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Oh, Susquehanna! Lyrics
we walk at the paths at the banks of the mighty Susquehanna
with our feet made muddy by your tributaries
that trickle their way to the Chesapeake
its like we follow i-83 down to harbor cities
with strip malls and tar-mac, people swirling and teeming
it seemed so exciting, but now it seems like such a blight
i grew up in kentucky's mt. zion road
all that was there was some old cemetery
all i wanted to be able to walk to the store
now i don't live there but there's too many stores
some apartments, and a sunoco
and i wonder, what did they do with the bodies?
oh, Susquehanna!
we can walk almost anywhere without going anywhere
and i miss that place behind my house
where i hiked and climbed and played
where i ditched this noisy century
or just hid out from the decade
m/i-homes thought it could stand to be updated
forced it all into a grid until it looked like the funny pages
with every trace of life it seems confined within a frame
the faces move from day to day but the strips all look the same
and the punch lines are resoundingly unfunny
for those trapped in this architecture of easy money
and i feel like this could all come to no good
the kids who populate these cul de sacs will never know what stood
beneath their cookie cutter houses: fields and streams and woods
they'll sit in cars and wait for mom to drive them out of this boring neighborhood
oh, Susquehanna!
we can walk almost anywhere without going anywhere
and i wonder, what did they do with the bodies?
with our feet made muddy by your tributaries
that trickle their way to the Chesapeake
its like we follow i-83 down to harbor cities
with strip malls and tar-mac, people swirling and teeming
it seemed so exciting, but now it seems like such a blight
all that was there was some old cemetery
all i wanted to be able to walk to the store
now i don't live there but there's too many stores
some apartments, and a sunoco
oh, Susquehanna!
we can walk almost anywhere without going anywhere
where i hiked and climbed and played
where i ditched this noisy century
or just hid out from the decade
forced it all into a grid until it looked like the funny pages
with every trace of life it seems confined within a frame
the faces move from day to day but the strips all look the same
and the punch lines are resoundingly unfunny
for those trapped in this architecture of easy money
the kids who populate these cul de sacs will never know what stood
beneath their cookie cutter houses: fields and streams and woods
they'll sit in cars and wait for mom to drive them out of this boring neighborhood
we can walk almost anywhere without going anywhere
and i wonder, what did they do with the bodies?
Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.
jeah, what the fuck. what did they do with bodies?
i live on the susq, and this song just makes me want to die.
in a good way.
the susq in nepa, i mean.
This song is a definition of rural life. I have never lived in a City and thats the place I most want to live. But this song teaches me that it will never answer any of my lifes questions. It probably will only make me more confused.
"we can walk almost anywhere without going anywhere"
I can't say for sure, but I think it's about the genocide of the Susquehanna tribe. Explains a lot, besides "what did they do with the bodies?" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susquehannock http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paxton_Boys
This song seems pretty self explanatory from the lyrics. I don't know the singers names, but the male and female singer both lived out in the country where there was just a big cemetary.
When the male was younger he wanted to go to the store, and said that the strip malls and harbor cities seemed exiting. The female always liked the woods or whatever the area around her house was like where she could hike.
When they both return when they're older they find the area has become suburbs. The female of course hates this neighborhood. The houses are all exactly the same and the fields and streams are gone. Even though its always what the male wanted, when he was younger, he realizes now that its not as exiting as he thought, refering to it as a "blight"
As for what happened to the bodies, once the land was bought and turned into suburbs, the cemetary, just like the "fields and streams and woods" was paved over. The bodies all had to be dug up and moved so that houses could be built where they used to be.
Wondering what they did with the bodies is exactly what anyone would think if they return to their hometown and find a cemetary gone.
the bodies line is directly addressing "what would they do with bodies dug up" but it also speaks to a greater question of the past. What happens to the bodies, faces, names, places, of the past as we carry on into the future...they are largely forgotten and people never stop to reflect on the change or if we are better off now...or why we changed in the first place.
the bodies line is directly addressing "what would they do with bodies dug up" but it also speaks to a greater question of the past. What happens to the bodies, faces, names, places, of the past as we carry on into the future...they are largely forgotten and people never stop to reflect on the change or if we are better off now...or why we changed in the first place.
To me "What did they do with the bodies" is a larger plea for the whole song about what happened to our past and the void that...
To me "What did they do with the bodies" is a larger plea for the whole song about what happened to our past and the void that they feel they are missing from their childhood.
This song seems pretty self explanatory from the lyrics. I don't know the singers names, but the male and female singer both lived out in the country where there was just a big cemetary.
When the male was younger he wanted to go to the store, and said that the strip malls and harbor cities seemed exiting. The female always liked the woods or whatever the area around her house was like where she could hike.
When they both return when they're older they find the area has become suburbs. The female of course hates this neighborhood. The houses are all exactly the same and the fields and streams are gone. Even though its always what the male wanted, when he was younger, he realizes now that its not as exiting as he thought, refering to it as a "blight"
As for what happened to the bodies, once the land was bought and turned into suburbs, the cemetary, just like the "fields and streams and woods" was paved over. The bodies all had to be dug up and moved so that houses could be built where they used to be.
Wondering what they did with the bodies is exactly what anyone would think if they return to their hometown and find a cemetary gone.
The song actually isn't about Ubran living or once desiring the life of strip malls. If a little research is done, anyone can find out that the song is about a River called Susquehanna that runs down I-88 in Pennsylvania.
The Susquehanna was once populated by an Iroquoian tribe called the Susquehannok and also the Lenape. In the late part of the 18th century the Susquehanna was intentionally flooded killing off a major part of theses indigenous people. You can read about it The Pioneers (second book in a four book series about the early history of the midwest).
Two centuries later and the history's nearly forgotten by the general public. So what better to find in place of a once great tribe than sweet solace of suburbia. This song is actually about Suburban Blight and Manifest Destiny and how none of the kids currently growing up on the banks of Susquehanna will know of the carnage that once ravished the back yard that mom and dad try so hard to get them to mow before the can be driven to the theater to hang out with the other suburban children.
I forgot to talk about Mt. Zion, KY (the other location in the song) The main point brought up in the song is of course, and obviously, Susquehanna. However, Mt. Zion, Kentucky is mentioned in the first half. Mt. Zion, Kentucky is located just over the Ohio River in Kentucky very near Cincinnati. Mt. Zion is FILLED with Midwestern History! Mt. Zion saw the likes of Simon Kenton, Daniel Boone, and even Pretty Boy Floyd, that crazy Robin Hood Archetype thief from early 20th century. Unfortunately, Mt. Zion also has a history of manifest destiny, as does every Midwestern city and town, and is now populated by parking lot, strip malls, and factory housing with nary a memorial to remember the loss these people have suffered.
Once 100% of the population, Native Americans now make up 0.06%. What did they do with the bodies?
The song is explained in this performance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T68lEeFZs04&feature=related