In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
Wolf headed conjurour in the cross roads
Green eyes and alien chant brought the lightning down
Set my pulse to the short waves pulse
Set my pulse to the great lakes pulse
To wreath the moon in a head dress of neon flames
Must take concentration from that heavy old bird
Blue chicago moon swings like a blade above the midwest's heart
Swings like a blade (x2)
Swing that blade above us(x2)
Show us how close it can get
Show us close you can get
Show us how fast we can lose it how bad we're out numbered
Set my pulse an electric pulse
Set my pulse to the blues
Them black sad eyes (x2)
If I never see them again tell them goodbye
And I set my pulse to an electric pulse
I set my pulse to the blues
I send my pulse to the vixen's hearts
I concentrate like that heavy old bird
Green eyes and alien chant brought the lightning down
Set my pulse to the short waves pulse
Set my pulse to the great lakes pulse
To wreath the moon in a head dress of neon flames
Must take concentration from that heavy old bird
Blue chicago moon swings like a blade above the midwest's heart
Swings like a blade (x2)
Swing that blade above us(x2)
Show us how close it can get
Show us close you can get
Show us how fast we can lose it how bad we're out numbered
Set my pulse an electric pulse
Set my pulse to the blues
Them black sad eyes (x2)
If I never see them again tell them goodbye
And I set my pulse to an electric pulse
I set my pulse to the blues
I send my pulse to the vixen's hearts
I concentrate like that heavy old bird
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No comments for this, even years after Jason's death? This song was so personal, he put his own name in the title, and definitely spared none of his gift for imagery or penetrating lyrics.
I think this song is him confronting his own alcoholic self destruction, about a decade before he gave into it completely. He has many songs like that on the later Songs:Ohia and Magnolia albums, but this is the key to them all.
Jason stated several times that he believed in magic, and many of his lyrics use hermetic or ritual imagery. The 'Wolf headed conjurer' is a sprit guide guarding a choice Jason (the title of the song makes the narrator explicit, like the 'L. Cohen' line in Cohen's Famous Blue Raincoat) must make, represented by the classic blues crossroads.
Jason is trying to make that choice, channel his disease and his sorrow positively. To do this, he has to synchronize his entire being with the blues, and his Chicago environment. He must combine them and channel them through himself in order to redeem his history of (self-perceived) failure and heartbreak, which he just got a reminder of ('those black sad eyes . .').
The most intense part is when he dares the moon to bring down the blade, drawing strength from the certainty of his depression and failure. All success vanishes ('show me how fast I'm gonna lose it ...') and the dark nights far outnumber the good ones ('how bad I am outnumbered . . .'). It is Jason's challenge to himself to use the pain. We should all be thankful he managed for another ten years after he wrote this.
This song goes after 'Ring the Bell' on the Trials and Errors live set, which is no accident.