| Mark Knopfler – Blood and Water Lyrics | 4 months ago |
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I figured that there must have been some deaths, since people weren't allowed to leave but "You know as well as I do, They ain't comin back, They're gone,l - it's all over here. So I asked how many died: "Sharecroppers, particularly African Americans, were disproportionately affected by the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and many were forced to remain on levees, leading to deaths. While the official death toll was under 500, historians believe it was a significant undercount, and many deaths were likely among those forced to work on the levees. The flood exposed racial inequalities, with Black residents facing near-slavery conditions in levee work and suffering disproportionately from displacement and homelessness. Here's a more detailed breakdown: Forced Labor: Black sharecroppers were compelled to work on levees, often in dangerous conditions and without adequate resources, to try and contain the floodwaters. Significant Displacement: The flood displaced hundreds of thousands of people, with over half a million being African American, according to the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Undercounted Deaths: The official death toll of under 500 is widely considered to be a significant underestimate, with some estimates suggesting over 1,000 deaths in Mississippi alone. Racial Disparities: The flood exacerbated existing racial inequalities, with Black residents facing forced labor, displacement, and limited access to aid and relief." |
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| Mark Knopfler – Blood and Water Lyrics | 4 months ago |
| @[Cherokeeridge:54232] | |
| Mark Knopfler – Blood and Water Lyrics | 4 months ago |
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I asked Google AI "Who was forced to stay on the levees with sheriffs and shotguns when?" and got this: "During the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, many African Americans were forced to remain on the levees and work under the supervision of armed guards, including sheriffs and the National Guard . The primary reason for this was the desire of white plantation owners to prevent their sharecroppers from leaving the region and seeking opportunities elsewhere after the flood subsided. Specifically • Planters and local officials, with the cooperation of agencies like the Red Cross, orchestrated a system where African American laborers were compelled to stay in "refugee camps" established on or near the levees. • National Guard troops and other armed personnel were used to prevent Black residents from leaving these camps or from evacuating altogether, essentially trapping them and ensuring a captive labor force for post-flood recovery. • These individuals were forced to work, often without pay and under harsh conditions, to repair damaged levees and participate in cleanup efforts. This practice highlighted the deep racial inequality prevalent at the time and further exacerbated the already difficult circumstances faced by African Americans in the South." I'm betting that this is what this song is about. |
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| Dire Straits – Portobello Belle Lyrics | 6 months ago |
| Where do these lyrics come from? Are they published by the songwriter? Or someone's best guess? Because I'm just not hearing some of them in this song. And one misunderstanding is pretty crucial to the interpretation: in the last verse, to triumphant, crescendo-ing, joyful music, I hear and have heard, clearly, for years,"Bella Donna walks, Bella Donna taking CONTROL! She don't care about...etc." I cannot ignore that hard C and the n, and the total absence of "a s"(stroll). Also, it's clearly her skirt that she's got on tight now, not jeans. She's very stylish young woman - MK lists the details: tight skirt, boot-toes properly turned up, bra-less (empowerment), fingerless gloves (all the rage there for a while) very sure of herself, sauntering around a pretty rough neighborhood, with a doesnt-give-a-shit for traditional propriety/values. No distress in the tower. She's young, strong, beautiful (another commenter wrote that MK wrote this for the pretty daughter of his favorite club) and at this moment she has it all figured out and it's all going her way. | |
| Emilie Autumn – Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (Flaming Lips cover) Lyrics | 7 months ago |
| @[gordon1025:53669] And the club owner is an Army veteran - it's the old Army survival training guiding his behavior - so it's about a vet too. As is true of so many of this brilliant poet/lyricist's ballads, there are at least two layers of meaning. What an amazing person; writes songs like this and plays guitar like that! | |
| Mark Knopfler – Early Bird Lyrics | 8 months ago |
| Just a lyrics correction: "And my long black Cadillac comin' for to carry me home..." not "forth." It's a reference to the old gospel song "Swing low, sweet chariot, comin' for to carry me home; Swing low, sweet chariot, comin' for to carry me home. I looked over Jordan and what did I see, Comin for to carry me home? A band of angels comin' after me, Comin' for to carry me home. Swing low...etc" | |
| Mark Knopfler – Gator Blood Lyrics | 8 months ago |
