Band Of Heathens – Nine Steps Down

I heard this song heading out of Steamboat this past January and even after a weeks worth of music, it still stood out enough that everyone in the car commented on it. It has this vibe that will find you and everyone around you, swaying to the rhythm and tapping your feet as you start singing the words to the chorus.

But more than that, I’m a “listen to the lyrics” kind of guy and as I listened to the words being sung, I found that I started having questions about the story being told and wanting to know more about why the song was written… so I tracked down Ed Jurdi to get a little backstory. Enjoy!

I had a melody for a string band tune pop into my head. I had been thinking about putting that against a Cajun rhythm, so it was danceable. The song is basically a flashback for a guy stuck out on an oil rig with a huge storm bearing down on him. As he meets certain doom, he recalls his life in a flash. Gordy brought some great lyrics to this one and helped complete the picture. – E.J.

“Nine Steps Down” by The Band of Heathens

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Nine steps down on a ten story ride
One part love and two parts pride
Three tons of steel and four miles to go
Sinking them down in the Gulf of Mexico

Rigged on point, top of the tower
Watch for those waves they’ll be rising fast
Call from the driller down on the shore
Derrickhand you better keep pumping that gas
No time to think of the girls in their cotton
Dresses they wear in the early springtime
Memories here they’re all long forgotten
Nine steps down on a ten story ride

All of the boys thought you were a beauty
My motivation was a little less kind
Come with me I got something to show you
Out past the trees where the river runs wild
My oh my you were more than I bargained
For one time at the five and dime
Spending all my nickels and quarters
One part love and two parts pride

Put the hammer on down, we might just make it
Watch your eyes from drifting off the road
Drink ‘em on down five for a dollar
Get it to the man with the weekly load
The rubber on the tires burning like a matchstick
Blacklist heart on a long ride home
Ain’t no god just a lifetime of Sundays
Three tons of steel and four miles to go

Water rising all around your mind
The slack pulling fast but you try to stay loose
There’s a storm rolling in on New Orleans
Gonna string everybody in a hang man’s noose
Nine steps down on a ten story ride
One part love and two parts pride
Three tons of steel and four miles to go
Sinking them down in the Gulf of Mexico