I think this song takes place in a small town during a war or immediately after war. While the town is visiting the dead soldiers, sick people, pets, teenagers, and maybe even burglars get the opportunity to get hurt. Having Samuel be apart of the this as a teen.
"The kettle burned because I left it too long, when we were kissing with the radio on" Here he must speaking about himself and his girlfriend sneaking around with each other while the town is visiting the dead soldiers.
"The cat was choking on a rattlesnake bone" The cat is left alone to get food for itself, because no one is the to feed it. When the cat finds the snake it assumes that it's food and eats it, but the cat doesn't know about the bones in its "food" so it choked.
"The sick kids ate a bowl of red clay" In some cases when someone has a stomach ache you can take a capsule w/ powder clay or add water to liquefy it and drink it like that. These kids may have had a cold and one of the symptoms was a stomach ache.
"And every summer there was imminent rain" The war must have lasted over many years. When the deceased soldiers came to the town it was usually during the summer. In cartoons when the character is depressed there is a cloud over there head, so when the whole town is sad it covers the sky making it seem as if it was about to rain.
"The late judge teetered in a jon boat" I think here the judge has been murdered or hurt on the boat, so the boat teeters as the judge inside is being moved around.
"The broken window and the pretty blue sky, and cold water for my swollen black eye" Someone must have robbed the house, when they threw a rock in the window hit him in the eye and knocked him out when he woke up and everything was gone.
"We shook some money from your mother's old clothes" He got money from his friend's mother to replace the stolen items. After this the join the town to mourn the death of the soldiers.
When the line "Carried home" is repeated in the end, it could represent the many deceased soldiers that came home year after year.
I think this song takes place in a small town during a war or immediately after war. While the town is visiting the dead soldiers, sick people, pets, teenagers, and maybe even burglars get the opportunity to get hurt. Having Samuel be apart of the this as a teen.
"The kettle burned because I left it too long, when we were kissing with the radio on" Here he must speaking about himself and his girlfriend sneaking around with each other while the town is visiting the dead soldiers.
"The cat was choking on a rattlesnake bone" The cat is left alone to get food for itself, because no one is the to feed it. When the cat finds the snake it assumes that it's food and eats it, but the cat doesn't know about the bones in its "food" so it choked.
"The sick kids ate a bowl of red clay" In some cases when someone has a stomach ache you can take a capsule w/ powder clay or add water to liquefy it and drink it like that. These kids may have had a cold and one of the symptoms was a stomach ache.
"And every summer there was imminent rain" The war must have lasted over many years. When the deceased soldiers came to the town it was usually during the summer. In cartoons when the character is depressed there is a cloud over there head, so when the whole town is sad it covers the sky making it seem as if it was about to rain.
"The late judge teetered in a jon boat" I think here the judge has been murdered or hurt on the boat, so the boat teeters as the judge inside is being moved around.
"The broken window and the pretty blue sky, and cold water for my swollen black eye" Someone must have robbed the house, when they threw a rock in the window hit him in the eye and knocked him out when he woke up and everything was gone.
"We shook some money from your mother's old clothes" He got money from his friend's mother to replace the stolen items. After this the join the town to mourn the death of the soldiers.
When the line "Carried home" is repeated in the end, it could represent the many deceased soldiers that came home year after year.
btw this has become one of my favorite songs
btw this has become one of my favorite songs