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
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
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I think its about growing up too fast, and that the boy/man in the song was given more responsibility than he could possible cope with. His relatives were gone, he lived in a somewhat dysfunctional society that left him in charge, and he had to pay the prize.