Bottle Rockets – Doomsday Letter

Back when I did the post about dogs, I said I would revisit this band soon, and I’m doing that today! I just discovered this band in the past few months with the song I Love My Dog, and I love what I’ve heard. This particular song is right up my alley. It’s about Facebook, and all its negativity. 

They came out of Missouri in the early 1990s; they were built around songwriter Brian Henneman. Before forming the band, Henneman spent time around the St. Louis music scene and even played with Uncle Tupelo during their early years. The Bottle Rockets formed in Festus, Missouri, and quickly found a place in the alt-country movement alongside bands mixing rock, country, and blue-collar stories.

Their early records carried a bar-band feel, with songs about small towns, jobs, and people trying to get through everyday life. They were not trendy, and that helped them build a loyal following through constant touring and records that sounded real. This song was on the album Bit Logic, released in 2018 when the band was already more than 25 years old. By that point, Brian Henneman had settled into writing songs that looked at middle America without trying to romanticize it. This would be their last studio album. 

I really loved the production on their albums. The band recorded the songs quickly and tried to capture the feel of a live group in a room. That approach helped this song come across as more believable. It’s the timeless approach, and it works every time, at least to me.  They never had huge radio hits, but musicians and longtime fans stayed loyal because the records felt honest. Brian Henneman retired the band in March 2021 after a 28-year run, citing a desire to step away from touring and enjoy a normal life at home

Doomsday Letter

Hey Chicken Little, whatcha got cookin’?
The sky is fallin’, the sky is fallin’
You really wanna prove it but I ain’t lookin’
But you keep callin’, you keep callin’

I ain’t gonna read another doomsday letter
I’m leavin’ it to Jesus, man the odds seem better
Whatever I can do to keep my chin up is a damn good thing

Hey Nostradamus, I ain’t listenin’
To the bile you’re spewin’, the bile you’re spewin’
There’s way more left in the world that’s glistenin’
It’s not all ruin, it’s not all ruin

I ain’t gonna read another doomsday letter
I’m leavin’ it to Jesus, man the odds seem better
Whatever I can do to keep my chin up is a damn good thing

You can laugh and point and say my head’s in the sand
Well my toes are too, it’s a seaside view
Since I turned you off I found a wonderland
In the middle of your gloom
Right inside your gloom

Hey Grim Reaper, even if you’re right
I ain’t buyin’, I ain’t buyin’
Keeps me warm on a winter night
But just keep tryin’, just keep on tryin’

I ain’t gonna read another doomsday letter
I’m leavin’ it to Jesus, man the odds seem better
Whatever I can do to keep my chin up is a damn good thing
Whatever I can do to keep my chin up is a damn good thing
Whatever I can do to keep my chin up is a damn good thing

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

33 thoughts on “Bottle Rockets – Doomsday Letter”

  1. Pingback: Bottle Rockets – Doomsday Letter – MobsterTiger

    1. Thank you for asking! They are in our guest room on a matress on the floor and it’s been an amazing experience. Seeing our dog turn into supermom. She feeds them constantly and only breaks fom bathroom breaks and she jogs back. She gets them full and they will sleep for a while. They are not too loud YET…they sound like miniture geese more than dogs. Martha is on top of the situation. We check in every 20-30 minutes usually to make sure no one fell off the matress. So far she has kept them wrangled up.

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      3. I’d love to see photos when you’ve all had a chance to catch your breath!
        And thanks! It’s my anonymised blog name…a play on Citizen Kane but I’m a Jane Doe! 🕶🕴

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      6. No…you can come in at anytime. I have this blog so we can all chat…doesn’t always have to be on topic. I go off topic more than anyone! I always tried to make it like we are all around a fire chatting with each other. So…always know you are welcome here to chat about whatever.

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      7. Awesome, thank you!
        Me too….hopefully, my site is a grown up gang hut with my titles providing the jukebox and my posts starting the conversation 😁
        You’ve made me a fan of The Prisoner, entertained me with your Titanic tales and provide a mean soundtrack! Puppy pics is the icing on the cake! Thanks again 🙂🙃

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      9. You’ve honestly made it interesting! Your enthusiasm is infectious.
        And I’d love to see you in my comments if you get the time. It wasn’t a sneaky promotion, just me throwing the virtual ladder down from my digital tree house 🙃😎

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      10. That means the world to me! Thank you so much. I’m not too bright but I DO have passion! Thats why I started this. It’s an old band called Big Star….I thought if I could get one person to listen….I’ve done my job! I try to apply that to everything.
        I am finally coming over now…sorry for the delay.

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      11. Enthusiasm for something is half the battle I think. You’re able to take something that could be quite a dry subject and make it interesting AND factual. Nice work!
        And you’ll be most welcome on my little part of WordPress 🍻🙃

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    1. Thanks CB…sometimes the name of the band says a lot to me. I knew I was going to like them off the bat…but yes…looking through their catalog…they have some quality lyrics.

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      1. Yes, with the sample CDs they had a run of about 10 years or so where I’d hear a new to me band that sounded worth following, at least for a while. Then somewhere over the last 5 years or so our tastes are diverging and I rarely find any tracks that pique up my ear much lately. That’s how it goes, cest la vie, that’s the way the CD crumbles; we and our musical tastes evolve, but it was a good run.

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