lifeblood: songs: backgrounds: cold beer and remote control

1999-10-15: the ripples of lilith: indigo girls' new album benefits from the tour's close-knit community, gannett news service:

"cold beer and remote control," written by saliers and driven, somewhat uncharacteristically for her, by electric guitar, is a song about coping with the loss of hope and meaning in life. "it's meant to be a little confusing," she admits.

----------

1999-11-05: transcription, world cafe:

h: you've got this song called cold beer and remote control. i want to know about the person in this song, is the person is trying to escape from this life, i think? you're not celebrating this, are you?

e: no, it's about someone who is kind of despondent and just kind of given up hope, and you just picture them just sitting in front of the t.v. just wafting off into nothingness - the bad kind of nothingness, not the buddhist kind. it's got an electric kind of chorus, sort of a.k.a. tom petty-ish. and uh. so it's kind of confusing, as soon as you hear the words "cold beer", people laugh. i don't know. it's just - it's mentally jerk your string a little bit.

a: it's kind of like "born in the u.s.a.", you know.

e: yeah, yeah.

h: that's what i was thinking. people are gonna get this wrong, yeah, "hey, cold beer"

e: yeah, right.

a: in that jackson browne song that used to do cocaine, "yeah, cocaine!" and i was like, you guys don't get it.

e: another acoustic version.

a: oh yes.

[cold beer and remote control-acoustic version]

(applause)

e: thanks.

h: think of the merchandising opportunities. cold beer and remote control.

a: (laugh) alright. if only.

----------

1999-11-10: transcription, kmtt - seattle, washington:

kmtt - ok your a golfer then!(laughing) well i have to say i do have respect for any sport you can play and consume an alcoholic beverage at the same time. bowling is in that same category.

emily - there is a point of diminishing returns though you have to be careful of that...

kmtt - yeah i've noticed that in bowling too, yeah.. a sport where you can drink and smoke and yet still play...yougotta like that! ah all right emily ahh what were gonna play off of this album now is, speaking of beer, "cold beer and remote control"...

emily- all right.

kmtt - and ahh this is your song right?

emily - yeah it is. i didn't actually have one person in mind while i was writing this song so i suppose it could be a man or a woman, but its just about, you know becoming despondant and sorta giving up. it's meant to jerkyouaround a little bit because when people hear that line, "cold beer and remote control", it makes them laugh, but then its like wait a minute this is like serious subject matter so....

kmtt - yeah powerful stuff...yeah.

emily - thank you.

----------

2015-03-04: es.1999, official indigo girls "a year a month blog" on tumblr:

sometimes i am asked, "what is your favorite ig record" and i almost feel guilty answering that question because each album is a complete labor of love, and a unique expression of songs and the musicians who played or sang on them with us.

but, i always come back to come on now social . what began as inauspicious (we began work with producer malcolm burn but weren't able to forge a creative meeting of minds, and so we parted ways) proved to be providential as we dug in deep with our new english band (also known as ghostland), headed from famed atlanta studio southern tracks across the pond to john reynolds' home studio in london, and crossed paths along the way with a brilliant cast of characters. one of the things i love about social is the mix of songs, ranging from a moody ballad like "andy" to the fierceness of "faye tucker" to the pure pop of "peace tonight" and the outright rock and roll of "go." and, while there is a variety of styles and genres represented on the album, none of it ever felt inauthentic going down. the material challenged us and expanded our sound and, i think, showed people that we were more than simply an acoustic folk duo. there was the roots/americana element of "ozilline" and "gone again" and my foray into writing harder edged songs with "trouble" and "cold beer and remote control."