Chickenman

I saw them play this live and Amy explained the song during an instrumental break. It was amazing because it was the first time the song made any sense to me. The chicken man was an old guy selling stuff on the side of the highway. I remember she started her explanation by saying that, when they were first touring, she was driving around in a beat up VW(?) and she was saddened seeing so many dead animals (roadkill: "median" cat(?), dead deer, prairie dogs, rabbit). She said something about the woman who was beaten in Austin; again, another reflection from life on the road at the time, I think. She then said something about how "all the carnage" can upset a person so much that she would end up walking around the street with a loaded gun not knowing what to do but feeling desperate; sounded like something she really did one day ("darkness into darkness/all the carnage of my journey/makes it harder to be living"). But without the explanation, the song would have made no sense.

When I was delivering pizzas in Austin around about 1995, an old homeless drifter came into our pizza joint and was hanging out talking to us in the kitchen. I happened to have Indigo Girls playing on the house sound system and this sound came on. Out of nowhere, this man turns to me all excited and says "This song is about me!! I met them!! They're gay you know." LOL

I honestly cannot attest to the truth of his statement, but he did know lots of details about them, including the fact they they were touring in an old van. I kind of like to think that he was telling the truth... :)

Is the chickenman supposed to signify/be a reference to someone in particular? the rest of the song?

I wonder if any connection was intended (not saying this is the "meaning", just that they might have had it in mind) with the Bruce Springsteen song "Atlantic City", which is about a man being paid to assassinate someone, and references the killing of a gangster known as the "Chicken Man"; there's certainly a similarity of theme, death and travelling. Er, and chicken. Men. :)

This is a song that the girls play almost always while in Austin. I wish I loved it more but it is indeed about their travels to Austin. I don't get it.

ok so the comments about this song being about drifters/homeless and traveling the country and encountering road kill. but I still don't get the chorus. any insight?