The Meeting (idea)

Ed Hamell, who records and performs his unique brand of anti-folk acoustic punk rock as Hamell on Trial, does some of his best work when he's unashamedly tooting his own horn, or playing the part of someone doing the same. The title track of Hamell's 2000 album, Choochtown is an example of the latter, but this song, Track 11 of his 1997 album, The Chord is Mightier than the Sword is a good example of the former. If you like "The Meeting", another good example of a Hamell pride song is "Sugarfree", from Hamell's debut album, Big As Life. Hamell's 2002 live album, Ed's Not Dead --- Hamell Comes Alive is framed by "Sugarfree" and "The Meeting" (although the latter is followed by "Folsom Prison Blues", which feels like an encore or bonus track). I think this is a pretty accurate representation of his set list for those concerts, which began and ended with a bang. In particular, when I saw Hamell open for Ani Difranco in April 2000, this song was his closing number. I distinctly remember cheering my loudest at every pause in the chorus (where I've put exclamation points in my transcription below), as if this song were a call-and-response.

Lyrics

People ask me, "What's going down?"
What kinda stuff, when I come around
It's one guy, and one guitar
So it's gotta be folk? oh man, wrong they are

Gonna be a meeting, gonna be a meeting, gonna be a meeting!
Gonna be a meeting, gonna be a meeting, gonna be a meeting!
Gonna be a meeting, gonna be a meeting, gonna be a meeting!

You, me, the songs, the guitar and rock and roll!

It's "Kum Ba Ya"? the World Trade Center's a shack
If it's "Puff the Magic Dragon" then Picasso was a hack
This bullshit "Unplugged" is like a monkey on my back
'Less you're talking Chuck Berry, then you ain't talking jack.

I'm rockin' like The Clash, it's acoustic kinda meanery
I'm as bad as Nine Inch Nails, except I don't need machinery
A little bit of wood, a little bit of wire
Call up Smokey the Bear, 'cause there's gonna be a fire
If I ain't sweating, then it ain't no fun
I'm like the Beastie Boys except I'm only one!

Gonna be a meeting, gonna be a meeting, gonna be a meeting!
Gonna be a meeting, gonna be a meeting, gonna be a meeting!
Gonna be a meeting, gonna be a meeting, gonna be a meeting!

You, me, the songs, the guitar and rock and roll!

I listen with the headphones to study the artiste
I started hearing voices, but not like Judas Priest
Mostly from the old guys, like a whisper in the back
Like a Muddy Waters saying, "hey, it's all in the attack"

(slow, bluesy guitar break, slowly building in tempo and loudness until:)

Gonna be a meeting, gonna be a meeting, gonna be a meeting!
Gonna be a meeting, gonna be a meeting, gonna be a meeting!
Gonna be a meeting, gonna be a meeting, gonna be a meeting!

You, me, the songs, the guitar and rock and roll!

I'll beat it in the basement, I'll beat it in the yard
I'll beat it like a bag cause I beat it so hard
I beat it like a flag, I beat it real proud
I got a call from Saturn says it's too damn loud.

Now I won't change the world, but hell I know all that
I might stall a politician, though, by pissing in his hat.
It's a land of many paths, there ain't only one right way
and I will keep on rocking that until my dying day

It's a land of many paths, there ain't only one right way
and I will keep on rocking that until my dying day

Gonna be a meeting, gonna be a meeting, gonna be a meeting!
Gonna be a meeting, gonna be a meeting, gonna be a meeting!
Gonna be a meeting, gonna be a meeting, gonna be a meeting!

You, me, the songs, the guitar and rock and roll!

You, me, the songs, the guitar, and rock and roll!

Copyright Ed Hamell. Reproduced by permission; see Hamell on Trial for details.

CST Approved