The '59 Sound

The '59 Sound
Studio album by The Gaslight Anthem
Released	August 19, 2008 (2008-08-19)
Recorded	2008
Genre	Folk punk, punk rock, indie rock
Length	41:32
Label	SideOneDummy
Producer	Ted Hutt
The Gaslight Anthem chronology
Señor and the Queen (2008) The '59 Sound (2008) Live at Park Ave. (2009)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Absolutepunk.net	(92%)
Allmusic
NME	(9/10)
Pitchfork Media	(8.6/10)
Punknews.org
Rocklouder!
The Tune
This table needs to be expanded using prose. See the guideline for more information.

The '59 Sound is the second studio album by The Gaslight Anthem, released on August 19, 2008 on SideOneDummy Records.

In December 2008, eMusic named The '59 Sound the best album of 2008. NME rated it as the 47th best album of the year. The title track was number 62 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Best Songs of 2008.

In July 2009, following Bruce Springsteen's guest appearances with the band at Glastonbury and Hyde Park, sales of the album doubled.

The song "Here's Looking At You, Kid" was used in the Chuck episode "Chuck Versus the Tooth".

Recording

Regarding the differences between The '59 Sound and their first full-length album, Sink or Swim, guitarist Alex Rosamilia noted that, "For Sink or Swim, we had a week or so and what we brought to the studio. For [this] last record we had about 5 weeks and quite the arsenal of gear to tear through. Which did lead to a couple ideas I don't think we would've had otherwise."

Release

A 7" vinyl single was released on July 22, featuring the title track and the song "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues" on the B-side. "Old White Lincoln" was released as the 2nd single on December 1, 2008 in the UK. Opening track "Great Expectations" was released as the 3rd single in the UK on March 23, 2009.

The album was simultaneously released on vinyl. The Green Hell Exclusive was limited to 300 copies.^{[citation needed]} The second most limited color, white (with only 500 copies pressed) completely sold out in its first few hours of availability on Vinyl Collective's pre-order page. The third most limited color, blue (limited to 1,000 copies) has also sold out. The album was also pressed on the standard black (see this website for more info on the LP's color pressings).

Track listing

1. "Great Expectations" – 3:05
2. "The '59 Sound" – 3:09
3. "Old White Lincoln" – 3:23
4. "High Lonesome" – 3:05
5. "Film Noir" – 3:29
6. "Miles Davis & The Cool" – 4:11
7. "The Patient Ferris Wheel" (featuring Dicky Barrett) – 3:34
8. "Casanova, Baby!" – 2:57
9. "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues" – 3:30
10. "Meet Me by the River's Edge" (featuring Chris Wollard) – 3:19
11. "Here's Looking at You, Kid" – 3:36
12. "The Backseat" – 4:14

Bonus track

13. "Once Upon a Time" – 3:58 (Robert Bradley's Blackwater Surprise cover) (iTunes-only bonus track)

Singles

• "The '59 Sound" (July 22, 2008)
  • b/w: "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues"
• "Old White Lincoln" (December 1, 2008)
  • b/w: "The '59 Sound" (live acoustic on KEXP)
• "Great Expectations" (March 23, 2009)
  • b/w: "Miles Davis & The Cool" (live acoustic on KEXP) / "Great Expectations" (live acoustic at Y-ROCK)
• "The '59 Sound" (June 15, 2009)
  • b/w: "State of Love and Trust" (live Pearl Jam cover) / "We Came to Dance" (live, from Sink or Swim)
• "The Backseat" (September 21, 2009)
  • digital download-only track

Personnel

• Brian Fallon - vocals, guitars
• Alex Rosamilia - guitar, vocals, Wollensack
• Alex Levine - bass, vocals
• Benny Horowitz - drums, percussion, tubular bells, tambourine, garbage cans, chains

Song references

The album's booklet features complete lyrics. The following list of references are uncredited in the liner notes.

