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William Butler Yeats Visits Lincoln Park And Escapes Unscathed Lyrics
As I went out one evening to take the evening air
I was blessed by a blood-red moon
In Lincoln Park the dark was turning
I spied a fair young maiden and a flame was in her eyes
And on her face lay the steel blue skies
Of Lincoln Park, the dark was turning
Turning
They spread their sheets upon the ground just like a wandering tribe
And the wise men walked in their Robespierre robes
Through Lincoln Park the dark was turning
The towers trapped and trembling, and the boats were tossed about
When the fog rolled in and the gas rolled out
From Lincoln Park the dark was turning
Turning
Like wild horses freed at last we took the streets of wine
But I searched in vain for she stayed behind
In Lincoln Park the dark was turning
I'll go back to the city where I can be alone
And tell my friend she lies in stone
In Lincoln Park the dark was turning
I was blessed by a blood-red moon
In Lincoln Park the dark was turning
I spied a fair young maiden and a flame was in her eyes
And on her face lay the steel blue skies
Of Lincoln Park, the dark was turning
Turning
And the wise men walked in their Robespierre robes
Through Lincoln Park the dark was turning
The towers trapped and trembling, and the boats were tossed about
When the fog rolled in and the gas rolled out
From Lincoln Park the dark was turning
Turning
But I searched in vain for she stayed behind
In Lincoln Park the dark was turning
I'll go back to the city where I can be alone
And tell my friend she lies in stone
In Lincoln Park the dark was turning
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This is a spooky song set amidst the 1968 Lincoln Park protests in Chicago. It seems to be about a girl the narrator knew who died there, because he first mentions a "fair young maiden" with a "flame in her eyes," and later talks about losing her in the crowd and then planning to tell her that "she lies in stone," which I'm guessing means she's been buried. I'm not sure where William Butler Yeats enters the equation, though. Maybe his ghost visited Lincoln Park and got away with her murder? I doubt it. He's probably just in the title for poetic effect. Unless maybe he's meant to be the ghostly narrator?
It seems to be about his girlfriend getting maced in the protests, which would of course have been more widely known at the time and not at all now. Yeats is almost certainly referring to himself who would rather claim she was dead than continue searching. As Phil said in an interview in 1971 the song describes a poet who "visits the chaos" before retreating to the outskirts. It is a major theme of the entire album in one way or another. How much of the political turmoil of the time should impact him personally and what is the nexus between the public sphere and his immediate environment (Chicago, LA. or even the bottom of the ocean where he claims the victims of the Scorpion disaster chose to remain rather than come back to the nightmare of life on earth).