Down on the River by the Sugar Plant

This song gives me goosebumps every time I listen to it.

This song gives me goosebumps every time I listen to it.

While it is fairly self-explanatory, my take on it is as follows:

While it is fairly self-explanatory, my take on it is as follows:

In the beginning of the song he makes the observation, "All of the girls out with their hips asway" then makes the comment, "And I'm the loneliest man". He then goes on to notice random happenings on the street, seemingly comparing seeing attractive females to mundane everyday happenings. This seems to indicate that feeling lonely and longing for female companionship has become commonplace and routine in his daily life.

In the beginning of the song he makes the observation, "All of the girls out with their hips asway" then makes the comment, "And I'm the loneliest man". He then goes on to notice random happenings on the street, seemingly comparing seeing attractive females to mundane everyday happenings. This seems to indicate that feeling lonely and longing for female companionship has become commonplace and routine in his daily life.

Later on, he implies...

Later on, he implies that he might be fantasizing about a dream girl or ideal woman: "And I'll dream you up in this vast, dark bed." Some might say that he is thinking of a lost love but I feel that it is more a love he never had but desperately longs for.

"Want to kiss you but I can't" "Down on the river by the sugar plant"

Clearly, he wants to be romantic with this woman in his mind. The river by the sugar plant might symbolize a safe, relaxed, and possibly romantic place in his mind. I envision sitting on the banks of a river shimmering with a purple hue, over a dusky and almost darkened blue-purple sky on some cooling summer eve, surrounded by sugar fields and a sugar plant billowing gray smoke in the distance.

The next verse goes on to describe the woman in his dream. He is verbose and detailed in his description, implying that he has put a great deal of time and care into constructing this ideal female. This lends validity to the fact that his loneliness is something he has been dealing with for quite some time. While his reason for not being able to fill the void in his life is unknown to us, and it could stem from any number of factors, you get the sense that as his fantasy and loneliness deepen he is becoming more and more dependent on this dream girl and that she might, at some point, even replace the drive to exposing himself to the potential pain and rejection of finding a real companion.

The third verse is self-recognition of the futility of his actions. Perhaps he is speaking to the "doubt" of finding a woman in his life that meets the criteria of his fantasy woman. "I pledge allegiance to my displacement" seems to be acceptance of his situation. Like a person with untreated depression or an addition, he is starting to define himself by his dominating social situation and might even be beginning to embrace his "displacement" from the norm of society.

As the song wraps up, the last verse and chorus reiterate his longing for this fantasy woman and his deep desire to be with her, "Down on the river by the sugar plant."

I like your analysis, my only quibble would be that I don't think that the location is symbolic per se. The Orchard Street/bootlegs connection is a reference to Chinatown in NYC (and Mike plays very regularly in and around this neighborhood, and he may live near here, though I'm not sure on that point). From the Manhattan banks of the East River (very close to Orchard Street), you can see a big sign for a now defunct Domino Sugar factory across the river in Brooklyn.

I like your analysis, my only quibble would be that I don't think that the location is symbolic per se. The Orchard Street/bootlegs connection is a reference to Chinatown in NYC (and Mike plays very regularly in and around this neighborhood, and he may live near here, though I'm not sure on that point). From the Manhattan banks of the East River (very close to Orchard Street), you can see a big sign for a now defunct Domino Sugar factory across the river in Brooklyn.

So, my guess would be that the song's about a woman, either real or...

So, my guess would be that the song's about a woman, either real or imagined, who lives in Brooklyn.