Greg Brown FAQ
(Frequently Asked Questions)

In appreciation of this generous policy on recordings, fans who engage in the trading of recordings are encouraged to reciprocate by buying Greg's officially released CDs.

One way to listen to a few Greg Brown songs that haven't been released is to check the Prairie Home Companion archives (search on "Greg Brown"). Some of these PHC songs are listed on the Soundclips page with specific links.

For out-of-print albums, possibilities include used record stores (a few in the U.S. still stock vinyl), rare record dealers, and Goldmine magazine (http://www.krause.com/records/gm/). You might also try Gemm, a commercial catalog of albums available at on-line stores. You could also inquire on the GBrown-L discussion group.

For general information about locating hard-to-find albums, see Alan Rowoth's page on Finding Albums at http://alan.lpl.org/FindingAlbums.html.

Guitar transcriptions for many songs are available at Bob Steidl's web site. A few songs are at Active Guitar and Olga.

Other songs may be available at other sites on the web. Try using a search engine. (I don't have specific knowledge of any other sites, nor do I have tabs for any songs myself.)

From Tim (August 1, 1997): During the Eighties, I owned--and cherish the memory of--many a slant six. It's an engine type, made by Dodge in the 60's and 70's, and put in Plymouths & Dodges. You could find them in cars like Darts & Valiants, Chargers and Barracudas, & in those cool old Dodge vans with the bug eye headlights. I had a two toned purple with white top Dodge Dart ('66), a bright orange Dart ('65), a white two door Valiant ('63) called a Signet with famed push-button transmission (it was like driving a jukebox....hey! A6, and down the road you went), a '70s Plymouth Scamp, etc. I used to look for them, bec the slant-six, as an engine, would last so long my friends used to say you'd have to take 'em out in the field and shoot 'em, long after the car had rusted out (least out here in New England) and was worthless in any other way. I suppose it means something if ya got a slant six mind like mine (or many others') vs. a Corvette mind, or Volvo mind, or turbo-charged V8 mind, or whatever. Not much of a car guy, myself, but a slant six would get ya where ya wanted to go for a long time, even if ya didn't have a lot of bucks....

From Laurel (August 2, 1997): I remember having a push button trannie car-a plymouth Savoy--with big fins--as our family car as a kid--I could possibly have been a '64--would it have arrived in November of '63???!!! My uncle was a Dodge dealer so we stuck with those cars-they still drive a dodge. When I had a family of my own, we had a '63 dodge dart--no, it must have been a Valiant because we named it Prince valiant or valiant effort or some such. Push button again--and the slant 6 allowed even car idiots to see what was going on in there--not all goobered up with extra hoses, and contraptions, just what it took to get down the road--nothing more. You could see and get to the oil filter, and the carburator was right there--all nice and simple and accessible. Maybe the title refers to being simple, honest, accessible, durable....

From Stephanie (August 3, 1997): A fellow listmember recently pointed out to me that there's a Valiant in the first line of Hacklebarney: "Hop in my Valiant, hit highway 1, head on down to Hacklebarney, have me some fun..." I'd never caught that lyric before. I, too, grew up with slant sixes - a 63 Valiant and 70 Valiant. My parents gave me the 70 to drive when I started law school and it was almost dead, and I drove it its final two years until the floorboards rusted through. The engine was still going strong! The City of Chicago towed it away before I got the engine sold, tho. Wonder where that engine ended up. So, it's all becoming clear - there's a connection between those hours with a slant six and the appreciation of Greg Brown. ACtually, now that I think of it, the slant six is somewhat unearthly. Perhaps it was actually brought here, not by chrysler, but by aliens. So what does that say about all of us?

From Marty (August 11, 1997): the 225cubic Inch slant six engine is the best engine ever made. They don't die. I bet the 64 Dodge had a 6. The next best engine is the 318. I have the 225 in my Dodge Ram 250 Van. It's gutless, but it will never fail me. However, Slant six mind and a supercharged heart may mean not a very powerful mind, but a powerful heart?

From Shirley (August 24, 1997): The car comparison is there, of course - slant six, supercharged, "parts" - but, as always, I think there are multiple meanings. From my own "skewed" viewpoint, I think of slant six mind as one kind of off-center, off-kilter, off-color (singin' about her parts?)....or perhaps I just personally identify with that definition :-) . [...]

From Lisa (October 24, 1997): I have not spoken with Greg or anyone else who has spoken with him, but my opinion of what Slant 6 Mind means is:
simple, reliable, and long-lived (when speaking of the auto engine, a slant 6) simple, as in not complicated or terribly intelligent (when speaking of the girl with a slant 6 mind)
and in contrast to the girl's "supercharged heart" which I believe refers to her having a big heart and all that goes with that.

From Laurel (January 7, 1998): [O]nly Chrysler knows for sure about slant 6 , and it refers to a 6 cylinder engine built by them back in the good old days when you could lift the hood and identify the engine parts. The cylinders were in a row, and mounted at a slant. You could reach in and find the oil filter, the distributor or anything else you needed. Very dependable. Many list members remember their Dodge Darts, Plymouth Valiants and other such slant six-mobiles. Some had push button transmissions-many are still on the road today.