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Master Jack Lyrics
It's a strange, strange world we live in, Master Jack
You taught me all I know and I'll never look back
It's a very strange world and I thank you, Master Jack
You took a colored ribbon from out of the sky
And taught me how to use it as the years went by
To tie up all your problems and make them look neat
And then to sell them to the people in the street
It's a strange, strange world we live in, Master Jack
You taught me all I know and I'll never look back
It's a very strange world and I thank you, Master Jack
I saw right through the way you started teachin' me now
So some day soon you could get to use me somehow
I thank you very much and though you've been very kind
But I'd better move along before you change my mind
It's a strange, strange world we live in, Master Jack
You know how I feel as if I'll never come back
It's a very strange world and I thank you, Master Jack
You taught me all the things the way you'd like them to be
But I'd like to see if other people agree
It's all very int'resting the way you disguise
But I'd like to see the world through my own eyes
It's a strange, strange world we live in, Master Jack
No hard feelin's if I never come back
You're a very strange man and I thank you, Master Jack
You're a very strange man and I thank you, Master Jack
You're a very strange man and I thank you, Master Jack
You taught me all I know and I'll never look back
It's a very strange world and I thank you, Master Jack
And taught me how to use it as the years went by
To tie up all your problems and make them look neat
And then to sell them to the people in the street
You taught me all I know and I'll never look back
It's a very strange world and I thank you, Master Jack
So some day soon you could get to use me somehow
I thank you very much and though you've been very kind
But I'd better move along before you change my mind
You know how I feel as if I'll never come back
It's a very strange world and I thank you, Master Jack
But I'd like to see if other people agree
It's all very int'resting the way you disguise
But I'd like to see the world through my own eyes
No hard feelin's if I never come back
You're a very strange man and I thank you, Master Jack
You're a very strange man and I thank you, Master Jack
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substitute the name "frank" for "jack" and this is exactly what i would have liked to tell my father.
This song, although couched in somewhat esoteric language, is pretty deep. The group was South African, and this is in reference to apartheid, long before most of the public knew that term or anything about it. But it's not just that -- it is also a reference to the changes that were going on in the 60's and the breaking free of the old ways, the establishment's ways, their parents' ways. "I'd like to see the world through my own eyes." The children of the 60's certainly did. Think of the whirlwind of social change that took place between 1960 and 1970.
No, it wasn't in reference to apartheid. From the band's own website, the lead singer states, "Glenys relates the story of "Master Jack": "In certain mines the foreman is called 'Master Jack', and the song tells the story of a labourerwho works diligently for this master for years and years and then decides to go outon his own and exercise his desires and aspirations as an individual to be something other than a labourer."
No, it wasn't in reference to apartheid. From the band's own website, the lead singer states, "Glenys relates the story of "Master Jack": "In certain mines the foreman is called 'Master Jack', and the song tells the story of a labourerwho works diligently for this master for years and years and then decides to go outon his own and exercise his desires and aspirations as an individual to be something other than a labourer."
I'd also like to comment on the tone of this song. It is insistent yet compassionate and understanding. "I thank you, master, but..." It's admirable in this way, that instead of saying "screw you" or railing against everything (as so many "artists" do these days), it instead is understanding of "Master Jack's" mindset even if it does not agree with it, and it simply says "thank you but I'm moving on, in my own way."
@Bluewaves Excellent explanation -- well stated! Insightful. Thank you.
@Bluewaves Excellent explanation -- well stated! Insightful. Thank you.