Will It Grow?

I thoroughly enjoyed the new CD and this is my favourite song, so I'll bite on this one.

"I made a promise to not let go Our tug of war has only made me want you more"

-I beleive this song is in the context of a difficult relationship. The writer is probably much more passionate about the girl than what she returns.

"Steeped in hard luck and doomed to roam My love is braver than you know"

-Basically saying he doesn't live an easy life and that the stubbornness that gets him through is also what holds him to her. This stubbornness seems to be an underlying theme in the song as the first 2 lines also demonstrate. I'll come back to this theme again later.

"Damn this valley Damn this cold Take so long to let me know It’s plant and reap and plow and sow But tell me will it grow"

Sounds like he's put the effort into the relationship but the ball is in her court and she seems undecided on whether the relationship will 'grow' or not.

"My forefathers they worked this land And I was schooled in the tyranny of nature’s plans Dressed in thunder a cloud came round In the shape of a lion a hand came down"

"Dig my ditches in the golden sun I’d be robbing these trains if I could catch me one Sunday Monday now Tuesday’s gone Got me stone cold sober in a drought so long Boarded mansions and ghost filled yards There’s a boy in a water tower counting cars Steel traps open and empty stalls There’s a well-worn saddle but the horse is gone"

"Jet black starlit midnight rolls I am down in the garden where I let you go Here on the surface the earth looks round But it’s a Godless city of cold flat ground"

These verses really make the song, and I'm going to group them together because they're very similar and tie into eachother. They're full of imagery and are very cleverly written metaphors relating the owner of a tough life reaching out for that one girl. It takes on a sort of "Olden Days" theme through the eyes of a farmer the kind that breaks his back everyday but takes pride in it. The only thing that can really get to him is, of course, her, and her missing presence seems to give him a colder view of the world.

It obviously appears that this song is a metaphor for a damaged relationship, but when I first listened to it, I heard the story of Tom Joad and his family in The Grapes of Wrath, by Steinbeck. For generations, the Joads had lived on and cultivated their land, but the Dust Bowl forced them out. The only difference I can see is that in the book, the problem is heat, not cold.

This song to me is really talking about God and his people. The people feel so wronged by God when really he gives them all they want and need. But we the people are too blind and selfish to see that. I love this song, talks of the work and labor of getting to where you want to be. Very good song. Damn this Valley and Damn this Cold,Take so long to let me know, It's plant and reap and plow and sow, but tell me will it grow; we hate this life and all we want to know is will it grow. our relationship with God. I hope this helped.

I think this is a love song to a dead wife - the references to hard times make me feel that the husband has done all that was expected of him in this life but has found out that some circumstances cannot be solved through hard work alone. It is tragic when he comes to understand the fruitlessness of his endeavors and inability to be with the one he loves. The last refrain always sends me to tears as he pines after burying his love with his question of 'will it grow?'.

Jesse24

Thanks a lot!

It's about a man who's wife is no longer interested in him, i.e. frigid. He's wondering how to restart the relationship, so he orders some pills he saw on late night TV. He's wondering whether they really will increase the size of a certain part of the male anatomy, and whether that will save his marriage.

Seriously, this song is straightforward. It's sung by a wayward son who moves back home to run the family farm after his dad dies, to his deceased father. There's no metaphor here. By the way, the second line of the last verse is incorrect. It should read "I am down in the garden where I let you go."