Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
So I told him that he'd better shut his mouth
And do his job like a man.
And he answered "Listen, Father,
I will never kill another."
He thinks he's better
than his brother that died
What the hell does he think he's doing
To his father who brought him up right?
Chorus:
Take your place on The Great Mandala
As it moves through your brief moment of time.
Win or lose now you must choose now
And if you lose you're only losing your life.
Tell the jailer not to bother
With his meal of bread and water today.
He is fasting 'til the killing's over
He's a martyr, he thinks he's a prophet.
But he's a coward, he's just playing a game
He can't do it, he can't change it
It's been going on for ten thousand years
(Chorus)
Tell the people they are safe now
Hunger stopped him, he lies still in his cell.
Death has gagged his accusations
We are free now, we can kill now,
We can hate now, now we can end the world
We're not guilty, he was crazy
And it's been going on for ten thousand years!
Take your place on The Great Mandala
As it moves through your brief moment of time.
Win or lose now you must choose now
And if you lose you've only wasted your life.
And do his job like a man.
And he answered "Listen, Father,
I will never kill another."
He thinks he's better
than his brother that died
What the hell does he think he's doing
To his father who brought him up right?
Chorus:
Take your place on The Great Mandala
As it moves through your brief moment of time.
Win or lose now you must choose now
And if you lose you're only losing your life.
Tell the jailer not to bother
With his meal of bread and water today.
He is fasting 'til the killing's over
He's a martyr, he thinks he's a prophet.
But he's a coward, he's just playing a game
He can't do it, he can't change it
It's been going on for ten thousand years
(Chorus)
Tell the people they are safe now
Hunger stopped him, he lies still in his cell.
Death has gagged his accusations
We are free now, we can kill now,
We can hate now, now we can end the world
We're not guilty, he was crazy
And it's been going on for ten thousand years!
Take your place on The Great Mandala
As it moves through your brief moment of time.
Win or lose now you must choose now
And if you lose you've only wasted your life.
Lyrics submitted by Nonfactor
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I've been playing this song on the guitar since it was first written and for all these years I believed, and still believe that the song wasn't about a draft resister from the Vietnam War but a song against capital punishment. "So I told him that he'd better, shut his mouth and do his job like a man..." means go to his death in the electric chair without complaining. "And he answered, listen father 'I will never kill another'..." is what he was saying to the priest and means he was remorseful about the death he caused. "He thinks he's better than his brother that died..." means he thinks he doesn't deserve what happened to the 'brother' he killed. "What the hell does he think he's doing to his father who brought him up right..." means how could he have done this to his family.
Read in this context, the remaining lyrics are talking about him fasting until dying before he could be executed and of course, the 10,000 years is how long capital punishment has been a mainstay of civilization. The last verse refers to us, the people, who, since we are now free of the executed man, can resume the wanton sanctioning of state killing because, after all, he was crazy and this is the way it's always been going on for over 10,000 years.
I don't know if Peter Yarrow is still alive or whether he has ever written anything about this song but that was always my take on it from the moment I first heard it. Another reference from the era is Phil Och's 'Iron Lady' which is also about the electric chair (before lethal injection became the way the state killed).
fish
This is sure an interesting interpretation -- shows how a really good song can have different impacts on different people. Mainly wanted to ask "fish" if he knows the song Ellis Unit One by Steve Earle -- make sure you check it out if you don't.