I think it’s about waking up in the morning. A mid level indie band in another crappy hotel with too many people in it. Playing gigs that seem utterly pointless because no one shows up, and those who showed up didn’t seem to care. The master plan, weight, gravity, it crushes you, others don’t seem to care. I think they realize age death weight everything is connected. All that matters is loss failure not feeling well. It’s about finding success life in a world that is full of defeat. Losing death falling is the natural order. Any sort of success...

I think it’s about waking up in the morning. A mid level indie band in another crappy hotel with too many people in it. Playing gigs that seem utterly pointless because no one shows up, and those who showed up didn’t seem to care. The master plan, weight, gravity, it crushes you, others don’t seem to care. I think they realize age death weight everything is connected. All that matters is loss failure not feeling well. It’s about finding success life in a world that is full of defeat. Losing death falling is the natural order. Any sort of success is an anomaly. But there’s also another sub meaning about how you should live your life. That’s why the song is genius there are seven layers of veiled meaning and I don’t want to give it away but the sixth is joy. I didn’t see it coming either. Literally I’m gonna kill my self not too far from now.

I think "transplanted heart" has several meanings...one is the captured African, transplanted to the Americas, so a transplanted heart too...second is the concepts of reincarnation, so the African people living on cyclical through the generations, so a transplanted heart...the old African herbs man of time immemorial living on through his generations, in other words roots live on, the heart of the old African herb man lived on through his ascendant, heaven lives on...just concentrate...connect to your ancestors to find the way... And thirdly, a transplanted heart referring to propagation of herb itself, a slick shout out to the ganja farmers perhaps...

I think "transplanted heart" has several meanings...one is the captured African, transplanted to the Americas, so a transplanted heart too...second is the concepts of reincarnation, so the African people living on cyclical through the generations, so a transplanted heart...the old African herbs man of time immemorial living on through his generations, in other words roots live on, the heart of the old African herb man lived on through his ascendant, heaven lives on...just concentrate...connect to your ancestors to find the way... And thirdly, a transplanted heart referring to propagation of herb itself, a slick shout out to the ganja farmers perhaps

I think people have a knee jerk reaction to it without even reading the lyrics and seeing the context.

I think people have a knee jerk reaction to it without even reading the lyrics and seeing the context.

Let's take the word "savage". Both times the word is used it is talking about white people or "civilized people" at least, could be any race. The context is clear, the people yelling at him like savages (not actual savages, it's a simile), are likely those same missionaries that are mentioned as advertising civilization trying to get him to leave his home.

Let's take the word "savage". Both times the word is used it is talking about white people or "civilized people" at least, could be any race. The context is clear, the people yelling at him like savages (not actual savages, it's a simile), are likely those same missionaries that are mentioned as advertising civilization trying to get him to leave his home.

The next use of the word is "They hurry like savages to get aboard an iron train". This is not talking about any natives. The "they" is talking about people in civilization, which would be the so called white folk if we're assuming all whites are the civilized ones. And again it's a simile, not calling them savages either just saying they hurry LIKE savages. It's just to give us the idea of how they behave. It's not calling any particular group a savage.

And the mention of the word spear, OMG they committed the cardinal sin of assuming every African has a spear? No, this particular one uses a spear to do fishing, which he just got done mentioning in the previous verse. A lot of people use spears when fishing. Not just stereotypes.

And let's remember Danny Kaye was a famous comedian, and a lot of the wording is comedic and trying to force a rhyme in some places. And even when he's saying fake foreign language words, those words seem to be attributed to the "civilized" people in the story this song is telling.

So, in my opinion, this song is not racist at all and is anti-civilization and pro staying in a remote area instead. and I agree, modern "civilization" is largely a prison for people who think the government loves them and has their best interest at heart.

I’ve always interpreted this song as an old man about to die visiting his now grown child. I’ve always pictured the grown child as a daughter but I don’t see that in the lyrics. He let himself in through an unlocked door. He warns her of someone bad getting in, suggesting that he is such a bad person. He notices how much his daughter now looks like her mother, adding to the menace she feels. I think he murdered the daughter’s mother and dumped her in the lake. When the police find the body, he disappears. Before he disappeared, she figured...

I’ve always interpreted this song as an old man about to die visiting his now grown child. I’ve always pictured the grown child as a daughter but I don’t see that in the lyrics. He let himself in through an unlocked door. He warns her of someone bad getting in, suggesting that he is such a bad person. He notices how much his daughter now looks like her mother, adding to the menace she feels. I think he murdered the daughter’s mother and dumped her in the lake. When the police find the body, he disappears. Before he disappeared, she figured out that he murdered her mother and told him he’s made of stone. He leaves the way he came in and tells the daughter to lock the door. He couldn’t be about to be executed, as someone else suggested, because he’s out alone I think the only reason he could know he’s about to die is from an illness. The chorus is the killer being sarcastic about getting away with murder and staying on the lam for several years, then getting to see his daughter one last time. It shows that he truly is made of stone, as the daughter said.