Formed in 2006, the band derived its name from the Wilco song, “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart,” and is led by band founder and lead vocalist/ guitarist BJ Barham. A new lineup was announced in April 2017 with new faces joining the ranks: Crooks drummer Joey Bybee, Damn Quails bass player Ben Hussey and guitarist Shane Boeker – all from Texas – along with Nashville pedal-steel player Adam Kurtz, who also fronts Music City's experimental Buck Owens tribute Buck N' Stuff. Bybee left in August 2018 and was replaced by Nashville-based drummer Matty Alger, who in turn left in February 2019. Kurtz left the band after the Mile Zero fest in January 2019, and Hussey left in July 2019.
Their first album, Antique Hearts, was released in 2006, followed by The Bible and the Bottle in 2008.
In 2012, American Aquarium released two albums: Live in Raleigh and Burn. Flicker. Die.
The band released their sixth original album, Wolves, in February 2015.[7] The band's fans helped raise $24,000 through a Kickstarter project to help fund the album's production, and the album was recorded in Asheville, North Carolina at Echo Mountain.
On November 25, 2016 "Live at Terminal West" was released by the band from a live show recording in November 2015 at Terminal West in Atlanta, Georgia.
Things Change was released on New West Records in 2018, followed by
Lamentations (on New West Records) in 2020.
Big City
American Aquarium Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Big city turn me on. Pick me up and throw me down just like your doll. Tell me I’m wrong when i know just what i saw. Big city turn me on, turn me off.
Me and my friends go to the same bar every Thursday. We stare at the centerfold eyes that keep mixing our drinks. The liquor lies are all that’s left of this poor girl’s innocence. She don’t know my name but I’ll be damned if one day she won’t.
Big city turn me on. Pick me up and throw me down just like your doll. Tell me I’m wrong when i know just what i saw. Big city turn me on, turn me off.
Big city turn me on. Pick me up; throw me down to the ground just like your doll. Tell me I’m wrong when i know good and well what i saw. Big city turn me on, turn me off.
"Big City" by American Aquarium is a song that describes the country-to-city transition and the experiences that come along with it. The main theme in the song is the love-hate relationship the singer has with the city. The song begins with the singer and his band traveling from one city to another, specifically from Charlotte to Raleigh, on the I-85 highway. They had just finished their show, and the fireworks display that followed served as a reminder of how small they were in a big city. The singer expresses how driving on the highway at night can be exhausting and burning to his eyes, but the anticipation of arriving in Raleigh kept him awake.
The chorus begins and is repeated throughout the song. It talks about the city and how it "turns me on, turns me off." The city is portrayed as a wild seductress who's dangerous and excites the singer at the same time. In one of the verses, the singer talks about how he and his friends go to the same bar each Thursday, and the centerfold bartender makes their drinks while keeping her eyes locked on theirs. The singer knows that he's not the only one to feel this way, and that the centerfold bartenders are a part of the city's charm.
The song's final verse is the most intimate and personal of all. The singer describes a moment with a woman where they are sitting together on a hand me down couch, listening to Dylan, and drinking coffee. The woman's eyes are said to sparkle, and for a moment, the singer believes in love. The song ends with the repetition of the chorus and leaves the listener with a sense of uncertainty, as if the singer's feelings towards the city are complex and will be forever changing.
Line by Line Meaning
Headed back on a highway drive, interstate eighty-five.
Driving back on the interstate after a show in Charlotte.
Coming back from a show that we had in charlotte.
Returning home from a performance in Charlotte.
It was getting kind of late and the fireworks display, it played a thief to all the stars glory.
It was late at night and the fireworks were so bright they outshone the stars.
The wheels they were turning, boy my eyes they were burning, it said Raleigh-fifty miles.
Driving towards Raleigh, a long way to go with tired eyes.
Big city turn me on. Pick me up and throw me down just like your doll. Tell me I’m wrong when i know just what i saw. Big city turn me on, turn me off.
The excitement and capriciousness of city life, with its ups and downs and contradictory nature.
Me and my friends go to the same bar every Thursday.
Visiting a familiar bar every week with friends.
We stare at the centerfold eyes that keep mixing our drinks.
Looking at the bartender's eyes as she mixes drinks, perhaps with a suggestive or flirtatious look.
The liquor lies are all that’s left of this poor girl’s innocence.
The alcohol-induced lies are the only thing left of the bartender's innocence.
She don’t know my name but I’ll be damned if one day she won’t.
The singer is interested in the bartender, even though she does not know his name.
Candlelight retrospection on a hand me down couch.
Sitting on an old couch, looking at the candlelight and thinking about the past.
There is coffee in my hand, her head in my lap, and Dylan on the stereo.
Drinking coffee, with someone's head on his lap, while listening to Bob Dylan's music.
Like a jewelry store window her eyes they were made to sparkle and for a moment i still believed in love.
The woman's eyes were beautiful, like jewels, and made the singer believe in love.
Contributed by Landon T. Suggest a correction in the comments below.