Ultimate nihilistic love
While nestled deep into Generation Terrorists middle third, “Tennessee” is in fact one of the earliest officially released Manics songs as it originally appeared as the b-side to the “Suicide Alley” single, under the title “Tennessee (I Get Low)”. Which goes some way to explain why it’s a little out of fashion compared to the rest of the album. Manics had by this point started to become more ambitious with their songs, but “Tennessee” is very straightforward and its arrangement and writing far closer to the band’s pre-Heavenly days than anything around it on the album. There isn’t also too much of a difference between the original version and the re-recording, the general production difference and the band’s grown experience aside: the tempo’s a little slower on the album version and the raggedy backing vocals on the “I Get Low” version are gone and instead James now lays some additional harmonies in the chorus (which are the highlight of the song), but a good 85% of the song is the same.
Why the band chose to bring it back is likely more to due with the desire to fill Generation Terrorists to the brim with anything they could rather than any real passion for the song, and while it’s won me over a little over the years it’s still clearly among the most disposable cuts on the album, certainly out of the original songs. I’m going to put some of the blame on the production though. Even though Generation Terrorists generally sounds terrible (although if you’re a long time fan you’ve likely grown an affinity to it in a so-bad-it’s-good way), “Tennessee” is especially so. The mix is awfully muddy and devoid of any detail, all instruments merging into a uniform mush behind James. The “I Get Low” version is actually better in this regard because while it sounds bad in a wholly different way, the punk energy comes across much clearer and helps sell the song.
The lyrics are inspired by the American playwright Tennessee Williams, whose tragic lifestory is absolutely something that Nicky and Richey would have fawned over in their book circle. While the lyrics are rather disjointed and vague, I would still claim that this is arguably the start of the band’s biography pieces.
[updated 12/09/2021]
Was reading through your entries while listening to the GT reissue – I feel like they definitely fixed most of the production issues with the remaster. (Although Tennessee STILL sounds muddier than the rest of it, did they drop the tape in something?) Worth picking up if you haven’t already.
I’ve picked it up aye, it’s great. I’ve been meaning to get into updating the entries here with some new thoughts brought by the reissue, but life’s been hectic and I’ve been a bit too busy for it. Will get around to it soon.
Thanks for your interest towards the blog!