bringing down the horse
released: May 21, 1996

Contents:
writing for the album
recording the album
liner notes
song themes
about the songs
album recognition

writing for the album

• About 1/2 of the songs were written before going in to the studio to record.



• Jakob had written songs for the album while touring and searching for a record deal. But when it came time to record, he decided that much of the material was not as strong as he'd like. In 1997 Jakob told Unlimited Magazine, "I needed the threat. To write songs that matter, you have to turn yourself inside out, and it's really overwhelming. I hadn't done that yet. They're ready to make the album, and I'm like, 'Oh shit--I haven't written it yet.' In the last two weeks I wrote what I consider to be some of the strongest stuff."  



• Among those that Jakob wrote in the studio were "One Headlight," "Bleeders," "Invisible City," "The Difference," "Josephine," and "I Wish I Felt Nothing."    



• Jakob continues, "I felt that this album was my shot," he says. "I made this record when I was 26 years old, and I took it seriously. There are a lot of excuses you can give somebody when you're 21-- if you're not great then, you're just not a prodigy. But when you're in your mid-20s you're not a kid anymore. Just think of all the people who were dead by the age of 27--think of Hendrix. I also thought of Bruce Springsteen--Born to Run, 26 years old. It was time to do it or not do it."

recording the album

• It took about eight months to record the album.



• T Bone Burnett produced the album. Jakob explains that T-Bone "turned out to be a great choice. I wanted to work with a singer/songwriter and that's what he is. There aren't a lot of singing and songwriting producers out there. But I wanted to work with someone like that to help direct me personally with a lot of songs." 



• The band's drummer, Peter Yanowitz, left The Wallflowers before they started recording the album. Matt Chamberlain, a renowned studio drummer, played drums for the entire album.



• During the recording of the album, Tobi Miller (guitar) left the band. One of the guest guitarists, Michael Ward, ended up joining the band at the end of the studio sessions. 



• Other guest musicians on the album include Sam Phillips, Mike Campbell, Michael Ward, Michael Penn, The Jayhawk's Gary Louris, Counting Crows' Adam Duritz, Stephen Bruton, and Fred Tackett. 



• Leo LeBlanc, who played lap pedal steel with the band as they toured from mid-1993-1995, played some songs on the album. He died in April 1995, when the band was in the midst of recording. The album is dedicated to him.

liner notes

• Jon Brion plays lead guitar on "One Headlight"
• Steve Bruton sings bv on "I Wish I Felt Nothing" 
• Gary Louris sings bv on "One Headlight" and "The Difference"
• Michael Penn sings bv on "Angel On My Bike"
• Sam Phillips sings bv on "One Headlight" and "Laughing Out Loud"

 song themes

• The songs on Bringing Down the Horse reflect disillusionment, confusion, and perseverance. Jakob suggests, "If you listen to the album. . .Every song, fortunately or unfortunately is about feeling massively defeated, because that's what I was living." The universal nature of those messages struck a chord with millions. 

     One Headlight

• Jon Brion plays lead guitar on the song.

• When writing that song Jakob recalls, "I was pushing a little further. That's what you're always trying to do, and it's kind of set a standard I was hoping to meet with the whole record."



• Rami told Album Network: "We were going for a weird thing-there's not one cymbal hit on that whole song. I mean, that usually makes a rock song a big hit. We did weird things in the studio on that song. And then my organ sound was that full Al Green-type thing, you know that Motown sound, and even the drums did some kind of beat like that...the way T Bone produced it...the recipe on that song is actually perfect. It puts a different perspective on what really hits with people."



• So, is the song about a literal death? Jakob responds, "There was a misunderstanding, I think, because of one of the lines in the song, that the whole song was about a girl who died. People ask me who died. There's nobody who died. It's in the first verse. . .'[I've] seen the sun coming up/At the funeral at dawn/The long broken arm of human law.' It's just about perseverance, and you know I've always tried to believe-like I assume a lot of people do-that the way I treat other people would maybe be the way that I get treated. And people like opportunity, people like to be given a chance, and I think when I wrote that song I probably wasn't really feeling, for whatever reason, like I was being given a chance. I think at that point I just felt like I couldn't get anybody to listen."

