| Jakob Dylan – On Up the Mountain Lyrics | 38 years ago |
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My humble opinion: I think the song is sung to God. There is always the option to abandon man altogether, and through history the obstinate and stubborn ability of man to do evil makes it tempting to Him. He will grow tired of man and weak in dealing with him (like He did with the generation of Noah), but despite how bad it has been, God has always come back to redeem man and encourage her to change. "Bitter songs are never sung in the highlands where you belong"/"In the smoke of cannons below, men they bury each other in rows" ---This first line seems to be a complaint that God has chosen to ignore the plight of man and placed his attention elsewhere. He can seal himself off from the turmoil of the earth and focus on the untold mysteries and joys of some other world/dimension. (hence the language about halls & open doors & branches of the unknown) "People come, people go/work in numbers and leave alone" ---An immortal can take the position that no one life matters but only the grand direction of things (as some think that God does) "There's a light making its way on up the mountain - night and day." ---The light is a symbol of the righteousness of man that God encourages us to pursue. Mankind is growing better. We are seeing more and more clearly. There seems to be a metaphor here as well as the light making its way up a mountain would take place during a sunrise. "You'll get tired/You'll get weak" ---Referencing when God gets fed up with the evil that men create and desires to leave the whole ordeal. "You'll go down/You'll go deep" ---Referencing God hiding from the masses of men. Making himself hard to find. "But you wont abandon your masterpiece" ---Despite all the trouble, he never has abandoned man. Mankind is biblically described as being made in God's image, the Church is the bride of Christ. God's masterpiece, man, will not be abandoned because God will never choose to leave her. "You will deliver your masterpiece." |
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