Pillar Of Davidson Guitar Tab

Throwing Copper Tabs:

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HOW FISHES PLAY [http://submode.com/fishes/]
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Song: Pillar of Davidson
Performed by: LIVE
Album: Throwing Copper
Tabbed by: Unknown
Modified by: Sebastian Rönnlund (sebbe@submode.com)
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[Am]

Am                                                        G  (Ab|-0-2-3--|)
Warm bodies, I sense, are not machines that can only make money
Past, perfect tense, words for a feeling and all I've discovered

I'll be along son, with medicine supposed to, designed to make you high
I'll be along son with words for a feeling and all I've discovered

Em  F#m G
Old bad eyes
Old bad eyes
Old bad eyes

[Am]

Am                                                G  (Ab|-0-2-3--|)
On lonliness comes, go see the foreman go see the propheteer
On lonliness drives, we're taking our time moving shit for this holy slime

Old bad eyes...
         A
Almighty fear

    D     G                A
The shepard won't leave me alone, he's in my face and I
The shepard of my days
    G          A          G
And I want you here by my heart
       A            G
And my head I can't start
         A   (Ab|-0-2-3--|)
Till I'm dead...

Warm bodies...
Old bad eyes...
The shephard...

[C]  [G]  [C]  [G]  [Am]

Old bad eyes...
The shephard...

[C]  [G]

    D     G     A
The shepard
(Here I am locking horns with the stallion failing to hold my head up I go back against)
The shepard
(Pillar of Davidson, feeling to high to go down, cheaper than our souls, he will want 
no more)
The shephard
(Deeper and deeper so I hold my head up cheaper than our souls, he will want no more)
The shephard
(Pillar of Davidson, feeling to high to go down)
   D
Of my days

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Tab Discussion, Comments, and Critiques


No Picture Len Badass	#1 by Len cullum at Dec 31, 1972 at 4:20 PM EST
	you guys all together nailed this pretty well ... it's both the drudgery of factory work, and the love of God that will save the workers. Very clever of Live to make the "Caterpillar" and "Harley Davidson" names into a metaphor for Jesus, the Pillar, David's (great grand) Son.

No Picture Chris Rhythm Player	#2 by Chris Pray at Sep 26, 1984 at 6:56 AM EST
	Live is from York, PA where there is a Harley Davidson plant. It's probably about that.

No Picture Max Wanna Be	#3 by Max Contreras at Oct 4, 1984 at 3:41 AM EST
	Consider this stanza: "The shepherd won't leave me alone, He's in my face and I... The shepherd of my days, And I want you here by my heart and my head -- I can't start till I'm dead." It would be quite out of place for there to be a shephard in a song that's only about a motorcycle factory, especially if it's about the drudgery of factory work. A shephard is a common metaphor for Jesus, which then makes sense when the speaker wants him by his heart and his head. He can't start 'till he's dead? That's the basic Christian notion of "dying to oneself" and being reborn in Christ. He can't start letting Jesus into his heart and mind until his own will has died and so can be replaced by that of Jesus (refer to Romans). And, as tomtoro notes, the song's title is a strong image of Jesus as well.

No Picture Christian Wanna Be	#4 by Christian Chavez at Apr 22, 1988 at 5:29 PM EST
	During a show (1999) they said: “So like I told you, we come from a small town where just about everybody there is doing something for the men, you know what I mean? Busting there ass 9 to 5, trying to rais a family. We wrote this song as a work song for all the people we grew up with. All the people that are busting there ass for the men - that maybe they can sing this song and maybe feel a little bit less lonely”

No Picture Renee Wanna Be	#5 by Renee Saenz at Jun 16, 1988 at 9:28 PM EST
	Now that you say that...I think you're right! or atleast something similiar to that.

No Picture Ale Wanna Be	#6 by Ale Rosado at Aug 23, 1992 at 10:02 PM EST
	I'm not sure what it is about this song. It's one of my favorite songs on Throwing copper. Maybe it's just Ed's voice or the lyrics but I love it.

