Unlikely as it may seem, one of the most popular tunes performed by a Chicago-based band is a song called “Syracuse.”
When Windy City guitarist James Weigel wrote the song eight years ago he had yet to visit the Salt City. His inspiration was not our bedraggled burg itself but a pair of our rowdier residents. A young couple who lived here had crashed at a communal home of musicians, and their devil-may-care behavior inspired his tune.
The guy and gal, who drove a new SUV, had a baby boy with them when they visited the Midwest. Raising a child, Weigel noted, didn’t stop those poor little rich kids from their primary pursuit — getting high.
Catchy chorus
The song depicts the couple driving back home to Syracuse from Illinois. It features a catchy chorus with the lyrics: “And when you get back home to Syracuse/ You can rest your weary head/ Take some pills, sniff some cocaine/ Put the baby to bed.”
Now, although Weigel’s no longer with the band, the Henhouse Prowlers proudly perform “Syracuse” and will likely sing at their appearance at 8 p.m. Friday June 3 at the Homer Center for the Arts, 72 S. Main St., in Homer. Ticket prices range from $10 through $18; center4art.org; (607) 749-4900.
Despite its upbeat rhythm, “Syracuse” is a dark and brooding composition, a bitter slice of life prompted by a couple of wayward parents from our hometown.
The tune’s description on YouTube describes it as “a poignant and riveting song about a young couple’s propensity for drug use while raising a newborn child.”
Story behind the song
In 2002, Weigel, who now has a wife and daughter of his own, was then living with a handful of band-mates in the Outlaw Family Band, a rock group in which he played electric guitar.
“There were about 20 people living in our house, and it was a few years after Jerry Garcia had died and the Grateful Dead were playing up in Wisconsin at Alpine Valley,” Weigel recalled. “A couple from Syracuse who knew some of our house-mates went to that show and, on their way back home, ended up staying with us for a week.”
The visitors made a memorable entrance. As they pulled up to the house, their SUV crashed into a car parked in the driveway.
“He had bottle of vodka, and they were both drunk, but they also had a six-month-old kid,” the songwriter said. “It was a chaotic mess. They liked to party and having a kid didn’t stop them from that one bit — a real dysfunctional family. When they left we all kinda breathed a sigh of relief, and as I thought about that couple driving home the chorus came to me, ‘when you get back home to Syracuse you can rest your weary head.'”
Homecoming for banjo man
More recently, Weigel got to see Syracuse for himself. A few years ago he drove here to attend his sister’s wedding.
“When I was driving out there myself, I thought about that couple in the song and how miserable they would’ve been in their car,” Weigel said.
One of the Henhouse Prowlers, banjoist Ben Wright, hails from Homer. Wright moved to Chicago in 2000.
“Our ‘Syracuse’ song definitely gets in people’s heads,” Wright said. “It’s such a great story, told in an almost angry voice. Everyone who comes and sees us in Chicago knows it.”
Dismal themes
The Prowlers’ original material is more urban-oriented than much of the standard bluegrass repertoire, but even the songs of Bill Monroe and Ralph Stanley can be dark as a dungeon, dealing with topics such as murder and infidelity. Countless bluegrass bands play a version of “Take a Whiff on Me,” an old folk song about cocaine.
As sociologists Jeff Ferrell and Clinton Sanders wrote in their book, “Cultural Criminology,” Many bluegrass songs “aggrandize home, spiritual life, family values and homespun tradition, while others bemoan their disintegration.”
In that context, Henhouse Prowlers faithfully follow the footsteps of their bluegrass predecessors.
“We’re not farmboys,” Weigel said, “so we really embrace the urban aspect of what we do.”
So thanks to “Syracuse” the song, Syracuse the city has become a murky footnote in the annals of modern bluegrass.
Russ Tarby’s column appears weekly in The Eagle and online at theeaglecny.com. He also covers the arts and sports. Reach him at [email protected].
