The song lyrics were written by the band Van Halen, as they were asked to write a song for the 1979 movie "Over the Edge" starring Matt Dillon. The movie (and the lyrics, although more obliquely) are about bored, rebellious youth with nothing better to do than get into trouble. If you see the movie, these lyrics will make more sense. It's a great movie if you grew up in the 70s/80s you'll definitely remember some of these characters from your own life. Fun fact, after writing the song, Van Halen decided not to let the movie use it.
Morning comes, she follows the path to the river shore,
Lightly sung, her song is the latch on the morning's door.
See the sun sparkle in the reeds, silver beads, pass into the sea.
She comes from a town where they call her the woodcutter's daughter,
She's brown as the bank where she kneels down to gather her water, and
She bears it away with a love that the river has taught her.
Let it flow, greatly grow, wide and clear.
Round and round, the cut of the plow in the furrowed field,
Seasons round, the bushels of corn and the barley meal,
Broken ground, open and beckoning to the spring,
Black dirt live again!
The plowman is broad as the back of the land he is sowing,
As he dances the circular track of the plow ever knowing
That the work of his day measures more than the planting and growing
Let it grow, Let it grow, Greatly yield.
What shall we say, shall we call it by a name,
As well to count the angels dancing on a pin.
Water bright as the sky from which it came,
And the name is on the earth that takes it in.
We will not speak but stand inside the rain,
And listen to the thunder shouting "I am! I am! I am! I am."
So it goes, we make what we made since the world began.
Nothin' more, the love of the women, work of men.
Seasons round, creatures great and small, up and down as we rise and fall.
Lightly sung, her song is the latch on the morning's door.
See the sun sparkle in the reeds, silver beads, pass into the sea.
She comes from a town where they call her the woodcutter's daughter,
She's brown as the bank where she kneels down to gather her water, and
She bears it away with a love that the river has taught her.
Let it flow, greatly grow, wide and clear.
Round and round, the cut of the plow in the furrowed field,
Seasons round, the bushels of corn and the barley meal,
Broken ground, open and beckoning to the spring,
Black dirt live again!
The plowman is broad as the back of the land he is sowing,
As he dances the circular track of the plow ever knowing
That the work of his day measures more than the planting and growing
Let it grow, Let it grow, Greatly yield.
What shall we say, shall we call it by a name,
As well to count the angels dancing on a pin.
Water bright as the sky from which it came,
And the name is on the earth that takes it in.
We will not speak but stand inside the rain,
And listen to the thunder shouting "I am! I am! I am! I am."
So it goes, we make what we made since the world began.
Nothin' more, the love of the women, work of men.
Seasons round, creatures great and small, up and down as we rise and fall.
Lyrics submitted by itsmyownmind
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Robert hunter very much talks in the past in lyric (mining, cowboys, grovenor square, soldiers and sailors). This use of past time makes it easy for me to see the timelessness of the messages. "The Plowman" makes me think of the toil of work I've done, the beads of sweat on my brow in this florida weather. I can be hating it, but I see the value of the work when I think of these lyrics, it let's me know its normal. "The Woodcutters Daughter" is a beautiful classic portrait of a woman, who is concerned with her family (I would guess the water was for some familial purpose). "We make what we made since the world began." All this stuff is timeless, it'll happen again and again.
Except this was John Barlow and Bob Weir. I don't think Hunter had anything to do with this one. Good post though!