Flying Horses

First of all, I love this song. I really think the badger and one-eyed toad refer to the children's classic book, "The Wind in the Willows". In the story, the Toad was a daredevil who kept seeking thrills despite the fact that he was repeatedly injured. The badger was the wise old one who kept warning him. I think it just means that whether or not you warn someone, they're not going to learn unless they make the mistake themselves. This relates to the girl in the song and how she was only temporary. But according to the lyrics, I think they're saying that it is selfish to try and keep a treasure to yourself. Just be glad you came across it at all. =)

I conclude that the song is about a profound life lesson learned during the transition to adulthood: that neither absolute certainty, beauty, nor the carefree nature of childhood can endure. What remains, however, is the wisdom gained along the way — a duality of both change and stability, which humans are constantly seeking and striving to balance.

In detail:

The song tells a sequential story ("Then I...", "Then I...") that begins at a point in life where the protagonist is filled with doubt ("river of doubts"). This likely represents the phase of entering the adult world after growing up — a time of uncertainty and self-discovery. Through introspection ("all alone"), the protagonist reaches an enlightening moment of clarity ("to the sky"), symbolized by the "stone" — an anchor of certainty amidst the chaotic "river of doubts" ("...gave birth to a stone"). This stone symbolizes a stable idea or sense of direction — perhaps a decision about where he wants his life to go.

From the river, he takes the stone, which becomes his anchor of certainty ("The stone lay still").

The story continues as the protagonist discovers aesthetic beauty and experiences his first love ("feelings defied the law"), along with the awakening of sexuality (the "prettiest girl" who "did not wear clothes").

From the girl, he takes a lock of her hair, symbolizing the objectification of her beauty and his desire to preserve it.

However, this love is fleeting. She leaves him, but the impression she leaves behind is profound. His focus remains on the beauty of the experience rather than the pain of her departure ("gorgeous footsteps"), underscoring the genuine optimism and gratitude he feels, even in loss.

Within this heartache, the protagonist gains the realization that life is a balance between certainty and change, both of which contribute to wisdom ("Take a look down the road," "wise old look of the old"). Here, the narrative introduces two symbolic creatures:

• The badger represents groundedness and stability — the certainty that humans long for.
• The one-eyed toad embodies change and unpredictability — the opposite of stability. The missing eye reflects the pain and imperfection that accompany change, just as the protagonist experienced when his love left. It also highlights the idea that no one, no matter how wise, can fully see the entire picture of life.

These two creatures, standing like signposts by the road, offer silent wisdom.

From these mythical beings, the protagonist figuratively takes "a look" ("Then I took a look, a look...", "they just looked at me"), gaining insight from their presence — a metaphor for the wisdom and experience gathered on life's journey ("down the road").

Feeling unsteady once more, the protagonist seeks solace in a familiar place from his childhood ("to town," "to my favorite merry-go-round"), possibly his parental home. This is a place where he once felt carefree and safe, where things seemed steady and playful ("you seldom see a frown").

From the flying horses, he takes a ring, symbolizing the magical levity and wonder of childhood.

Hoping to recapture the innocence of childhood, the protagonist forcefully tries to reclaim it ("I stole a ring"). But he is disillusioned to find it unattainable (the ring becomes "all rusty", "can't begin to explain how"). Childhood's carefree nature was shaped by protection and guidance. Now, as an adult, he must navigate life on his own, without the shelter that once existed.

The plea:

The song concludes with a poignant plea to the listener: Do not try to hold on to things that are meant to change ("But don't pick them up"). Certainty ("stone fell through my pocket"), beauty ("lock of hair flew away with the wind"), and the levity of childhood ("ring... all rusty") are all impermanent, yet they are part of a story ("you know where they've been"), just as the one the song tells.

The message, instead, is to cherish these fleeting experiences for what they are in the moment ("Beauty like that knows no home"). What remains is the memory, the wisdom, and the growth they bring — elements that, unlike all the others in the song, are not embodied by any object, but by something intangible: "a look" down the road. This contrast between tangible and intangible things, along with the twist in the song — that tangible things fade while intangible things persist — highlights the paradox that life's idea of persistence is counterintuitive. What we seek to hold onto — the physical, the certain — slips away, while the wisdom and experiences we cannot grasp endure.

