| Warren Zevon – Jeannie Needs A Shooter Lyrics | 6 years ago |
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The fact that Jeannie rode off by her dad's side while the narrator was lying mortally injured points to this being a case of the 'Unreliable Narrator' trope. Jeannie wasn't into the narrator, and quite likely the sum total of their intimacy was that she'd allowed him to kiss her once. Note the narrator says "I knew she'd be mine" and "I wanted Jeannie and I'd have her like I said." This comes in the song before he kisses Jeannie for the first time (or at least the first time without her turning away). These are not a good signs of a healthy relationship! If this is the way the narrator usually went about things, Jeannie's dad (being a lawman) would have known of the narrator's reputation already. I'll take the narrator at his word that he was shot from behind rather than in the front. It does reinforce the idea that Jeannie's dad was lying in wait for the narrator, no doubt because Jeannie had told her dad the narrator was on his way. Jeannie's dad shot the narrator in the back because if he had ridden out from behind a bush or rocky outcrop at Jeannie's side to confront the narrator, Jeannie would have run the risk of being caught in crossfire, or even deliberately killed by the narrator. It does smack of irresponsibility to use your own daughter as bait for a dangerous criminal. However, Jeannie herself is something of a hard girl and the plan may have even been her idea. Although in the wrong time period to be a cop herself, she would still have something of a cop mentality due to both inherited personality traits and socialising with her dad's buddies when they dropped by after work while she was growing up. |
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