Downer

A song dealing with political issues.

a pessimistic view of how overzealous conservatives try to take away people’s inherent freedoms

Perry Grayson, Headache interview, 2005

This one isn’t about popping pills. Quite the contrary, it’s a philosophy. Taking things raw, without a crutch, heeding “the worse case scene”. There’s also a politically charged bent to the lyrics. The “banished utopia laid to waste before its time” serves the purpose of having a bite at Uncle Sam. Riff-wise, there’s a little tidbit about the intro/outro worth mentioning. Rob Garven, the Cirith Ungol skinsman, said, upon receiving his copy of the S/T Falcon album, “It reminds me of Heart’s ‘Barracuda’. It wasn’t a conscious effort. Just something that occurred by chance. I’ve always felt it owes more to Pentagram (circa Day of Reckoning) and Quartz (think Stand Up and Fight) than anything else. Greg played the honky tonk piano synth in the solo section of this one.

Parry Grayson

A fanvideo by MoebiusCrononauta:

Downer (demo 30 Mar 2003)

From released Demo 2003 (2003).

Downer (re-recording 2006)

See the Heavy Rawkin’ Rare (2020).

The six songs we recorded in March with Andrew Sample on drums are nearly done. We did the basic tracks live—that’s the ONLY way to record Falcon—of course. A few overdubs to finish up, then it’s mixing time. The six tunes are: “Throwback”, “Downer,” “Everything There is To Know,” “Edge of a Knife” (Cirith Ungol), “Bad Scene” and “Johanna” (an Iggy & the Stooges cover). The reason behind doing “Throwback” and “Downer” again is ’cause Andrew and Darin play the tunes different than each other. So, we thought we’d give you a chance to hear what those sound like with Andrew drumming.

Perry Grayson, 19 Jul 2006