| Harry Chapin – A Better Place To Be Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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When Harry Chapin's brother Tom was going to college in Northern New York, Harry was the one who would transport his brother back and forth to school One of their stops along the way was a little bar here in Watertown, called the Chimes. I don't think that the events in the story actually happened, but the little man and the big old friendly gal who tended bar were both real people, cause I knew both of them. The barmaid, whose name was Erma, had pictures of all the regulars taped up across the back bar, including the college kids who made the Chimes our regular hangout, as well as the ones who had gone off to Vietanm, or to the big city, plus pictures of all the new brides and babies as we acquired them. Erma passed away suddenly in 1972, just days before a bunch of Chimes alumni planned to drop in and suprise her. God bless you, Erma. I miss you. |
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| Neil Young – Powderfinger Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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I have always thought that this song was about the Metis Rebellion which took place in westen Canada in the last quarter of the 19th Century. Neil Young is Canadian, of course, and has always had strong ties to the native peoples. The wars between the soldiers of the United States and the Native American tribes are well known by most Americans. However, the situation in Canada was even more complicated. When the French colonized eastern Canada in the 1600s, they sent many soldiers and trappers, and very few women. For this reason, many of the early settlers took native wives. A separate culture emerged known as the Metis. These people knew the ways of both the French and the native people. When the English conquered the French in the French and Indian War, they placed oppressive controls over the French, even deporting thousands of Acadian French to Louisiana to make room for English settlerrs. Young French settlers escaped the cities and found themselves in the wilderness known as Madawaska, where they were accepted and assimillated by their Metis half-brothers. Many of the Metis lived a nomadic life, traveling hundreds of miles to the area north and west of Lake Superior, where they could live in peace away from the influence of the English. However, conflict eventually followed, as the railroads opened the west and immigrants flooded into the rich grasslands occupied by the Metis. The Canadian government sent troops to seize control of the region. Canadian soldiers and Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and Metis "troops" were killed in the battles. Eventually the "rebellion" was ended, and at least on Metis leader, Louis Riel was executed for his part in the rebellion. It was a sad time in Canadian history. In what is known as the Battle of Batoche, the Canadian soldiers converted a steamboat into a gunboat and sailed up the South Saskatchawan River, where a gun battle ensued between the settlere and the troops. I believe this song is a fictional account of the death of one of the Metis settlers during the Battle of Batoche |
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| Moxy Früvous – If Only You Knew Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| Do you? Do you know? | |
| Led Zeppelin – The Lemon Song Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| The killing floor of the slaughterhouse was a metaphor for the Vietnam War. The speaker is a draftee who had the chance to flee (to Mexico in the Howlin' Wolf version) but didn't because he loved his country... but now that he's trapped in the rice paddies he realizes that he has been betrayed - and stands the chance of losing his life and his unborn children in battle. | |
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