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Gideon The Hold Steady – Cattle And The Creeping Things

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Gideon is a reoccuring character in the narrative of The Hold Steady’s albums, and is based on a person in the Book of Judges (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Judges). In the Bible Gideon was a “judge”, who as a young man was chosen by God to stop the Israelites from worshiping false gods.

(http://holdsteady.wikia.com/wiki/Gideon)

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Well, you in the corner with a good-looking drifter
Two cups of coffee and ten packs of sugar The Hold Steady – Cattle And The Creeping Things

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Drug addicts need their energy.

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7 years

Sugar cravings is a classic symptom of opiate withdrawal, especially early stage withdrawals. She’s either just getting clean or she’s in need of a fix.

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1,486

8 years

This could also be a reference to bags of meth being referred to as “sugar packets” as we saw in Lifter Puller’s “Viceburgh” and later in “Our Whole Lives.”

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8 years

I think Holly is at a church evangelical outreach meeting to get free coffee. That is why she’s not very interested in the bible stories, she’s just placating them, saying “Oh sure, I’ve heard this before.” so she can get out with minimal smothering.

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John

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8 years

Also a possible reference to NA / AA meetings where black coffee and sweet things are a staple

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"And don't it all end up in some revelation
With four guys on horses and violent red visions
Famine and death and pestilence and war?"
"Pretty sure I heard this one before" The Hold Steady – Cattle And The Creeping Things

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Revelation

The end of the New Testament of the Bible, which describes the Second Coming of Christ and the Apocalypse.

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10 years

“Pretty sure I’ve heard this one before” is also a reference to the song “4 Dix” – another song about the four horsemen in the Book of Revelation – by Craig Finn’s former band Lifter Puller.

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They got to the part with the cattle and the creeping things
Said, "I'm pretty sure we've heard this one before" The Hold Steady – Cattle And The Creeping Things

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Genesis 1:24 “Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind”; and it was so."

The joke is that they read the entire bible up until that point and only then go “Oh, yeah, I’ve come into contact with this story before now.”

Not very biblically literate, but they know the gist of the story in a weird, instinctive way typical of Finn’s characters–they have charismatic, visionary religion that latches on to odd bits of scripture (Like Gen. 1:24, possibly the least recognizable verse up until that point for most people)

Holly, the main character of Separation Sunday, is from a Christian background, so this line shows us that she has at least mild familiarity with Biblical ideas.

It also shows us how she’s sorta dismissive of the Biblical teachings, and she thinks she’s learned everything she can from the Bible.

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123

5 years

The other part of the joke is that this is the very beginning of the bible…the 24th verse in the whole book.

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602

8 years

In the Bible, God created the cattle and the creeping things on the sixth day.

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Hornets! Hornets! The Hold Steady – Hornets! Hornets!

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The opening song on 2005’s Separation Sunday, the second album by The Hold Steady. This song introduces to the life of 17 year old Halleluiah (AKA Holly), whom the narrator met on the first album Almost Killed Me. Holly has entered a downward spiral in her life, after leaving her life in a Catholic household when she fell into drug use. The narrator comes into her life as a client turned roommate, and the narrative of the album begins.

Speaking of the album’s opening track and its specific geography, Craig Finn told Magnet Magazine:

“Hornets! Hornets!” is a reference to the high-school hockey team in Edina, where I grew up. It’s the kind of town that, if you want to be a cool rock guy, you probably don’t want to admit you’re from there. So that was my way of saying, “Fuck it. This is where I’m from.” It was kind of an obvious first song.

In the same oral history of Separation Sunday, album co-producer Dave Gardner provided insight into the song’s “back and forth” opening lines:

Separation Sunday is about disease, so we started off the record by laying that right out, with that pan back and forth on the intro vocal to “Hornets! Hornets!” The narrator is in a place that’s a little seasick.

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The opening song on 2005's *Separation Sunday*, the second album by The Hold Steady. This song introduces to the life of 17 year old Halleluiah (AKA Holly), whom the narrator met on the first album *Almost Killed Me*. Holly has entered a downward spiral in her life, after leaving her life in a Catholic household when she fell into drug use. The narrator comes into her life as a client turned roommate, and the narrative of the album begins.

