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Don't Pay The Ferryman Lyrics

It was late at night on the open road,
Speeding like a man on the run,
A lifetime spent preparing for the journey;

He is closer now and the search is on,
Reading from a map in the mind,
Yes there's the ragged hill,
And there's the boat on the river.
And when the rain came down,
He heard a wild dog howl,
There were voices in the night - "Don't do it!"
Voices out of sight - "Don't do it!
Too many men have failed before,
Whatever you do,

Don't pay the ferryman,
Don't even fix a price,
Don't pay the ferryman,
Until he gets you to the other side;" In the rolling mist, then he gets on board,
Now there'll be no turning back,
Beware that hooded old man at the rudder,
And then the lightning flashed, and the thunder roared,
And people calling out his name,
And dancing bones that jabbered and a-moaned
On the water.
And then the ferryman said,
"There is trouble ahead,
So you must pay me now," - "Don't do it!"
"You must pay me now," - "Don't do it!"
And still that voice came from beyond,
"Whatever you do,

Don't pay the ferryman,
Don't even fix a price,
Don't pay the ferryman,
Until he gets you to the other side;

Don't pay - the ferryman!"
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15 Meanings

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Cover art for Don't Pay The Ferryman lyrics by Chris De Burgh

I think you can also take this in a more broad matter: don't pay for anything before you've fully explored it. Watch out not to be fooled and make sure you get what you want. The paying may be with money, with emotion, with .... whatever. Just make sure it isn't a one way street and you get something in return.

Cover art for Don't Pay The Ferryman lyrics by Chris De Burgh

"-why- a soul shouldn't pay right away"

Because, if the soul paid the Ferryman before getting to the other side of the river, he would swap places with him, and would have to ferry souls for eternity, or until he tricked someone else into paying him before reaching the other side. Which isn't really what you'd want to do, so basically, pay him after you've reached the other side. According to mythology anyway.

@SweetT I have read something different. From what I read, if you pay him before you get to the other side, he throws you overboard and you are stuck in limbo which is worse than Hades. The thing about the dancing bones in the water suggest that

Cover art for Don't Pay The Ferryman lyrics by Chris De Burgh

For me it always sounded like a general old-timey advise. Back in the days, ferryman, especially in mire secluded regions were said to extort a lot of money from unsuspecting customers. Their trick: stopping halfway and demanding a second pay for completing the journey, possibly stranding their customers on an island half-way.

In the song Chris de Burgh even warns against fixing a price (he could raise at hakfway-point). And his ferryman actually does demand the pay early, citing potential "trouble" ahead.

I never got a dead soul-vibe though...

My Interpretation
Cover art for Don't Pay The Ferryman lyrics by Chris De Burgh

Stick to the course...don't veer off in a direction that you'll pay for later. Continue to the other side, with integrity intact because if you give over what's dear to you ,like your soul - what I think he's referring to as "payment", you'll be sorry. All because you were tricked into doing that thing which was out of panic at the "trouble ahead"(life being hard) you may do things or sell your soul, and regret it later.

My Interpretation
Cover art for Don't Pay The Ferryman lyrics by Chris De Burgh

** Hence the

"Until he gets you to the other side"

Cover art for Don't Pay The Ferryman lyrics by Chris De Burgh

The other way i'd look at this would be.. His anxiety and fear is relentless .The racing car through the night is his mind prepared with faith to confront the things he has been waiting for . Thus the ragged hill ,water the wolves and rain are road block fears of his mind. The only way to get to the other side of his fears is to not listen to them . So the ferryman is the fear don't let him take you in ,he is the one who cant be trusted . There fore back and forth he tells him self the doubts about the voice which inhibits him and could move forward without it ,.His imagination was controlling him ,and still is once again . He cant pay the ferryman or fix a price because the price is automatic failure and he knows this when he thinks that way.Until he gets him to other other side which means he wont ever get there which is why he cant fix a price.He goes back and forth .But he knows how to over come it because this is the reason for his journey when he says a map of the mind and being on the Open Road . I think he made it as he worked out how to deal with the voices

Cover art for Don't Pay The Ferryman lyrics by Chris De Burgh

This is about an unfortuanate trip to Wallasey, in which Chris was short of change, and pretended that he was dead.

Cover art for Don't Pay The Ferryman lyrics by Chris De Burgh

this is such a kickass song.

Cover art for Don't Pay The Ferryman lyrics by Chris De Burgh

Well, the ferryman is an allusion to the old greek Mythology: The river styx was what divided the land of the living from the land of the dead - and only the ferryman Charon was there to bring souls from one side to the other. Also, it was common to give the dead a small coin to pay him. Beyond that, I can't even guess what Chris was trying to express here... or -why- a soul shouldn't pay right away.

Cover art for Don't Pay The Ferryman lyrics by Chris De Burgh

I've thought this song meant many different things throughout my journey - these days, I think it's about not making any promises to God - or whoever is controlling your subjective experience of reality - until the end of your life.