I recently heard Peggy Seeger's version of this song and noticed what an amazing song this is. I remeber hearing Roberta Flack's version on the radio years ago, but it didn't make much of an impression on me. This recent listening of Peggy's version smacked my upside the head as if it were a baseball bat, or some other blunt object. On first listen, it struck me as just a hanuntingly beautiful love song. On the 3rd listening I was struck by increased sadness and feeling it was about a breakup.. Maybe it is about a parent's love for an infant child. There is lot's of imagery to support this interpretation ("I felt the earth turn in my hand like the trembling heart of a captive bird).
But in Peggy's version, the first verse is not repeated, and the song ends with- "I thought our joy would fill the earth and last to the end of time..." The key word is "thought". I can't help read this as s/he thought the love would last forever but did not. This transforms the whole song from what first appears as a beautiful love song to a song reflecting a love that died.
Note that Roberta and Celine changed "thought" to "knew".
Maybe my interpretation was not the intention of Ewan MacCOLL, but watching my 25 year marriage in the proccess of falling apart, I can't help read it this way.
I recently heard Peggy Seeger's version of this song and noticed what an amazing song this is. I remeber hearing Roberta Flack's version on the radio years ago, but it didn't make much of an impression on me. This recent listening of Peggy's version smacked my upside the head as if it were a baseball bat, or some other blunt object. On first listen, it struck me as just a hanuntingly beautiful love song. On the 3rd listening I was struck by increased sadness and feeling it was about a breakup.. Maybe it is about a parent's love for an infant child. There is lot's of imagery to support this interpretation ("I felt the earth turn in my hand like the trembling heart of a captive bird). But in Peggy's version, the first verse is not repeated, and the song ends with- "I thought our joy would fill the earth and last to the end of time..." The key word is "thought". I can't help read this as s/he thought the love would last forever but did not. This transforms the whole song from what first appears as a beautiful love song to a song reflecting a love that died. Note that Roberta and Celine changed "thought" to "knew". Maybe my interpretation was not the intention of Ewan MacCOLL, but watching my 25 year marriage in the proccess of falling apart, I can't help read it this way.
While a breakup is a possibility, I have always thought it is more likely to be that his lover has died.
While a breakup is a possibility, I have always thought it is more likely to be that his lover has died.
I think it is hard to say one wqay or the other, but there is certainly a bleakness and sense of loss in the music as much as the lyrics.
I think it is hard to say one wqay or the other, but there is certainly a bleakness and sense of loss in the music as much as the lyrics.