Look out, Mama, there's a white boat coming up the river
With a big red beacon, and a flag, and a man on the rail
I think you'd better call John
'Cause it don't look like they're here to deliver the mail
And it's less than a mile away
I hope they didn't come to stay
It's got numbers on the side and a gun
And it's making big waves

Daddy's gone, my brother's out hunting in the mountains
Big John's been drinking since the river took Emmy-Lou
So the Powers That Be left me here to do the thinkin'
And I just turned twenty-two
I was wondering what to do
And the closer they got
The more those feelings grew

Daddy's rifle in my hand felt reassuring
He told me, Red means run, son, numbers add up to nothing
But when the first shot hit the docks I saw it coming
Raised my rifle to my eye
Never stopped to wonder why
Then I saw black
And my face splashed in the sky

Shelter me from the powder and the finger
Cover me with the thought that pulled the trigger
Think of me as one you'd never figured
Would fade away so young
With so much left undone
Remember me to my love
I know I'll miss her


Lyrics submitted by kevver

Powderfinger Lyrics as written by Neil Young

Lyrics © Kanjian Music, Hipgnosis Songs Group

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Powderfinger song meanings
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  • +1
    General Comment

    From the first time I heard this song to 100th time I've always thought the gun backfired in his face killing him.

    "Shelter me from the powder and the finger"

    I've always thought the powder was the gun powder loaded in the gun. The finger was his own trigger finger. It takes both of those to have caused the mishap. Had he been sheltered from either, or both, the accident would never have happened.

    "Cover me with the thought that pulled the trigger"

    Upon his burial, as we cover him with dirt he asks that we cover him with the thought that pulled the trigger. The thought he had that caused him to pull the trigger. That thought being of his bravery, courage and his coming into his own in being a man by protecting his mother and homestead. His thought, his intent, was to do what his father, or Uncle John, would have done. Say those words about him at his burial.

    ddubiaon June 28, 2009   Link

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