I'm twenty-one, and I'm scared as hell
I quit school, I'm healthy as a horse
Because of all that I'll be the first one to die in a war
Yes, I have the right to say
We all die anyway
But I'd just like to know
Where does my time go
10 Flatness (02:58)
Beer makes you weary
But you need something to get along
You stare at the flatness
Beside the dark home
They'll not hear you whisper
This isn't where it ends
Your hand holds the bottle
That has become your last and only friend
I've lost all hope
There's hope for you
If not just in the possibility
Of a better next day
If not just in the simple fact
There's no other way
You lie on that couch
And try to dream once more
But your only goal is to sleep
Until the news is over
And outside the leaves are all changing
But you drink to forget
Someone you once met
Stands blocking the bright orange sunset
I've lost all hope
There's hope for you
If not just in the possibility
Of a better next day
If not just in the simple fact
There's no other way
So open up those curtains
And drink up the daylight
Just by the brightness
Open your doors wide
'Cause things don't get better
But some people do
There's darkness in this life
But the brighter side we also may view
There's darkness in this life
But the brighter side we also may view
11 So Called Friend (03:12)
Never again, your so called friend
Will leave you sick and dry
This friend has a name
Knows the gutter and shame
This so called friend of you and I
?, the long-term goals
Are to leave this friend behind
He knows what I lack
Is a place under the sack
For every other tie that binds
This last night on the town
Might be your last fun time out
And you think to yourself
There must be a better way than the same routine
For more than once, you pay
More than once, you pay
Butt full of lead, stuck in your web
Held captive by the stream
Thoughts in your head
The minute I sped
And you still had time to dream
This last night on the town
Might be your last
And you smile at things and wave goodbye
More excuses to never even try
As you wave goodbye
Forget what I said, your friend's not dead
He's only gone for a while
Come back to that crack between what's white and what's black
And give you one last smile
This last night on the town
Might be your last fun time out
And you think to yourself
There must be a better way than the same routine
For more than once, you pay
More than once, you pay
12 Screen Door (02:42)
Down here, where's we're at
The weather changes, that's the way it goes
Sometimes it snows, when everything's wrong
Sometimes it snows, but when it does, it doesn't last long
Down here, where we're at
All we do is sit out on the porch
And play our songs, and nothing's wrong
Sometime friends come around, they all sing along
Down here, where we're at
Everyone is equally poor
Down here, we don't care
We don't care what happens outside the screen door
Down here, where we're at
Sweat drips from the tip of your nose
You wear loose clothes, and you try to stay cool
We all still have a lot of fun, never saw much school
Down here, where we're at
Everyone is equally poor
Down here, we don't care
We don't care what happens outside the screen door
13 John Hardy (02:21)
John Hardy, he was a desperate little man
Carried two guns every day
Shot a man down by the West Virginia line
They saw John Hardy get away
They saw John Hardy get away
They cornered John Hardy on the Tombstone bridge
He thought that he was free
'Til the deputy sheriff came and grabbed him by the arm
Said "Johnny, come along with me"
"Johnny, come along with me"
John Hardy, he stood inside his cell
Tears running down his eyes
Said "I've seen the death of many a poor boy
Now I'm ready to die
Now I'm ready to die"
Well, I've been to the east and I've been to the west
I've been the whole world round
I've been to the north and I've been to the south
Now I'm going to my hanging ground
I'm going to my hanging ground
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