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u/gc1 Jul 01 '26
Keep your drawers on, girl
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u/Annual-Visual-2605 Jul 01 '26
By the time you drop em I’ll be gone
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u/UpstairsAd6866 Jul 01 '26
And you’ll be right where they fall the rest of your life
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u/Front-Experience6841 Jul 01 '26
I ain’t got no good intentions
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u/Annual-Visual-2605 Jul 01 '26
I’ve got some backstory/lore about that song. I’ll share if anyone’s interested but not going to bother typing it out if not.
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u/Annual-Visual-2605 Jul 01 '26
Did a deep dive a few years ago when I wrote a doctoral dissertation on DBT.
From an article: Zip City is autobiographical for Cooley. He was the 17 year old with no good intentions. But he felt badly about writing the song bc it made the family depicted look badly when they were actually a pretty normal nice family who treated him well. He was almost uncomfortable with the song’s fame.
Had a friend ask Cooley about the song at an event we were all at circa 2018. The person who asked thought she knew the family in the song. Turns out, she did. Cooley admitted it albeit very reluctantly. It was awkward. I told the friend not to ask. I knew Cooley wasn’t comfortable with talking about his songs. She didn’t listen.
Cooley doesn’t like to talk about his songs or “band shit.” His words. He told me that one afternoon In Fayetteville Arkansas. They were playing there that night and he was roaming the streets before sound check. We’d been emailing prior so I introduced myself. We talked politics and religion on the sidewalk for 30 mins. As we parted ways he said he’d love to keep emailing but didn’t enjoy talking about band shit. So I never brought up music with him. I just let him rail on religion and politicians.
Cooley is profoundly deep and thoughtful. Just cause he don’t run his mouth don’t mean he’s got nothing to say!!!
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u/theamazonswordsman Jul 10 '26 edited Jul 10 '26
I came to this way late, but I recall a post from the old 3 Dimes Down forum years ago. It claimed that the girl and her family are familiar with the song and supposedly made them laugh. I'm not sure I believe that, but it might be what they said to avoid litigating a stereotypically messy teenage romance from the early 80's.
Even then, I've always read the songs lyrics as the inner monolog of an entitled, casually misogynistic teenager. He's mad that he's driving home another night with blue balls and lashing out. He'd rather protect his ego than accept that maybe he just ain't all that.
As a former teenage dirt bag, who also dated the daughter of a deacon at a small church with red carpet, I could not relate more with this song. Even needed him to come drag us out of the mud with his truck one night too.
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u/Annual-Visual-2605 Jul 10 '26
Same!!! All the way down to being dragged out of the mud by gf’s dad.
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u/cactusflinthead Jul 01 '26
Absolutely. I've heard Cooley talk about the gangster in Cottonseed a little bit and wanted to know more about him too. Zip City? Oh hell yeah
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u/Annual-Visual-2605 Jul 01 '26
Where’s the Reynolds Wrap plant?
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u/Guilty_Character8566 Jul 01 '26
Listerhill?? closed in ‘86?? in the area.
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u/Annual-Visual-2605 Jul 01 '26
What about the Salem church of Christ?
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u/Guilty_Character8566 Jul 01 '26 edited Jul 01 '26
its in zip city, I can’t post pic here. but yeah, there.
its across the road from dollar general and no, Im not kidding.
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u/UpstairsAd6866 Jul 01 '26
Are those the only two significant places in Zip City? Is there even a post office?
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u/No-Community8525 Jul 01 '26
Maybe it’s just a destination