Recording and Mixing Dates: Recorded October 11 and 13, 2016. Mixed October 13, 2016.

Genesis: I wrote this song on February 23, 2008 as part of FAWM (February Album Writing Month). The title for this song came from a quote by music producer T-Bone Burnett in which he talked about how he liked the rumble and boom of bass drums. (Many of his productions feature the bass drum and the tom-toms over the snare drum.) But I didn’t write about drums, I wrote about violence.

Looking back, the music, structure, and lyrics owe a lot to Bob Dylan’s “Highway 61 Revisited” and Rodney Crowell’s “Ain’t Living Long Like This.” The middle verse is a homage to the famous opening shot in the Orson Welles film, Touch of Evil. The last verse weaves in a few phrases I picked up in Army military intelligence.

Last year, Jan Hauenstein wrote a cool, swinging tune for the lyrics and released it on his album Romance, Predators, Death and the Universe.

Production: Bass Guitar, Electric Guitars, and Drums.

Lyrics

ONE BIG RUMBLE, ONE BIG BOOM

Joe and Sonny were down by the swamp

Got into a Friday night contretemps

Sonny got the better of Joe with his fists

Joe ran to his truck man he was blitzed

He cursed and made a grim remark

With a shotgun barrel gleaming in the dark

By the light of the silvery moon

One Big Rumble

One Big Boom

 

Time bomb ticking in a border town

Disguised by noise you couldn’t hear the sound

A fat cat crossing the borderline

In a rag top Chrysler that looked spit shined

Blue-eyed blonde sitting by his side

The clock struck twelve there went her ride

By the light of the silvery moon

One Big Rumble

One Big Boom

 

Adjutant general and the diplomat

Sitting at the bar chewing up the fat

Near miss wars and high commands

Black bag codes and poker hands

Comparing notes they both agreed

The end will come with blinding speed

By the light of the silvery moon

One Big Rumble

One Big Boom

Copyright 2016 Fred Grittner All Rights Reserved