Phillips spent his formative years in Stockton, CA, where he founded a band called Bloody Holly, but prior to his 20th birthday Phillips headed to Los Angeles to study film, and he quickly found himself beneath the spell cast by local bands as the Rain Parade and Dream Syndicate. Phillips soon joined with Stockton acquaintance Jeff Clark to form Shiva Burlesque. The band dissolved after two critically acclaimed records, and Phillips soon began writing and demo-ing using the Grant Lee Buffalo alias.
Following some solo dates, Phillips invited former bandmates Joey Peters and Paul Kimble to join him, and the trio signed to Warner subsidiary Slash in 1992. Phillips' golden, honey-soaked voice went largely to waste in Shiva Burlesque, but the new band enabled him to step out as a singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. GLB went on to release four very different LPs, consistent in excellence. A cult following, successful tours, and across-the-board critical acclaim (he was voted Rolling Stone's Male Vocalist of the Year following their second LP) didn't translate into sales, however. Frustrated with his label's dead-on-arrival promotion, Phillips asked for his band to be released from their contract, and he was obliged. (It was erroneously reported that GLB had been dropped.) Phillips dissolved his band, anxious to forge a new path.
In October of 1999, he headed to Jon Brion's studio and recorded a handful of new songs, played exclusively by himself. Dubbed Ladies' Love Oracle, it was self-released the following year online and at his numerous appearances at Largo in Hollywood. After landing a deal with Zoe/Rounder, Phillips issued the excellent Mobilize in 2001. The next year, Rounder reissued Ladies' Love Oracle in time for Phillips' joint tour with Kristin Hersh and Joe Doe. In 2004, he released Virginia Creeper, followed by an album of covers (Nineteeneighties) in 2006. Strangelet appeared in 2007 on Rounder Records, followed by Little Moon (2009), and Walking in the Green Corn (2012) .
Discography
Ladies Love Oracle (2000)
Mobilize (2001)
Virginia Creeper (2004)
Nineteeneighties (2006)
Strangelet (2007)
Little Moon (2009)
Walking in the Green Corn (2012)
Don't Look Down
Grant-Lee Phillips Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Numb is a better word
Haven't ya heard
Luke the Drifter and me
Wrote us a song
Too lonesome to sing
Side of the dial
Not on this short wave
Buster Keaton and I
Danced out on the window sill
Ten stores high
If one night you take to walking
Way up off the ground
Do yourself a favor
And don't look down
I keep falling back to earth
Just as I am floating high
Luke the Drifter and me
Thumbed us a ride
Down the highway of dreams
Once you're out beyond the city
This old road gets dark
You could lose your bearings
And forget where you are
I keep falling
Back to earth
Just as I am floating high
Very high high high
In Grant-Lee Phillips's song "Don't Look Down," the singer talks about feeling numb and disconnected from the world around him. He references Luke the Drifter, which was a pseudonym used by country music legend Hank Williams Sr. The two of them wrote a song that was too sad for anyone to sing. The singer talks about how they couldn't play it on the radio, but that's not where it belongs anyway. It's too real for that.
The second verse takes a more surreal turn as the singer talks about dancing with Buster Keaton on a window sill ten stories high. This imagery is not meant to be taken literally but rather as a metaphor for feeling like he's on the edge and could fall at any moment. The chorus repeats "don't look down" as a warning to himself and others not to get too lost in their thoughts or they could lose touch with reality.
The third verse finds the singer and Luke the Drifter hitchhiking on the highway of dreams. Once they get outside the city, things get dark and disorienting. The singer again talks about the feeling of being untethered from reality and how he keeps falling back to earth just as he's floating high. The song ends with the repeated refrain of "very high high high" as a sort of mantra to keep himself grounded.
Overall, "Don't Look Down" is a poignant and introspective song that explores themes of disconnection and alienation. The imagery is dreamlike and surreal, but the emotions it conveys are all too real.
Line by Line Meaning
Mmm, mum is the Word
Silence is the only response
Numb is a better word
Emotionally unaffected is preferable
Haven't ya heard
Have you not been informed?
Luke the Drifter and me
The singer and his friend, inspired by Hank Williams' alias
Wrote us a song
Created music that speaks to their souls
Too lonesome to sing
The emotion behind the music is too deep to perform
Not on this
Not within
Side of the dial
The radio frequency they are on
Not on this short wave
Their music cannot transmit far
Buster Keaton and I
The singer and his friend, referencing the famous silent film actor
Danced out on the window sill
Living life to the fullest, taking risks
Ten stores high
Elevated high off the ground
If one night you take to walking
If you decide to wander off the beaten path
Way up off the ground
At a great height
Do yourself a favor
It would be wise of you
And don't look down
Don't focus on and worry about the potential consequences
I keep falling back to earth
Reality keeps bringing the singer back down
Just as I am floating high
At moments where he feels good
Thumbed us a ride
Hitchhiked
Down the highway of dreams
On the path towards fulfilling aspirations
Once you're out beyond the city
Once you pass the boundaries of ordinary life
This old road gets dark
The journey becomes uncertain and scary
You could lose your bearings
You could become disoriented and lose your way
And forget where you are
Losing track of your identity
Very high high high
Emphasizing the height the singer feels before he falls back down
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: KENYON PHILLIPS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind