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Broken Arrow Lyrics
The lights turned on
and the curtain fell down,
And when it was over
it felt like a dream,
They stood at the stage door
and begged for a scream,
The agents had paid
for the black limousine
That waited outside in the rain.
Did you see them,
did you see them?
Did you see them in the river?
They were there to wave to you.
Could you tell that
the empty quivered,
Brown skinned Indian on the banks
That were crowded and narrow,
Held a broken arrow?
Eighteen years of American dream,
He saw that his brother
had sworn on the wall.
He hung up his eyelids
and ran down the hall,
His mother had told him
a trip was a fall,
And don't mention babies at all.
Did you see him, did you see him?
Did you see him in the river?
He were there to wave to you.
Could you tell that
the empty quivered,
Brown skinned Indian on the banks
That were crowded and narrow,
Held a broken arrow?
The streets were lined
for the wedding parade,
The Queen wore the white gloves,
the county of song,
The black covered caisson
her horses had drawn
Protected her King
from the sun rays of dawn.
They married for peace
and were gone.
Did you see them,
did you see them?
Did you see them in the river?
They were there to wave to you.
Could you tell that
the empty quivered,
Brown skinned Indian on the banks
That were crowded and narrow,
Held a broken arrow?
and the curtain fell down,
And when it was over
it felt like a dream,
They stood at the stage door
and begged for a scream,
The agents had paid
for the black limousine
That waited outside in the rain.
Did you see them,
did you see them?
Did you see them in the river?
They were there to wave to you.
Could you tell that
the empty quivered,
Brown skinned Indian on the banks
That were crowded and narrow,
Held a broken arrow?
He saw that his brother
had sworn on the wall.
He hung up his eyelids
and ran down the hall,
His mother had told him
a trip was a fall,
And don't mention babies at all.
Did you see him, did you see him?
Did you see him in the river?
He were there to wave to you.
Could you tell that
the empty quivered,
Brown skinned Indian on the banks
That were crowded and narrow,
Held a broken arrow?
for the wedding parade,
The Queen wore the white gloves,
the county of song,
The black covered caisson
her horses had drawn
Protected her King
from the sun rays of dawn.
They married for peace
and were gone.
Did you see them,
did you see them?
Did you see them in the river?
They were there to wave to you.
Could you tell that
the empty quivered,
Brown skinned Indian on the banks
That were crowded and narrow,
Held a broken arrow?
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At least part of the song is actually about the Kennedy assasination. With the first verse being Neil's perspective on being a rock star, the key to the rest of the song is the line from the second verse "Eighteen years of american dream" . This line is the only concrete line in a song full of imagery and allegory. If is to be taken seriously (there is no reason to think otherwise) then the obvious 18 years would be the ones immediately after WW2, where the USA took on its role of dominant power of the democratic world: 1945-1963. I don't really understand the rest of that verse, but it does end with the line "Did you see HIM?" not "them" as in the 1st and 3rd verses. The third verse is ostensibly about a wedding. But caissons are used in funeral processions not wedding processions. So if you transpose funeral for wedding and black for white then the rest sort of follows. Coincidentally, sufferers of Addison's Disease of which Kennedy was one, tend to have darkened (brown) skin due to a hormone disorder.
although i don't agree with your interpretation about the first part of the song, the Kennedy stuff makes sense. But what I'm really curious about is what, if anything broken arrow is a metephore for.i don't think that brown skin refers to anyone in particular.for me its just there for meter.
although i don't agree with your interpretation about the first part of the song, the Kennedy stuff makes sense. But what I'm really curious about is what, if anything broken arrow is a metephore for.i don't think that brown skin refers to anyone in particular.for me its just there for meter.
I actualy read this in a book called "don't be denied" which is a bio on neil. it says he wrote this song for his bassist in his very old band. They were called the "squires". Neil felt bad because he needed to move on with his musical career and this left his old bassist behind. it says:
Did you see him, did you see him? Did you see him in the river? He were there to wave to you.
the waving part shows that the bassist knew neil have to move on and he supported him no matter what he did.
"This is what i read in the book." and i think this a great song and i always listen to this when I put on some music
@expectingtofly Spot on, that makes a helluva lot more sense than frednurk 100's opinion that it was a reference to the JFK assassination. Songfacts.com pulls from a Rolling Stone interview with Young where he says he wrote it when his "head was in a bad place," he makes reference more than once that he dedicated this song to his old The Squires bandmate, Kluh or Klun, something like that, who, they say, was brought into B. S. as a temporary replacement for another band member's absence, and Neil was given the sorry role of breaking the news that he...
@expectingtofly Spot on, that makes a helluva lot more sense than frednurk 100's opinion that it was a reference to the JFK assassination. Songfacts.com pulls from a Rolling Stone interview with Young where he says he wrote it when his "head was in a bad place," he makes reference more than once that he dedicated this song to his old The Squires bandmate, Kluh or Klun, something like that, who, they say, was brought into B. S. as a temporary replacement for another band member's absence, and Neil was given the sorry role of breaking the news that he was out of the band when he had thought he was a permanent replacement.
this is just one of those songs that lives in a time that we are not in. we had to be in the moment to define it. but we aren't. so just enjoy the emotion it portrays.
Broken Arrow and Expecting To Fly are shocking to me considering NY’s age at the time of writing/recording...I get the feeling of Neil just testing the limits of his talent, seeing what he’s capable of.
You really understand the song. Great post. Although your comment about JFK’s Addison’s disease is a bit superfluous, as it’s not something Neil would have necessarily known, nor commented about. ~L~
@Laylah77 Exactamente! I see so many people take a lot of liberties when they write what they "think" was in NY's head when he wrote it, whether he actually said it or not.
@Laylah77 Exactamente! I see so many people take a lot of liberties when they write what they "think" was in NY's head when he wrote it, whether he actually said it or not.
According to Native Americans a broken arrow symbolizes peace. It also has a military meaning :a nuclear warhead that could accidentally go off. To me the song is about wanting peace to prevail like the broken arrow that the brown skinned Indian on the banks may be holding, and wanting to escape from the way things are in our country now with the threat of nuclear war looming over our heads and also about todays youth growing up and being frustrated and filled with anxiety because of the many problems we are facing in our country today as a whole.And being disillusioned with the American dream. To me, it's about the longing for a simpler time when we can all live in peace.
The meaning and mental images of those times was all over the place and open to personal interpretation. depending on where one was in life. In Neil's case this imagery was powerful enough to him to name his ranch in Redwood city after it. The very same ranch of Old Man fame.
@andrew1090 Good answer.
@andrew1090 Good answer.
I think the second verse is about one brother being drafted and sent to Vietnam while the other brother was part of the peace movement which also involved drugs. Hung up his eyelids and ran down the hall could be about acid but also about not wanting to see the horrors of war. Could you tell that the empty quivered brown skin Indian on the bank that was crowded and narrow held a broken arrow is the key to the song. The last arrow taken from the quiver was broken. Signal of peace. End to the war. The Native people were slaughtered by "Americans" The history of war and death being called the American dream. The river bank is crowded and narrow. Americans have taken over all the land and leave nothing for the original people. This song, to me, is as important now as it was then. It runs through my memory often. Maybe one day we will come together and put an end to the fighting.
i love the drug reference in this one. second verse "his mother had told him a trip was a fall." but what does the rest of that verse mean? he saw that his brother had sworn on the wall. everyone tells me it just rhymed, but is there anything else?
The verses are split in half. The first half of each verse sings about the crowds and the fame and the sensations of being in the music business. The first verse this deals with the ending of a show, and the exhilaration you feel when they call your name. The second verse deals with the feelings of what you miss while on the road, falling in love and marriage and babies. The second half of each verse deals with his feelings of being so distracted with following his own dream that he never noticed the way Native Americans only have broken dreams these days, while the other Americans are too distracted by glitz and such. The song expresses his guilt at being an American who got everything he thought he wanted, while giving little back to anyone else.
@ndo Sounds good in theory but I don't think Neil ever referenced any of that as to the meaning of the words.
@ndo Sounds good in theory but I don't think Neil ever referenced any of that as to the meaning of the words.