And if she asks you why you can tell her that I told you
That I'm tired of Castles in the Air
I've got a dream I want the world to share in castle walls
Just leave me to despair
Hills of forest green where the mountains touch the sky
A dream come true, I'll live there 'til I die
I'm asking you, to say my last goodbye
The love we knew, ain't worth another try
Save me from all the trouble and the pain
I know I'm weak but I can't face that girl again
Tell her the reasons why I can't remain
Perhaps she'll understand if you tell it to her plain
Oh, but how can words express the feel of sunlight
In the morning in the hills away from city strife
I need a country woman for my wife
I'm city born but I love the country life
For I can not be part of her "Cocktail-Generation Partner's Waltz,"
Devoid of all romance
The music plays and everyone must dance
I'm bowing out, I need a second chance
Save me from all the trouble and the pain
I know I'm weak but I can't face that girl again
Tell her the reasons why I can't remain
Perhaps she'll understand if you tell it to her plain
And if she asks you why you can tell her that I told you
That I'm tired of Castles in the Air
I've got a dream I want the world to share in castle walls
Just leave me to despair
That I'm tired of Castles in the Air
I've got a dream I want the world to share in castle walls
Just leave me to despair
Hills of forest green where the mountains touch the sky
A dream come true, I'll live there 'til I die
I'm asking you, to say my last goodbye
The love we knew, ain't worth another try
Save me from all the trouble and the pain
I know I'm weak but I can't face that girl again
Tell her the reasons why I can't remain
Perhaps she'll understand if you tell it to her plain
Oh, but how can words express the feel of sunlight
In the morning in the hills away from city strife
I need a country woman for my wife
I'm city born but I love the country life
For I can not be part of her "Cocktail-Generation Partner's Waltz,"
Devoid of all romance
The music plays and everyone must dance
I'm bowing out, I need a second chance
Save me from all the trouble and the pain
I know I'm weak but I can't face that girl again
Tell her the reasons why I can't remain
Perhaps she'll understand if you tell it to her plain
And if she asks you why you can tell her that I told you
That I'm tired of Castles in the Air
I've got a dream I want the world to share in castle walls
Just leave me to despair
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The feel of sunlight in the morning in the hills,
Away from city strife" it just reminds me of me, I love camping, and eveything about nature, even when you run out of toilet paper and you have to use pinecones, and I love when I'm in the mountins and I just sit and watch the sun rise
Either way, he no longer wants for the dream of more. The song reminds me a little of "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald, in which Jay Gatsby seems to be ever in search for the elusive American Dream, where he can finally be accepted into the old money world. However, after Daisy refuses him yet again, he realizes that perhaps his fruitless efforts to fit in are a blessing in disguise, in that he doesn't have to live a life of immorality and superficiality. The lines:
"For I will not be part
Of her cocktail generation, partners waltz
Devoid of all romance the music plays
And everyone must dance..."
remind me of Gatsby's sparkling parties, as well as the character of Jordan, who epitomizes the philosophy during that cultural paradigm.
The end of the novel sees Gatsby's death, as well as the narrator, Nick Carraway, leaving the East and West Eggs. Nick's casual and barely imperceptible relationship with Jordan, coupled with his subsequent departure from the Eggs corresponds with McLean's need take leave of the relationship with the city life and woman.
Don McLean is rejecting modern life, in all its mundanity, with its trinkets and conveniences, for the beautiful simplicity of nature and the "country life".
Though "Castles in the Air" may be a dream for most, the narrator instead, ironically, finds "Hills of forest green/Where the mountains touch the sky, a dream come true".
I think the thing I like most about this song is that he's getting someone else to break up for him. An interesting way to frame the song. I wonder what the significance of that is?
At any rate, it makes me smile for some reason!
It is just one of the most beautiful songs ever written
And so underrated...why is this song not more popular than it is
Its a shame but at least i know it and love it
the girl in this song was holding the narrator back from experiencing the now. she had her "castles" (wishes) in the "air" (future/heaven/afterlife/long-haul) and he couldn't hold out any longer knowing that the simple pleasures of existing were available to him in the here and now.