This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
I sailed a wild, wild sea
Climbed up a tall, tall mountain
I met a old, old man
Beneath a weeping willow tree
He said now if you got some questions
Go and lay them at my feet
But my time here is brief
So you'll have to pick just three
[Chorus]
And I said
What do you do with the pieces of a broken heart
And how can a man like me remain in the light
And if life is really as short as they say
Then why is the night so long
And then the sun went down
And he sang for me this song
See I once was a young fool like you
Afraid to do the things
That I knew I had to do
So I played an escapade just like you
I played an escapade just like you
I sailed a wild, wild sea
Climbed up a tall, tall mountain
I met an old, old man
He sat beneath a sapling tree
He said now if you got some questions
Go and lay them at my feet
But my time here is brief
So you'll have to pick just three
[Chorus]
Climbed up a tall, tall mountain
I met a old, old man
Beneath a weeping willow tree
He said now if you got some questions
Go and lay them at my feet
But my time here is brief
So you'll have to pick just three
[Chorus]
And I said
What do you do with the pieces of a broken heart
And how can a man like me remain in the light
And if life is really as short as they say
Then why is the night so long
And then the sun went down
And he sang for me this song
See I once was a young fool like you
Afraid to do the things
That I knew I had to do
So I played an escapade just like you
I played an escapade just like you
I sailed a wild, wild sea
Climbed up a tall, tall mountain
I met an old, old man
He sat beneath a sapling tree
He said now if you got some questions
Go and lay them at my feet
But my time here is brief
So you'll have to pick just three
[Chorus]
Lyrics submitted by ze_newie83
Chinese Translation Lyrics as written by Matthew Stephen Ward
Lyrics © BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I'm reading these lyrics and the responses and I think that the surface has only barely been scratched. I would argue that this song is about perseverance. The message is extremely encouraging to me.
We can all figure out the story. The characters are caught in a vicious cycle. They recognize the difficulty we all experience in life. Life can be extremely dark. We can be disappointed, carry dark views of ourselves, and wonder if we will ever truly experience peace in the nights that seem to drag on incessantly. It's a feeling most if not all people experience at some point.
Feelings like these invoke our innate "fight or flight" response. The first old man in the story claims that he used to be foolish and played "an escapade just like you." Escapade (dictionary.com defines it as an escape from confinement or restraint)describes the multitude of people who tend to respond to the dilemmas of life by retreating into them and running from them in order to find the answers. In the end, the escapade is over, the dilemma never went away, and the only thing you can do is find the nearest tree and warn others from making the same mistake.
I think the message here is that in the midst of it, those who really triumph in life are those that aren't "afraid to do the things that I was supposed to do." The answer to the question is that one needs to pick themselves by the bootstraps and get going. If we look at these issues, most of the time we can figure out what needs to be done. Those that succeed do so in spite of the internal conflict and end up finding the answer to that conflict.
I see similar themes in the book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible. Solomon looks at his life near the end and sees that nothing really matters in the grand scheme of eternity. Everything seems to be in vain. In the end, Solomon realizes that the answer is that we have been given our time on this earth and despite the hardships we must persevere in order to live a full life.
Great song. M. Ward is a wise man. Hands down.
I really liked your interpretation, but I also understand that there is a feeling of redemption or completion in "playing the guitar" or just trying to make sense of the hard situations in life, some people never make the quest.