While most of the song is self-explanatory, I am always confused by the sentence that sent him to prison. Did he fight the merchant marine and kill him, or at the time, was it a prison term for adultery? I think it is the former, but, if that was the case, why didn't Mabel Joy know what had happened to him? I suppose I'm trying to delve too deeply into the song, but it is so tragic, I can't not dive into it.
While most of the song is self-explanatory, I am always confused by the sentence that sent him to prison. Did he fight the merchant marine and kill him, or at the time, was it a prison term for adultery? I think it is the former, but, if that was the case, why didn't Mabel Joy know what had happened to him? I suppose I'm trying to delve too deeply into the song, but it is so tragic, I can't not dive into it.