Rake

"...said my friend, we're holdin' a wedding I buried my face but it spoke once again the night to the day we're a bindin'..."

He is not getting married, it's the night and the day that are binding together, so even the nights are intolerable now.

It's not about a vampire, but an addict who has f'd up all of his relationships and life. A rake is like a rascal or scoundrel.

First, it's not about a vampire and there's no actual marriage.

Most of this song is pretty straightforward - Townes is describing a life of putting off responsibility, living recklessly for the carnal pleasures, and relying on unhealthy habits to make himself feel more sharp, more in command, more full of fire. In this song the 'night' is analogous to the pleasures he derived from that life style, and the 'day' represents the consequences.

For a period of time this life style was cyclical: 'every cruel day had it's nightfall', 'the turnin' of night into day, and the turnin' of day into cursin',' but it turns out to be ultimately unsustainable. The confidence he had about his exploits is eventually shattered and he sees it for the destructive illusion it was.

The final verse is where it gets interesting, he is describing Tom Waits calls the Magic Bullets (Crossroads on The Black Rider). With any addictive stimulant the user feels more powerful/creative/in charge/whatever while using the drug. It's his 'magic bullet' that allows him to hit the target every time. The more he uses the magic bullets however, the worse he feels when not using, until every day is a bad day and it's the magics or nothing. Eventually the magic bullets stop working and the user is left with nothing: 'He trembles he's bent and he's broken.'

In the end the things that once protected him and gave him pleasure turn on him and become sources of pain. It is in fact his proud and boastful laughter that is the harbinger of his fall. The day and all the terrifying consequences that brings is fused to the night which once was his only balm, leaving him unforgiven and with out refuge.

rake (rāk)

noun a dissolute, debauched man; roué

True.

"I was takin' my pride in the pleasures I'd known I laughed and thought I'd be forgiven but my laughter turned 'round eyes blazing and said my friend, we're holdin' a wedding"

This song is throw back to a different time. A wild young man, sleeping around, gets caught and is forced to marry. Probably a a shotgun wedding.

No, no, no. This song is not about a vampire.

I'm a little bit disgusted by that notion.

This song is very straightforward in what story it tells. The only thing I find unclear is whether or not he's literally marrying a woman.

I'm a bit surprised by how many people think the "wedding" might/does refer to an actual wedding.

The wedding here is not between the narrator and somebody else, it's between the night and the day:

But my laughter turned round, eyes blazing and said "My friend we're a-holding a wedding" I buried my face but it spoke once again "The night to the day we're a-binding" Now the dark air's like fire on my skin And even the moonlight is blinding

His "laughter" is essentially punishing him for being so irresponsible with his lifestyle, and he is no longer able to seek refuge in the night like he once was.

It's a retelling of the legend of Don Juan. In the original, the Devil makes him pay for his dissolute life. In Townes's version, he carries in himself the seeds of his own destruction. The dual life of carousing by night and defiant regret by day is destroyed by the days merging with the nights, leaving him no escape from his pain.

Hogarth's Rake's Progress is another reference point.

This is a profound song. Leave the vampires for the kiddies.

Enough already, with these ridiculous vampire notions! Townes wrote the song decades before "Twilight", black-clad Goths, and the current obsession with mythical blood suckers. “Rake” is a straight forward tale of a young debaucher who pays a price for his hedonism. Only the meaning of the final stanzas is truly debatable. If Townes intended a specific meaning, and he was notoriously vague on such topics, I would suggest the following: Because “he trembles, he’s bent, and he’s broken” the narrator has suffered a real physical decline. Saying that “..the night air’s like fire on my skin, and even the moonlight is blindin” sounds a lot like the rake is describing the neurological effects of tertiary syphilis. Research Argyll Robertson pupils online and note how they will not adjust to changing light levels. The dark glasses popular in the late 19th century were probably worn by more syphilis suffers than they ever were by card sharks, like the Doc Holliday character portrayed by actor Val Kilmer in the film “Tombstone”.

This song is about living recklessly, as he did, and aging and realizing that the vitality you took for granted is leaving you, but not without a final stubborn stand. I don't know about all of this vampire stuff... If you are an addict and a night owl, the sunshine is blinding. In the end of the song he is talking about settling down, and how the realization of that makes all of life blinding.

It goes "I lived like a rake IN a young man". A rake is a debauched man(like adeyar wrote), an immoral person, commonly used to mean a male slut.

In the beginning he's living this great nightlife and only having to deal with the consequences during the day: "The sun she would come and beat me back down but every cruel day had its nightfall I'd welcome the stars with wine and guitars full of fire and forgetful"

He's young, lives in the moment, and he doesn't anticipate his lifestyle ever catching up with him. "And time was like water but I was the sea I'd have never noticed it passin' except for the turnin' of night into day and the turnin' of day into cursin'".

Now he's old and feeble and young people are incredulous of his stories of debauchery. "You look at me now, and don't think I don't know what all your eyes are a sayin' Does he want us to believe these ravings and lies they're just tricks that his brains been a playin'? A lover of women he can't hardly stand he trembles he's bent and he's broken"

He thought he would get away with it:"I was takin' my pride in the pleasures I'd known I laughed and SAID I'd be forgiven"

and that at the worst he'd have to settle down someday. "but my laughter turned 'round eyes blazing and said my friend, we're holdin' a wedding".

But it takes it's toll on his life because the consequences catch up to him:"I buried my face but it spoke once again, the night to the day we're a bindin' and now the dark air is like fire on my skin and even the moonlight is blinding".

The marriage of night and day is the morphing of daily hangovers and nightly pleasures into a wholesale downgrading of his life.

I also think is about all the good times of young days and how in the end old age will catch up with you and you're gonna have to pay.