The Bagman's Gambit

oops: I accidentally originally posted this under "meaning" when I meant to post it under interpretation. Sorry for the double post.

"On the lam from the law On the steps of the capitol You shot a plainclothes cop on the ten o'clock And I saw momentarily They flashed a photograph, it couldn't be you You'd been abused so horribly But you were there in some anonymous room"

Interpretation: The narrator is on the steps of the capital and he overhears that his lover, while trying to escape DC, shot a plainclothes cop on the 10 o'clock train. He pays attention to the conversation and he sees a photograph that confirms it's his lover. The lover has been beaten up and abused but she is alive. ((The first two lines do make it seem like the lover shot the cop "on the ten 'oclock" on the "steps of the capital" but that makes no sense. How do you shoot someone "on a 10 'o'clock?" Because of that, I'd say that the first two lines are acting as juxtaposition: He's on the steps of the capital, and she's on the lam.

"And I recall that fall I was working for the government And in a bathroom stall off the National Mall How we kissed so sweetly How could I refuse a favor or two? For a tryst in the greenery I gave you documents and microfilm, too"

Interpretation: Seeing the images of the lover makes the narrator think back to "that fall" when the two of them were having tryst (meaning sexual romps) and, the narrator, being very much smitten with the lover, was willing to give the lover anything requested... including top secret documents. The narrator is laying in bed at his shabby 10th floor apartment and begins to think back about how the two of them used to lay there together. The lover would often talk about how they were going to escape and never be caught. The narrator is probably awake and restless because he has the knowledge that the lover is captured but is being held in some anonymous room and there is no way for him to know where.

"It was late one night I was awoken by the telephone I heard a strangled cry on the end of the line Purloined in Petrograd They were suspicious of where your loyalties lay So I paid off a bureaucrat To convince your captors there to secret you away"

Interpretation: Finally, a call comes through: it's the lover. The lover has been illegally apprehended (purloined means "taken dishonestly") in Petrograd (st. Petersburg. Don't read too much into the city's name: using the archaic name of Petrograd is probably simply for alliteration, same way "on the lam from the law" is alliteration.) and is now being held at the American embassy in Petrograd. (Again, obviously illegal but that's just the way espionage works.) The captors were after the lover because of the police shooting but also because of their suspicions that the lover is a spy. The narrator, acing as a bagmand (a person that transports money- often illicitly.) travels to Petrograd and pays the captors "there" (the usage of the word there further builds the case that the lover is being held in Petrograd, not the US) to "secret" the lover away- basically, he paid them off to forget the entire mess. The gambit is that he paid a massive sum for the lover's freedom despite being unsure whether or not the lover would be freed or, if even if the lover was to be freed, if they'd ever be able to have future together. Basically, the bribe was a sacrifice he gladly made.

"And at the gate of the embassy Our hands met through the bars As your whisper stilled my heart "No, they'll never catch me now No, they'll never catch me No, they cannot catch me now We will escape somehow Somehow""

Interpretation: The captors did free the lover and released the lover to the other side of the embassy- back out to Russian territory. The narrator finally gets to see that the lover is free for himself. But, of course, the lover and the narrator are on the other side of the gate of the embassy so all they can do is squeeze each others' hands. Again, the lover reassures that they'll never catch him/her... and again alludes to the fact that the two of them will escape somehow.

"And I dreamt one night You were there in fours Hands held high In uniform"

Interpretation: At some point, the narrator has a dream about the lover. (Ok, I have to admit that I'm sill of the impression that "there in fours" is really "there in force.") In the dream, the narrator sees the lover there in force- meaning, not there surreptitiously but there in confidence, not on the run from the law or anything. There legally and without concern.. Heck, the lover is so legitimate that he/she can even wear his/her uniform withou fear of being apprehended. ... Anyway, The lover's hands are held high in greeting. The lover has come back to the narrator!

"It was ten years on When you resurfaced in a motorcar With the wave of an arm You were there and gone"

Of course, it was a dream. The lover had not come back. In fact, it was 10 years later before the narrator finally saw the lover again.... in a car... driving by. The lover waves and then is gone. The bagman made the gambit in hopes of having a future together with the lover but it is now obvious that it will never be. All the narrator gets from his sacrifice is a wave as the lover drives on by.

Overall, this is a song about all the things you do for love and how, in the end, there's always the chance it'll have been for nothing.