     6th Avenue Heartache

• Mike Campbell (Heartbreakers) plays the slide guitar on the album. Adam Duritz (Counting Crows) sings background.



• Andy Slater always saw the magic of "6th Avenue." The song could have been on the band's first album, but the label didn't want it. Jakob recalls that Andy's faith in that song was never-ending. "From Day 1 he said, 'That's the song that's going to get this group off the ground.' He never let me do a show without playing it." The band has been playing it since 1992.



• What's the song about? Jakob explains, "That's a real literal story. I spent some time in New York City and every morning when I woke up this homeless guy would be on the steps of the building across the street from mine. He lived there, and he'd wake up every day and play songs on his guitar. I woke up every day hearing him sing. After two months or so, he wasn't there anymore. All his stuff was still there, but he had disappeared. Pretty soon people started taking his stuff, and he never came back. I related to him in some way. He liked doing the same thing I liked doing, even though we came from two drastically different worlds. He moved on and I moved on, but in some way I felt a connection to him."

     Bleeders

• Jakob offers, "'Bleeders' is probably a little more introspective. A lot of people didn't want to believe in me. Since I started this it's been a lot of people's tendency to not want to think I'm any good. That song is directed at that. I think people expected me to lay down and roll over. People expect me to be ashamed of doing this. They assume I'm doing it for all the wrong reasons."

     Three Marlenas

• In his 1998 analysis of the song, rock critic Greil Marcus writes, "The song walks in and out of the struggles of people who have no money and expect none. Jakob Dylan plays the simplest cadence on his guitar, never varying it. A piping organ makes the people you're hearing about seem bigger and their small lives, even heroic. Then all the orchestration falls away, and only the guitar is left, counting off the time. The whole piece pauses, and the singer says the hell with it. He's going to get a car and drive it, with the top down and the radio on. The eaves-dropping tone of his descriptions of other people is replaced by a bitterly casual James Dean vehemence. 'I'm going right out of state/Now I ain't looking back until I'm going/ Right through heaven's gate.'"

     The Difference

• The song was written around the chorus, "The only difference that I see/Is you are exactly the same as you used to be." Jakob remembers, "Songs come in all ways, you know. You never expect them. You just carry guitar and paper, and when the line strikes you, you write it down. And sometimes you got a verse sitting around for three months that you can't find a chorus to, or you can't find melodies. It happens so many different ways, and I would have to say if I remember clearly, I had that chorus written and I though it was strong and I tried to just write something around it."

     Angel On My Bike

• Michael Penn sings background vocals

     I Wish I Felt Nothing

• Steve Bruton sings background vocals



• Shortly after recording with the Wallflowers in 1995, veteran steel guitarist Leo LeBlanc succumbed to cancer. The death of his cherished collaborator subconsciously inspired Dylan to write I Wish I Felt Nothing. "I started to write it in the studio, and I was kind of on autopilot," Jakob says. "It occurred to me later that the song seemed to be about Leo. I was learning lessons from him for the last couple years of his life. He was in his 60s, and there's obviously a lot you can learn from a guy who played so long with so many great people. He loved music. He was willing to play with us, people half his age, just because he liked the music we were making."

album recognition

• Sold over 6 million copies in the U.S. and abroad.
  
  

• Earned The Wallflowers four Grammy nominations. In February 1997 (the 1996 Grammy Awards), Jakob was nominated in the category, Best Rock Song, for writing "Sixth Avenue Heartache." In February 1998 (the 1997 Grammy Awards), The Wallflowers were up for and won Best performance by Rock Group for "One Headlight." Jakob was nominated twice for writing the Best Rock Song  for "One Headlight" and "The Difference." He took home the Grammy for "One Headlight".

• "One Headlight" was voted by the industry as 1997's Song of the Year; it was the #3 most played song at Rock Radio for 97; it was #6 at Active Rock; #8 at Alternative, #2 at Top 40 Radio; and #5 at Hot AC.

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