From the recording Alley Cat Stomp
Alley Cat Stomp is both a tribute to Stevie Van Zandt, one of rock n’ roll’s great guitarists and garage rock radio DJs, as well as a commentary on gun violence in the U.S. With his central role on The Sopranos and his crucial presence in the E Street Band, Van Zandt can be seen to represent a unique blend of these American successes and dismal failures.
The lyrics also appear to be a radical mashup: the day’s of Stevie’s youth are interwoven with tales of “Milky Way Mikey” and his lonely outsider life. As Stevie nears his rise to Springsteen superstardom, Mikey’s frustration may lead to tragedy.
Musically, we believe Stevie would love Alley Cat Stomp and its fast yet grooving tempo, blasting electric ukulele, insanely loose drumming with rusty cowbell bombs, and powerful female vocals that aim for predatory, not precious. For the record, we have no idea where Stevie buys his impressive headscarves, but we couldn’t ignore the musicality of the word “Patagonia.”
Alley Cat Stomp is our third single from upcoming album release, ThunderHole Rock and Roll.
Lyrics
Woke up this morning
Grabbed myself a nun
Woke up this morning
Grabbed myself some fun
Stevie Van Zandt is better than me
Plays guitar in the Jersey shore scene
He's got some scars all over his dome
Gets his head scarves from Patagonia
He's a man to me
He's the man I wanna be
Booted from school for hair that's too long
Wrote some fuzzy garage rock songs
Milky Way Mikey didn't make the band
Cursed his lonely life on the Jersey Shore sands
Mikey's talking too loud
Gonna shoot the in-crowd
Mikey loves thunder
Pissing in the rain
Mikey hates girls
Says they're all the same
Trousers so killer the girls would get scared
Tight in the groin at the ankles so flared
Stevie flared around town
Girls ran scared around town
Mike went berserk around town
Aimed his gun around town
Believed to be living
With a number of men
Flophouse logistics
Killed Barbie and Ken
Felt the big bang of rock n roll
Meets the Boss and they take a stroll
Own the crowds climb the billboard chart
Run into Mikey with murder in his heart
Put the gun away
Put the gun away
Mikey says it's okay says it's okay
He was born in the
Born in the U.S.A.