My Morning Jacket is a rock band which formed in 1998 in Louisville, Kentuc… Read Full Bio ↴My Morning Jacket is a rock band which formed in 1998 in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. The band consists of Jim James (vocals, guitar), Carl Broemel (guitar), "Two Tone" Tommy Blankenship (bass), Bo Koster (keyboards) and Patrick Hallahan (drums). The band is best known for their reverb-soaked sound and their enthusiastic live shows. My Morning Jacket is signed with ATO Records. The band's style is a blend of alternative, alt country, folk rock and psychedelic rock.

The band's moniker comes from a discarded coat James saw while walking through the remains of his favorite bar the morning after it burned down. The coat had the letters "MMJ" embroided on it. The band has released seven albums so far: "The Tennessee Fire" (1999), "At Dawn" (2001), "It Still Moves" (2003), "Z" (2005), "Evil Urges" (2008), "Circuital" (2011) & "The Waterfall" (2015). The band's breakthrough came when their 2003 single "One Big Holiday" became one of the most played songs on college radio that year. 2008's "I'm Amazed" was also a sizable hit, peaking at #6 on Billboard's Triple A (adult album alternative) Singles chart.

The Circuital songfacts reports that "Circuital" was recorded inside a church’s converted gymnasium in the band's hometown of Louisville, Kentucky. Said frontman Jim James: “I hate the phrase ‘going back to our roots’, but for this record we came home and made it in Kentucky. And it just felt a lot like it did when we were first starting out.”
James co-produced the record with Tucker Martine. The pair first worked together when James appeared on Laura Veirs ' album "July Flame" in 2010, which Martine, Veirs’ husband, also produced.

My Morning Jacket guest stared in the American Dad Episode "My Morning Straitjacket" where Stan Smith becomes obsessed with them and decides to become a groupie. The edisode was first aired November 22 2009.

Downtown
My Morning Jacket Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

If there was a place downtown
That they talked about every day
Then I'd wanna move uptown
Tell the microphone he can't play
Tell the acid man we don't want to
Tell the microphone he can't play
Tell the acid man we don't want to
Oh

There's not a lot that you (you) can say
To make the microphone man go away
There's not a lot you can say
To make the microphone man go away
There isn't a lot you can say
I don't want to (I don't want to)
Oh oh oh oh
I don't want to (I don't want to)

Oh oh oh oh oh
I don't want to

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to "Downtown" by My Morning Jacket are about the desire to escape from a certain part of town where people talk about the same things every day. The singer wants to move uptown, away from the monotony, and away from the "microphone man" and the "acid man". These characters might represent people who are controlling or discouraging the singer from pursuing his desires. The repeated refrain of "I don't want to" suggests a feeling of frustration and a desire to break free from these constraints.

The song seems to be about the importance of finding your own path and not letting others dictate what you should do or believe. The "microphone man" and the "acid man" might represent authority figures who try to influence or control the singer's decisions, but he resists their influence and decides to move on to something better. The chorus emphasizes this point, as the singer repeats that he doesn't want to stay in the same old routine.

Line by Line Meaning

If there was a place downtown
If there was a popular spot in the city center

That they talked about every day
That people discussed frequently

Then I'd wanna move uptown
Then the singer would prefer to live in the more upscale area of the city

Tell the microphone he can't play
Demanding that the person on the microphone stop performing

Tell the acid man we don't want to
Asking the person selling drugs to go away

Oh
Exclamation of frustration or realization

There's not a lot that you (you) can say
There isn't much that can be done or said to make a change

To make the microphone man go away
To get the performer to stop

There's not a lot you can say
There isn't much that can be done or said to make a change

There isn't a lot you can say
There isn't much that can be done or said to make a change

I don't want to (I don't want to)
I do not wish to participate or engage

Oh oh oh oh
Exclamation of frustration or realization

I don't want to (I don't want to)
I do not wish to participate or engage

Oh oh oh oh oh
Exclamation of frustration or realization

I don't want to
I do not wish to participate or engage

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: J CAMACHO, J JAMES, JODI MARR, GEORGE NORIEGA

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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