| @[Cherokeeridge:53541] "In addition to general deceiving or tricking, the verb "flimflam" is often used specifically to refer to swindling someone out of money" - which Parker definitely did to Elvis. | |
| Mark Knopfler – Gator Blood Lyrics | 8 months ago |
| @[Cherokeeridge:53540] I have since read that this song is specifically about "Colonel" Tom Parker - the fast-talking flim-flam man who controlled Elvis Presley, the country boy with the hit record. Parker (as far as I know) was never an actual travelling salesman with a worthless product, but he was a con-man for sure, and MK draws the parallel so delightfully. | |
| Mark Knopfler – Gator Blood Lyrics | 8 months ago |
| He's maybe a snake-oil salesman, maybe's got a cure-all-y'all's-ills potion - some kind of old-fashioned scammer, beating on a skillet with a hammer to attract attention (up they come"), a "showman whanging on a ballyhoo drum" ("ballyhoo: blatant or sensational promotion; hoopla, hype, plug, promotional material, publicity.") Sweet-talking and chatting up his prey (Come on up, honey...mighty fine weather...") He's a "flim-flam man;" a con man, with nothing of real value, just a lot of hoopla and humbug - "this chicken show ain't worth a damn.". He's got a singing boy who's part of the show; he's actually pretty good, has a real hit record - draws a crowd for this fast-talking salesman. | |
| Mark Knopfler – Cleaning My Gun Lyrics | 8 months ago |
| @[gordon1025:53515] Agree completely with your interpretation. It's not allegorical but - like "5:15 AM" - it's a ballad. It tells a story, straight up. A great song | |
| Mark Knopfler – Cleaning My Gun Lyrics | 8 months ago |
| @[gordon1025:53514] | |
| Beardfish – Until You Comply Including Entropy Lyrics | 8 months ago |
| @[hardlikker12:53492] Oh, and the shepherd toasts "the clearing skies" and the two crows ("carrion spies"), and proposes that they look out for each other. If they can scavenge a living, so can he. Being visited by a pair of crows or ravens carries a heavy weight symbolically, usually indicating change, transformation (as do the clearing skies; Google that and make what you will of it! | |
| Mark Knopfler – Yon Two Crows Lyrics | 8 months ago |
| @[hardlikker12:53462] Well, the singer is a sheep farmer, sheltering from the rain under the eaves of some little outbuilding with his dog (who thinks his master is a wizard, his shepherd's crook a magic stick). It's a hard life, maybe a bad choice ("What made you think there'd be a livin' in sheep?" he asks himself twice), but he's not giving up. He can work as hard as any two men, and drink as much as three. That's not really sheep-dip in his flask - probably whiskey. | |
| Mark Knopfler – Haul Away Lyrics | 9 months ago |
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"The Doldrums" is an area in the ocean, near the Equator, where there can be no wind at all for weeks at a time. Sailing ships could become becalmed for very long stretches, and deep depressions and suicides among their crews were not uncommon. This song describes such an event; the drowned man left the ship intentionally "on a windless night;" no storm blew him overboard. His friend, the singer, tried to save him but failed. "Ah, but you did slip" conveys profound regret and sorrow. The song repeatedly contrasts the "living man's" fortunate life - his marriage to his beloved, most beautiful wife, his material wealth (there's a lot of gold on his finger), and his simply being alive - with the state of his emotionally unstable friend, now cold, alone, low, dark in the deep ("I'm a living man, and you're a cold one"). Eventually, a little wind blows up, to fill their sails and end the Doldrums/doldrums, and their lucky ship speeds across the sea - "hauls away" for home. We can speculate endlessly about the singer's relationship with his wife, but I think he's very happily married; his heavy, gold wedding ring could be seen to symbolize the strength of their bond. But there's no doubt in my mind about how he feels about his dead friend, whom he tried to save but could not. The song is about as sad as a song can be. The last "Haul away, haul away for home" brings me to tears every time I play it or sing it. The music is undeniably mournful as well. Of course, if you don't know what the Doldrums are, you wouldn't know the origin of the phrase "to be in the doldrums," and you could not possibly guess at the reason for this suicidal sailor's depression, or know that it was suicide; weak and unstable ("you never were a steady bold one") he could not endure the Doldrums any longer. I enjoyed all the creative speculation in this thread, and there could be layers of meaning symbolized, but the story this song tells is very simple and straightforward. One of my very favorites, from my very favorite musician/balladeer. P.S. If you have not yet read the Patrick O'Brien series that the movie "Master and Commander" is based on, do yourself a huge favor if you love to read. They are widely considered to be the best historical novels on any subject ever written. I have read them all twice (there are I think 25 of them). I enjoyed the movie immensely (MK wrote the score, if you didn't know), but obviously it left a lot of great stuff out. |
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