No Picture Jarrett Lead Player	#7 by Jarrett Sandlin at Apr 5, 1996 at 11:52 AM EST
	i've heard many different literal explanations for this song (i.e.: the factories of york, caterpillar and/or harley davidson; even waco, with my main man dave koresh), but they all have basically the same metaphorical meaning. i sort of relate this song to dave matthews band's "ants marching," because it portrays the same monotonous, regimented life to which ed alludes. the lyrics are actually fairly depressing in that sense. the only reprieve ed suggests is "medicine supposed to...make you high." very frighteningly, ed lastly says "i can't start till i'm dead." conceivably, there is really nothing he could do once dead...exempting, of course, unprovable religious beliefs. regardless, my opinion on the matter is that everything will be started for this subject, once given his freedom from the third-person tyranny he is living

No Picture sebastian Average	#8 by sebastian daalmeijer at Jan 28, 1997 at 2:23 PM EST
	The general consensus in the Live fan community is that the song is named after the two factories in the bands' home town of York, as was explained by dollsteaktestmeat. It seems to be a worker's song.

No Picture Connor Rhythm Player	#9 by Connor Fowler at Dec 10, 1997 at 7:36 AM EST
	This song is about all the workers who work hard everyday doin the same shit like robots (machines) and how they work untill they meet the stallion that (tomtoro) refers to as the devil or judgement day.

No Picture Josh Professional	#10 by Josh Wilson at Jun 30, 1998 at 10:22 AM EST
	I'm gonna go out on a different limb here and suggest the song is more religious than it is about factory work. I think the song starts off with ed speaking about tele-evangelists and how they exploit a need for the lonely and insecure to have religion. Here goes my rough logic: "warm bodies" are the living, off whom the evangelist seeks to make money. "past, perfect, tense/ words for a feeling and all I've discovered" describes the bible - a 'perfect' series of words to give you a feeling etc, from a long time in the past. It then speaks as the evangelist - 'I'll be along with medicine to help make you high (happy), I'll be along with "words for a feeling and all I've discovered" (the bible)' i.e. i'll make you happy through the bible. Next its back to ed, who clearly hates the evangelist and referes to him as 'old bad eyes', the 'foreman' and the 'profiteer'. "on lonliness comes/ go see the foreman go see the profiteer" - a person gets very lonely and turns to the evangelist. "On lonliness drives/ taking our time, moving shit for this holy slime" - lonliness then drives a person to do what the evagelist (holy slime) wants. "old bad eyes, all mighty fear" refers to how the preacher (old bad eyes) uses the fear of the the almighty (god) The next verse about the shepherd refers to jesus (the good shepherd). The person from the previous verse finds that jesus is now in his life and won't leave him alone ("he's in my face" etc). "and I want you here by my heart and my head" - means he wants to meet jesus. "I can't start til i'm dead" - means that he can only do that after he's died. The final verse/background lyrics refers to the persons judgement day. The 'stallion' with the 'horns' is the devil The 'pillar of davidson' is again jesus who according to the bible was a direct descedent of David, making him literally david's son (or grandson many times removed). And the verse basically means the bloke is facing his judgement day where the devil is winning and jesus (the pillar of davidson) finds it too hard to go down (to hell) and tread upon all the cheap soles to save him. Just my thoughts, but i reckon there is far too much deep and typically ed religious stuff in there for that to be about work at a factory ed has never worked at.

No Picture Joe Average	#11 by Joe Fitzpatrick at Nov 2, 2002 at 3:12 AM EST
	I agree with Aylene & I can totally see the true meaning of this song now. I can listen to this song on & on...just love it.

No Picture Rich Average	#12 by Rich Frazer at Jun 9, 2004 at 9:44 PM EST
	Dolls has hit the nail right on the head with this one. I love this song. I put the words "Warm bodies, we sense are not machines that can only make money" in my little AIM away message when I go off to work. It is definately a blue-collar workers song. York is a very very industrial town and this song basically is for all the hard working people in York. (Or wherever the person listening to it is)

No Picture Squirrels Lead Player	#13 by Squirrels Dyrant at May 12, 2005 at 8:12 AM EST
	this song is so complicated but it is so great... i think its about government and how it doesnt take care of people... or at least some kind of authority...

No Picture Chris Average	#14 by Chris Tucker at Nov 10, 2006 at 7:01 AM EST
	I could listen to this song for hours on end. I have no idea what it is talking about and like Yellow Ledbetter, I don't want to know.

No Picture D-backs, 2006 w Rhythm Player	#15 by D-backs, 2006 world series champions! !! at Jun 16, 2007 at 12:30 AM EST
	why in hell did they edit out the middle section of pillar o davidson on the best of cd?

No Picture nathan Average	#16 by nathan skidmore at Aug 15, 2007 at 9:13 PM EST
	I suspected this song was about corporation and Government corruption. And how the two are linked. It's a very haunting song. One of my fav Live songs.