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Where to Now St. Peter? Lyrics

I took myself a blue canoe
And I floated like a leaf
Dazzling, dancing
Half enchanted
In my Merlin sleep

Crazy was the feeling
Restless were my eyes
Insane they took the paddles
My arms they paralysed

Chorus
So where to now St. Peter
If it's true I'm in your hands
I may not be a Christian
But I've done all one man can
I understand I'm on the road
Where all that was is gone
So where to now St. Peter
Show me which road I'm on
Which road I'm on

It took a sweet young foreign gun
This lazy life is short
Something for nothing always ending
With a bad report

Dirty was the daybreak
Sudden was the change
In such a silent place as this
Beyond the rifle range

(Chorus)

I took myself a blue canoe
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Cover art for Where to Now St. Peter? lyrics by Elton John

As a Vietnam Veteran (1966 mostly around the DMZ) I immediately identified with the lyric 'It took a sweet young foreign gun'. Indeed. The courage of those 'peasants' standing up to the most vicious military in history (not at all how I saw it at the time!) was a wake-up call for more than just some of us Vets. The relatively comfortable life of working people in advanced capitalist countries contrasts sharply with what I saw in SE Asia and the Philippines. And, I always heard the words 'This lazy life is yours' and not 'short'. I now know that, ultimately, capitalism has had nothing to offer humanity since the 1890's and THAT realization was sudden, dirty, and violent. And whether the lyrics mean I'm dead or not one thing is for sure : "I understand I'm on the road where all that was is gone" and I'll continue on that road until it ends.

Memory

@Roadster Wow! Thank you for sharing such a powerful insight. My older brother was in the Vietnam War in the early days of reconnaissance, and after. I only knew him after he came home, as I was born when he was away. He never shared much except that he was left with anger so intense that he lived in fear of it getting out. In his seventies, he admitted that he lived with PTSD. What a burden of truth, ... and the discovery of lies to have to live with. But also to know reality as stark...

Cover art for Where to Now St. Peter? lyrics by Elton John

thats the second verse the first one is about an drug aduict

Cover art for Where to Now St. Peter? lyrics by Elton John

It's about someone who's been killed in war.

Cover art for Where to Now St. Peter? lyrics by Elton John

This was from a detailed review of the album and seems like a good explanation:

"Where To Now St. Peter" benefits from some tremendous Gus Dudgeon production. The song, which features a soldier killed in action as he faces St. Peter, revolves around an ethereal theme, so Dudgeon adds echo to John's stunning falsetto vocals and swirls them around the speakers as Caleb Quaye's guitar licks flicker like the flames of hell itself."

http://www.toptenreviews.com/scripts/eframe/url.htm?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailyvault.com%2Ftoc.php5%3Freview%3D4260

My Opinion
Cover art for Where to Now St. Peter? lyrics by Elton John

It is generally thought that Taupin, the lyricist, had in mind a soldier killed on the battlefield, either in the (U.S.) Civil War or in World War I, and finding himself drifting toward the afterlife, asking (St. Peter), "What comes next?"

Cover art for Where to Now St. Peter? lyrics by Elton John

The song it about a soldier being shot in the Civil War. His journey from the battlefield to the afterlife. It's not about WW1 or 2, not about Vietnam. Remember the album it came from and what Bernie was trying to do. At that time the "Band" was writing real American roots music and Bernie wanted to write his version of that time period. Tumbleweed Connection is a great album and this is one of the classic songs from that record. As always, this is my opinion but from what I have researched this is the real meaning.

@Boydman Yes they were both heavily influenced by The Band and that's what also comes to my mind when reading the lyrics. Songs about the American Civil War, about death and whether life has meaning. It's interesting that at this time 1970 the Vietnam War was raging and dividing many people. Artists like Elton & Bernie, Bob Dylan & The Band were trying to make some sense of it all using the beauty of artistry in both lyrics and music.

Cover art for Where to Now St. Peter? lyrics by Elton John

I love this song. I am not sure what the meaning is, but who cares.

I believe that it was written about a drug addict who is committing suicide by overdose. The blue canoe is his vessel to another place in time. Or that the blue canoe Is the drug. ? He is experiencing a comforting high......'.floated like a leaf, dazzled and dancing, half enchanted, in my merlin sleep'........ (mystical prophet).......as he is fading through his thoughts he makes reference to his life being in a poor situation and now that he has come this far there is no turning back..... on the road to where all that was.... is gone. I don't...

Cover art for Where to Now St. Peter? lyrics by Elton John

I think it's about someone being executed by lethal injection and slipping off into death. The blue canoe is the gurney. They "took the paddles" because they're killing him, they "paralyzed his arms" because they're strapping him down. The change from day-to-day life in the prison to the silence of the execution chamber (away from the rifle range of the guards) is so sudden.

Also, it seems he's being executed for murder committed with a "sweet young foreign gun," taking something for nothing like that ends with a bad report, a conviction.

Not Valid

This song is on the album Tumbleweed Connection, which is a theme album based on the American "Old West." So, I think it has to be interpreted in that context. For that reason, I don't think its about lethal injection, but, like poetry, it can be interpreted however you want, so go with it.

Not Valid

When Taupin wrote this song, lethal injection didn't exist, the concept was barely even known. "Blue Canoe" was probably LSD. It was suggested at the time that the song was about the assination of Robert Kennedy, the "sweet young foreign gun" being Sirhan Sirhan.

Not Valid
Cover art for Where to Now St. Peter? lyrics by Elton John

Opal Eyed Essence ... This song was released in 1970 and using Lethal Injections as a form of capital punishment do not begin until sometime around the mid-1990's. So although insightful, probably not correct.

Cover art for Where to Now St. Peter? lyrics by Elton John

My take is it is clearly about death - I think we all can agree on that. I feel the two verses are about two ways one may die - but the result is the same - we "are on the road to where all that was is gone" - the lyric acknowledges that your identity and memories are gone. The song offers no answer to what lies beyond but because of the lyric I quote, I feel that Bernie was trying to accept that it may be nothingness.

The first death in my mind was drug related - at first a pleasurable experience and then it goes bad with paralysis and death. Song writers - like Steely Dan's Deludin in Gaslighting Abbie - like to make up new names for drugs, hence Blue Canoe. Remember the narrator in the song took it voluntarily - it wasn't forced on him like in an execution. The second death feels like the Civil War - which would be in keeping with the historical period expressed in many of the other songs on Tumbleweed Connection. Of course you must accept that foreign means the other side of the conflict ( I can see how it may be interpreted as a WW1 or WW2 death ). Final though I just love the use of the double meaning of the word report - the sound of a loud gun - and a summary of one's life.