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The Highwayman Lyrics
I was a highwayman
Along the coach roads, I did ride
With sword and pistol by my side
Many a young maid lost her baubles to my trade
Many a soldier shed his lifeblood on my blade
The bastards hung me in the spring of twenty-five
But I am still alive
I was a sailor
I was born upon the tide
And with the sea, I did abide
I sailed a schooner round the Horn to Mexico
I went aloft and furled the mainsail in a blow
And when the yards broke off they said that I got killed
But I am living still
I was a dam builder
Across the river deep and wide
Where steel and water did collide
A place called Boulder on the wild Colorado
I slipped and fell into the wet concrete below
They buried me in that great tomb that knows no sound
But I am still around
I'll always be around and around and around and around and around and around
I fly a starship
Across the Universe divide
And when I reach the other side
I'll find a place to rest my spirit if I can
Perhaps I may become a highwayman again
Or I may simply be a single drop of rain
But I will remain
I'll be back again and again and again and again and again and again
Along the coach roads, I did ride
With sword and pistol by my side
Many a young maid lost her baubles to my trade
Many a soldier shed his lifeblood on my blade
The bastards hung me in the spring of twenty-five
But I am still alive
I was born upon the tide
And with the sea, I did abide
I sailed a schooner round the Horn to Mexico
I went aloft and furled the mainsail in a blow
And when the yards broke off they said that I got killed
But I am living still
Across the river deep and wide
Where steel and water did collide
A place called Boulder on the wild Colorado
I slipped and fell into the wet concrete below
They buried me in that great tomb that knows no sound
But I am still around
I'll always be around and around and around and around and around and around
Across the Universe divide
And when I reach the other side
I'll find a place to rest my spirit if I can
Perhaps I may become a highwayman again
Or I may simply be a single drop of rain
But I will remain
I'll be back again and again and again and again and again and again
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I think this song is about how we idolize the spirit of adventure. Each singer takes on the identity of a person living on the edge and being fulfilled, but still they die in this pursuit. And the spirit is reborn to continue to inspire humankind to move forward.
I think this song is about the human spirit at various points in time and how the spirit never goes away even though the world changes and time moves on.
In the first verse the spirit is a highwayman, probably during the "Great Age of the Highwayman" which referred to men who laid in wait along the roads leading to and from London, England. They were essentially pirates of the road. He was hung in '25 (1625? 1725?) but he is "still alive."
The second verse tells the story of the human spirt during the age of sail. Possibly a pirate during the "Golden Age of Piracy," which peaked in the late 1700s to early 1800s, or perhaps a sailor who was fighting or victimized by pirates. His life was lost on the sea, but he is "living still."
The third verse obviously references work on the Hoover Dam, originally known as the Boulder Dam, which was built primarily during the Great Depression, the 1930s, in the United States. At the time it was the largest concrete structure ever built in the world and over 100 people died but it was a symbol of hope for Americans coming out of the Great Depression. The spirit died in "that great tomb that knows no sound" (buried in the largest concrete structure in the world would do that) but the spirit will always be "around and around and around and around...."
Finally, the spirit drives a spaceship, but not the kind we're normally used to thinking about with astronauts that fly to the moon. This spaceship apparently travels across the universe, something which hasn't happened yet but is plausible in the future. The spirit believe it will finally come to rest when that, currently unimaginable, event happens and the exploration of the entire universe is complete. Or maybe the spirit will reincarnate as a highway man again. Or a drop of rain. Regardless, the spirit will be back "again and again and again...."