"In the low light of the hut the old man sat quietly puffing on his mapacho. “You must disengage from your... continuity,” he said, referring I’m sure to my earbuds, which, with apologies, I cranked. As I tapped the last drop out of the clay cup and laid back on the ragged foam mat I saw that the old man’s face was no longer his, but a hawk’s. The spirit-world comes on like that.
The music I came to see with my third eye, Ponderosa’s Pool Party, started with a voice, a silver high- lonesome in a mist (or maybe the mist was the voice), an electric guitar that identified itself (verbally, and I’m translating here) as He-who-makes-things-sprout, then a convergence at something analogous to a rain dance, as if conducted (in lapis lazuli) by Keith Moon. Pianos and guitars and harmonies breathed into existence tetrahedrons, Spanish friars, bird-lions, machine elves, Quetzacotl, so forth, and landscapes, always the sweeping, rolling variety. No point going on about what the music looks like. To paraphrase the giant, blazing eye that cries honey, you must see for yourself.
Hearing Ponderosa’s previous album for the first time was a no less illuminating experience if a very different one, involving a trampoline, two bottles of rye, and a sack of possum. Another facet of Ponderosa, another method to ascertain its nature. That album, Moonlight R evival, belongs in the Southern rock canon as much as anything by the Crowes or Little Feat, but more crucial is that with it Ponderosa delivered the first successful fusion of straight Southern rock and Revolver-era Beatles, utterly seamless and genetically sound, not a Frankenstein. This is the musical equivalent of mapping the genome, drunk, using only a monocle. Impossible, yet Ponderosa demonstrated that “a thing that cannot be done can be accomplished by not-doing it.” And because that sounded more conclusively relevant when it was told to me by a stag with no mouth, let’s add that Ponderosa’s clear m.o. is following its bliss.
Which is how Pool Party came to be, as Kalen Nash says without hesitation, “mainstream pop.” Not the logical follow-up album, it’s the organic one. The sound is still easily classifiable: rock:: lush, steady, propellent; the ten songs on Pool Party are no less distinguished and hooky than the shit-kickers and whiskey ballads on Moonlight R evival. Pool Party gives the impression of a completed sonic thought, and there is in fact a narrative in there, a dream-fable, more appropriately. If none of that suggests a tone, think magic hour in the Smokies, or the low Sonoran, or in the hills outside Tenochtitlan, where the feathered jaguar with the tusks hangs out."
-Mike Ruffino
Pool Party
Ponderosa Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
On your floor, backseats of cars
Find a bed and never sleep
Awake at night and steal the sheets
I will never leave alone
'Cause I can never be alone
Fall from grace in vacant rooms
Pray that morning won't come soon
I will never leave alone
'Cause I can never be alone
Yours now
She's already played out
Burn down
The place where you were last found
Yours now
She's already played out
Burn down
The place where you were last found
We got lost in chandeliers
Drink in the wake of passing years
Speak with sharpest native tongue
You understood when you were young
I will never leave alone
'Cause I can never be alone
I will never leave alone
'Cause I can never be alone
Yours now
She's already played out
Burn down
The place where you were last found
Yours now
She's already played out
Burn down
The place where you were last found
The lyrics to Ponderosa's song Pool Party seem to be describing a wild and carefree night, filled with partying, drinking, and possibly even some drug use. The opening lines paint a picture of waking up in unfamiliar places, such as yards or car backseats, indicating that the partygoers may have become so inebriated that they passed out in random locations. They then go on to describe the desire to never sleep and to steal sheets at night, indicating that the party may have continued until morning.
The repeated refrain of "I will never leave alone / 'Cause I can never be alone" speaks to a fear of being alone and a need for constant company or companionship. This could suggest that the partygoers are using the pool party as a form of escapism from their loneliness or larger issues in their lives. The verses then describe a sense of searching for meaning, whether it's by praising the moon or speaking with a "sharpest native tongue". This search for meaning could be seen as a reflection of the partygoers' desire for something more in their lives.
The final lines of the song repeat the chorus, with the addition of the lines "Yours now / She's already played out / Burn down / The place where you were last found". These lines seem to suggest a sense of finality and destruction, as if the party has reached its climax and is now over. The reference to burning down the place where the partygoers were last found could be interpreted as a metaphorical burning down of the memories and experiences of that night.
Line by Line Meaning
We wake up passed out in yards
We often find ourselves waking up in unfamiliar places, disoriented and unaware of how we got there.
On your floor, backseats of cars
These are some of the places we end up sleeping, usually after partying and drinking.
Find a bed and never sleep
When we do find a bed, we tend to stay up all night and not sleep at all.
Awake at night and steal the sheets
We tend to be restless at night and take the sheets from others near us to keep ourselves warm.
I will never leave alone
I always need someone with me, and I am afraid to be alone.
'Cause I can never be alone
Being alone scares me, and I always need someone around me to feel secure.
Take out the light and praise the moon
We prefer darkness and the moon's light rather than the artificial light of the day.
Fall from grace in vacant rooms
We often lose our dignity and grace when we are alone, especially in empty rooms.
Pray that morning won't come soon
We do not want the night to end because we fear the loneliness that comes with the morning.
Yours now
The person whom we were once interested in is now not interested in us anymore.
She's already played out
The person we were once interested in has lost their appeal and is no longer interesting.
Burn down
Forget about and move on from the place where we last saw the person we liked.
The place where you were last found
The location where we last saw the person we once had feelings for.
We got lost in chandeliers
We got lost in wealth and opulence, often at parties and gatherings.
Drink in the wake of passing years
We drink excessively, often to forget about the passing of time and the fear of getting older.
Speak with sharpest native tongue
We speak with frankness and rudeness, often without thinking about how our words may affect others.
You understood when you were young
The people you hurt with your sharp tongue were once vulnerable and impressionable, and they felt the pain of your words.
Contributed by Kaelyn G. Suggest a correction in the comments below.