1904

That's an interesting recommendation. I'm not a poetry buff, and most of his work that I came across online was prose poetry, which has always been a weak spot of mine. Just reading his bio and learning about other Swedish poets of his generation lends some insight to this song, however. It puts into context Matsson's tweet (as Kashika informed us) about this song being a song of "finding hope."

That's an interesting recommendation. I'm not a poetry buff, and most of his work that I came across online was prose poetry, which has always been a weak spot of mine. Just reading his bio and learning about other Swedish poets of his generation lends some insight to this song, however. It puts into context Matsson's tweet (as Kashika informed us) about this song being a song of "finding hope."

To speak generally, it seems like Martinson and his contemporaries led comparatively tough lives to ours. Not to mention that it was this generation of men who...

To speak generally, it seems like Martinson and his contemporaries led comparatively tough lives to ours. Not to mention that it was this generation of men who fostered many of the modern advancements that make our lives so comparatively easy. The first lines:

"Some will say it's not even funny And there you stand, not even trying"

And lines reiterating the various, universal objects like "the sun" or "the dirt" that are "just different" suggest to me a gradual yet dramatic shift between modern and postmodern life. It pays homage to certain aspects of life in the early twentieth century (for example the line, "And the only one you can tell it to / Is the only one who will know," which hints at the personal nature of interactions with those immediately present back then compared to now--the idea of a secret being secret or something lost simply being lost), while at the same time in the last lines, "at least something is alright with your thinking / Because they shook the earth in 1904," makes me think of all the knowledge and luxuries we have at our fingertips as a result of that generation.

Having lived most of his life as an orphan and experiencing WWI, Martinson managed to find enough beauty, hope, or at least intrigue in the world to win a Nobel prize for his poetry (although it was apparently controversial).

He also spent seven years traveling the seas, which could apply to the first part of the bridge. Much of his early poetry especially has to do with the sea.

Of course, I could be reading too far into some of these things, but they certainly seem curious.

Hmm. I also found that in 1904 the modern ghost-town of Hebron in Utah was heavily damaged and abandoned by it's inhabitants. What's funny though is that when you look to the definition for "moor" it means to tie down a boat, but also refers to a tract of land reserved for game or a boggy area with poor drainage. A Moor is also an ancient African people called the Barbers.

Hmm. I also found that in 1904 the modern ghost-town of Hebron in Utah was heavily damaged and abandoned by it's inhabitants. What's funny though is that when you look to the definition for "moor" it means to tie down a boat, but also refers to a tract of land reserved for game or a boggy area with poor drainage. A Moor is also an ancient African people called the Barbers.

So, the deer with her head on the moor (in reference to Hebron, the ghost-town) could mean several things, I assume. The moor could refer to wanting to...

So, the deer with her head on the moor (in reference to Hebron, the ghost-town) could mean several things, I assume. The moor could refer to wanting to "tie down" the city to spare it damage from the quake, or possibly could be a reference to the ultimate reason for abandon which was insufficient water to sustain the town (the deer hoping that the land would become boggy and sodden with water).

Here is a funny tid-bit. The wiki page for the Hebron earthquake states that a man named Huntsman proposed to build a reservoir which became the town Enterprise where the people from Hebron eventually moved. Considering that moor could also mean a tract of land for hunting, I find it funny that a deer is game (possibly the towns-people) and the Hunstman (source of water) eventually gained prospects.

Also, Hebron is biblical town so could this somehow mean something to do with the Berbers??

This is definitely one of those songs you wish to know what the artist intended instead of driving yourself crazy with the possibilities, if you are notorious for that.