Ultimately, the message is one of acceptance: Do not mourn what has been lost, but embrace the journey — its joys and sorrows alike — as essential parts of growth and life itself.

I agree with Elizabeth on this one. I think that it is about how beauty can not be captured. It's something that needs to be open and shared so that everyone can know it. And once you try to entrap it, the beauty is lost.. "I stole a ring from the flying horses and it's all rusty now"

I don't believe this song is just about beauty. I think that when you look at all the references its about childhood and more specifically the experiences people have when growing up. Like someone said above the badger and the toad are references about to a childrens story in which one, (the toad I think) is wild and the badger is controlled. The toad ends up getting hurt a lot for his recklessness. In the song I believe these references are the narrators parents or someone he looks up to who always have that wise look of the old, something that most kids don't accept and ignore as this narrator did which ended up getting him hurt as well. The parent figures didn't try and shelter him so it seems and the narrator had to experience everything on their own. The three experiences he mentions are finding a beautiful stone, getting a lock of hair from a beautiful girl and getting a ring from the wild horses. The stone seems an odd reference that I can't place, maybe a materialistic thing he loved like a ring or trinket or simple a "lucky stone" he found in youth. The girl is a first crush it seems, and the ring from the wild horses implies a reference to The Catcher in the Rye. Holden Caufield (or however you spell that lol) in his travels goes to the Coney Island Fair and rides the Carousel. There was a game on carousels back then in which you had to lance a ring as you went around. Since the narrator mentions a fair I assume this is a similar game that he is references. In order to get to that ring it was a great accomplishment and while it may have made him SO proud when he was younger, he is older now and the ring, and its meaning, is rusty. All these things, the stone the girl and the ring have fallen into his past as the wise badger and toad look on giving their wise old look of experience.

This song gave my friends and I the hardest time! One of them said it doesn't have any meaning at all, but I completely disagree. This song is about beauty being impossible to cage or otherwise contain. When you try, it "falls through your pocket" and "flys away with the wind." "Beauty like that knows no home." No, I can't explain the badger and one eyed toad...

Great Song. I too agree with Elizabeth. Maybe this is just my brain- but has anybody read Catcher in the Rye, ya know the end where Holden is watching Pheobe on the carosel? I think the "stole the ring from the flyign horses" is a reference to that. Cuz Pheobe was reaching for the ring on the carosel and that's when Holden had his epiphany.

This song is about a merry go round in Martha's Vinyard, where the object is to catch a ring while on the ride. I'm sure the other parts of the song have deeper meaning, but they all relate to experiences around that merry go round.

The ring is from the flying horses, the flying horses are part of the carousel, and the ring is all rusted now. The song is about losing innocense (the ring is all rusted now). The woman wearing only hair is a virginal abstraction from a dream like the Venus de Milo and the old men are time expanding his reality beyond what he can only see through child's eyes.

I totally agree with the Catcher in the Rye interpretation of the horses and the ring, it's dead-on, same for the wind in the willows toad and badger and the virgin figure. What I was wondering about though was "the river of doubt" in the beginning. I looked it up and all I found was that Teddy Roosevelt led an expedition down the previously unmapped "river of doubt" in Africa -- nearly losing his life -- in 1909. Roosevelt once said that "I am always willing to pay the piper when I have a good dance; and every now and then I like to drink the wine of life spiked with brandy in it." Perhaps an icon for us to attach to the "toad," Roosevelt's life is full of adventure -- consequences be damned.

I totally agree with the Catcher in the Rye interpretation of the horses and the ring, it's dead-on, same for the wind in the willows toad and badger and the virgin figure. What I was wondering about though was "the river of doubt" in the beginning. I looked it up and all I found was that Teddy Roosevelt led an expedition down the previously unmapped "river of doubt" in Africa -- nearly losing his life -- in 1909. Roosevelt once said that "I am always willing to pay the piper when I have a good dance; and every now and then I like to drink the wine of life spiked with brandy in it." Perhaps an icon for us to attach to the "toad," Roosevelt's life is full of adventure -- consequences be damned.