• "Great Expectations" contains the lines "It's funny how the night moves / Humming a song from 1962" from "Night Moves" by Bob Seger.
• "Old White Lincoln" contains the line "I lit a cigarette on a parking meter" from "Talkin' World War III Blues" by Bob Dylan. Also contains the line "Baby darling, we will be, in the cold cold ground." from the Tom Waits' song "Cold, Cold Ground". It also contains a reference to Waits' "Ol' 55".
• "High Lonesome" contains the lines "Maria came from Nashville with a suitcase in her hands" and a variation of the following line about "a boy who looks like Elvis" from "Round Here" by Counting Crows; the line "There were 'Southern Accents' on the radio" refers to the Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers 1985 song and album of the same name; the line "At night I wake up with the sheets soaking wet" is taken from "I'm on Fire" by Bruce Springsteen. The title of the song likely refers to a phrase coined by John Cohen.
• "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues" contains a play on the line "But not me, baby" from "Yer So Bad" by Tom Petty. Petty is also name-dropped in the lyrics. The title of the song is also a novel by Tom Robbins. "Drivin' old men crazy" is a reference to "The Boys are Back in Town" by Thin Lizzy.
• "Meet Me by the River's Edge" contains the line "No surrender, my Bobby Jean" and a variation of Springsteen's line "No retreat" from the songs "No Surrender" and "Bobby Jean," found on Bruce Springsteen's 1984 album Born in the U.S.A.. In addition, it also includes the phrase "wash these sins," a reference to Springsteen's Racing in the Street from the 1978 album Darkness on the Edge of Town.. The opening line "See I've been here for 28 years" references the 28 years separating the 1980 release of Springsteen's The River and the song itself.
• "The Patient Ferris Wheel" refers to "broken heroes," which also appears in Springsteen's 1975 hit, Born to Run, from the album of the same name.
• "Miles Davis and the Cool" has references in almost every verse. Second verse "put on your diamond soled shoes" alludes to the Paul Simon track "Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes" from the album Graceland. The following plea to "Climb down from your window" echoes Dylan's single "Can You Please Crawl out your window". The Third Verse brings a rock allusion in almost every word starting with "Poor Mr. Pitiful" which hints to Warren Zevon's "Poor Poor Pitiful Me" but more likely drawn from the Otis Redding/Steve Cropper song "Mr Pitiful" from the album The Great Otis Redding Sings Soul Ballads GA next phrase "I can't Turn you Lose" is also the title of a Redding tune which has been covered by many. "Your Daddy's aim is true" from the third line references Elvis Costello's "Allison" off his first album My Aim is True and the next line "she never understood that it ain't no good" is taken verbatim from Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" off the album Highway 61 Revisited.
• "Casanova, Baby!" contains the line "Twistin' the night away" from the Sam Cooke song of the same name. Cooke's music is a known influence on the album, as stated by lead singer Brian Fallon. It also contains the line "It's past quarter to three, and it's past the midnight hour", references to the #1 hit by Gary U.S. Bonds (and frequently played in concert by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band) and Wilson Pickett's 'In the Midnight Hour'. An allusion to Pickett's "Mustang Sally" can also be heard therein. It also contains the line "dead man's town" which appeared in Springsteen's song "Born in the U.S.A." and "slip this skin" which appears in the Springsteen song "Streets of Philadelphia.". Meanwhile, the lines "I'm still these nervous feet and heart of stone" and "If I could put down this ol' hammer" reference, respectively, the Springsteen penned Southside Johnny song "Hearts of Stone" and Peter, Paul, and Mary's "If I Had a Hammer" (also famously covered by Sam Cooke).
• The title of "Here's Looking At You, Kid" refers to a quote from the 1942 film Casablanca.
• The album's lyrics also contain literary references. "Great Expectations" references the Charles Dickens novel of the same name. The line "I sat by my bed side with papers and poetry about Estella" refers to the protagonist's love interest in Great Expectations. In addition to this the line "In a prison cell, where we spent those nights." is probably a reference to the Pip's nights spent with convict Magwitch during the novel. The line "I hope we don't hear Marley's Chains we forged in life" in "The '59 Sound" is a reference to the ghost of Jacob Marley from Dickens' A Christmas Carol. The lines "And they burnt up the diner where I always used to find her" is a reference to Mrs. Havershams house being burnt down in the book, also "Her hair was raven and her heart was like a tomb" is an explanation of Estella's outward and inward appearance.
• "The Backseat" contains the phrase "but you and I we've been through this," which is a reference to Bob Dylan's song "All Along the Watchtower".