Speaking of the album's opening track and its specific geography, [Craig Finn told Magnet Magazine](http://www.magnetmagazine.com/2017/05/01/magnet-classics-the-making-of-the-hold-steadys-separation-sunday/):
>“Hornets! Hornets!” is a reference to the high-school hockey team in Edina, where I grew up. It’s the kind of town that, if you want to be a cool rock guy, you probably don’t want to admit you’re from there. So that was my way of saying, “Fuck it. This is where I’m from.” It was kind of an obvious first song.

In the same oral history of *Separation Sunday*, album co-producer Dave Gardner provided insight into the song's "back and forth" opening lines: 
>Separation Sunday is about disease, so we started off the record by laying that right out, with that pan back and forth on the intro vocal to “Hornets! Hornets!” The narrator is in a place that’s a little seasick.

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1,871

8 years

These lyrics are later referenced in the title track STAY POSITIVE.

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7 years

In-depth discussion of the lyrics over on the Hold Steady boards here: “Like We Can Get Together, Hornets! Hornets! is a song about Charlemagne and Jesse, holed up in her bedroom and listening to her records. The POV character of the song is Charlemagne. He’s hanging with Jesse but remembering Holly, contrasting Jesse’s innocence with the heavy stuff he’s seen in the past.”

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And almost died up by Edina High The Hold Steady – Hornets! Hornets!

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Edina High is a public high school in the Minneapolis suburb of Edina. The school mascot is the Hornets; hence the title of the song.

They nearly killed themselves after making it to the next town over.

(http://holdsteady.wikia.com/wiki/Edina_high)

Additionally, Craig Finn is from Edina, MN and his parents still reside there.

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Drove the wrong way down 169 The Hold Steady – Hornets! Hornets!

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Route 169 runs from Tulsa, Oklahoma to Virginia, Minnesota, and passes through the western suburbs of the album’s main location, Minneapolis.

The narrator and the roommates were obviously intoxicated and drove up the wrong side of the highway.

(http://holdsteady.wikia.com/wiki/169)

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602

8 years

Also, they underestimated the strength of the drugs they were taking, or what the drugs were cut with, which caused them to go driving and nearly die.

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With three skaters and some hoodrat chick The Hold Steady – Hornets! Hornets!

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The narrator has moved in with “some hoodrat chick” (The nickname often used to refer to Holly due to her promiscuity), and some other young men on the outskirts of society.

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We were living up at Nicollet and 66th The Hold Steady – Hornets! Hornets!

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Nicollet Avenue is a major street in Minneapolis. 66th is a cross-street which intersects roughly at the level of the Minneapolis-St Paul airport in Richfield, a suburb of Minneapolis. An interesting observation is that the intersection of 66th and Nicollet would be very hard to live at, seeing as it is home to a shopping center. However, also at Nicollet and 66th is the Academy of Holy Angels and St. Peter’s Catholic Church.

(http://holdsteady.wikia.com/wiki/Nicollet_and_66th)

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2,339

7 years

As a response to TravisHeeter, no The Hub has been at the corner of Nicollet & 66th way before the frame of the story. My mother grew up in Richfield and said that she always went to the Hub growing up as a kid

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8 years

Perhaps there was something different there in the mid to late 80’s to early 90’s – the time frame of this story. Also, here’s street view of the intersection in Google Maps: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Richfield,+MN+55423/@44.8833882,-93.2782461,3a,90y,91.4h,88.16t/data=!3m5!1e1!3m3!1sAf8jXw29M-jAnMovzKy5Qg!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DAf8jXw29M-jAnMovzKy5Qg%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dsearch.TACTILE.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D86%26h%3D86%26yaw%3D244.38091%26pitch%3D0!4m2!3m1!1s0x87f6260caea11045:0x823ce9e67931e5b8!6m1!1e1

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I guess the heavy stuff ain't quite at its heaviest
By the time it gets out to suburban Minneapolis The Hold Steady – Hornets! Hornets!

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By the time drugs get to the smaller cities and the outskirts, they’ve been cut many times compared to in the inner city.

The line can also be interpreted as a statement about how culture filters out from places such as New York and Los Angeles. That things that were a big deal are somewhat over by the time they get to the shopping malls of St. Paul.

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