The Prayer in the "Tall Grass" by the Favourite Sons

Something about English Rock band, such as Echo & the Bunnymen, Psychedelic Furs, and the Church, has always seemed prayerful to me. It’s that deep tinge to the pop rock top, the hints of psych rock, and brooding at the microphone. Now, Favourite Sons comes with some of that sound in the mix on their Down Beside Your Beauty while also sending up a prayer (at least as I see it).

The Tall Grass
When will we go out and drown in the river
When will we go out
When will we go out and drown in red river
When will we go out

Everybody’s waiting to be told when they can go about

When will we go out and catch ourselves some sinners
When will we go out
When will we go out and hang ourselves some sinners
When will we go out

Everybody’s waiting to be told when they can go about
Oh Lord, protect us when these people start to go about
Grab what you can carry when these people start to go about

Chorus:
And if I can I’ll make a million dollars
And if I can I’ll kill a million birds for you
And if I die in the tall grass dreaming
I hope I’m dreaming of you
And if I die in the tall grass bleeding
I hope I’m bleeding for you

When will we go out beyond the wall of tears
When will we go out
When will we go out beyond the shores of fear
When will we go out

Everybody’s waiting to be told when they can go about
Oh Lord, protect us when these people start to go about
Grab what you can carry when these people start to go about

Take me with you anywhere (x3)
Your beauty calls for silence (x3)
Now…

This is no simple feat of interpretation, but there’s plenty here to chew on. As the band conjures up an English Rock sound that dragged a river for some AltCountry sediment, there’s a haunting tone to the song which tends me to think of it as a prayer to the Lord over against those who would seek to persecute or destroy God’s people (“Oh, Lord, protect us when these people start to go about”)—protection from being drowned, caught, hung, and brought down to the veil of tears.

Yet, then, the chorus comes as a statement of faith over and against the forces that be. Despite what the world may imagine about getting what you can for yourself while you can, the chorus points to money, sacrifice, dreaming, and bleeding all being directed towards the Lord. Everything we do, we do it unto the Lord.

While the final line (and entire song) is probably more akin to the devotion to a beautiful woman, “Your beauty calls for silence” strongly emphasizes the awe-inducing beauty of the Lord—His grace, mercy, love, and salvation as seen in Jesus Christ.

Aside from this prayer, Down Besides Your Beauty cranks up expectations about what can be combined in an ambitious band’s game plan. English Rock isn’t the only musical equivalent you’ll find. As I said, there are plenty of places where AltCountry echoes through the canyons of skyscrapers of the band’s home base, New York. Elsewhere, the chant-rhythm could be coming from punk, rockabilly, Hip Hop, and skate punk. Perhaps, you could say that this is a rock band that is tuning their amps to fellow New Yorkers like Radio 4, the signal coming through on the final recording.

The title track swaggers with 50’s country rock snarls, tom-tomming on a tribal punk rock, while Ken Griffin (Rollerskate Skinny) croons with abandon as if providing some amped-up soundtrack to a David Lynch world.

Thanks to Favourite Sons and Vice Records for the review CD.