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County Fair Lyrics
Found an old puzzle somebody had quit
Tried a few pieces and hoped that they fit
But they're going together so slowly
It may take me forever to know
If it's only a puzzle
Parts of the puzzle will never be found
And even though pieces are gone
It's a county fair picture
Part of me's there
Some of the pieces are still at the fair
And they may be forever
Tried a few pieces and hoped that they fit
But they're going together so slowly
It may take me forever to know
If it's only a puzzle
And even though pieces are gone
It's a county fair picture
Part of me's there
Some of the pieces are still at the fair
And they may be forever
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I just think the missing peace was him not being able to take his daughter with him to the fair or anywhere else that will always be the missing piece
I always thought the lyrics were just the scaffolding to create one of the most ambitious progressive rock songs of the time. I can listen to this song forever and it’s not the lyrics, it’s the music and precision of production that makes it so mind blowing. Of course, I was in a state of rebirth at the time I first heard County Fair so that may bias my opinion ;-). A most awesome work of art to this day!
In the liner notes to 'Look What I Did!', his anthology, Joe Walsh said that this song was about a dream he'd had. The song has always sounded dreamlike to me, especially with the chiming guitar part and backward guitar solo.
Searing guitar... when he's on, he's kickin ass.
This dreamlike song referring to a fair could be vague memories of the relationship or maybe a relationship never realized. Something unfinished....and may never be. It has always seemed like a song about a lost love or feelings of love never acted upon. A friendship, yet the story teller had wanted to move into something deeper, but the desires of his heart were not the same as hers....the puzzle found but not complete.
Knowing nothing of its origin, I always imagined this as being about a general mystery, not meant to be understood. Visions of hay bales, dust and thrill rides were secondary.
My favorite part of this song is the guitar trailing off with the end fade. I wish he'd extended that section.
Could very well be about his daughter. These are very deep lyrics. I have always been blown away by the idea that the puzzle is a county fair picture and that the missing pieces are at the county fair! To retrieve them he would have to go back in time, go to the fair and find the pieces of a picture that hasn’t been taken yet! A self-referential paradox. And yet on a deeper level it resonates with all of us. We all have unresolved pain or loss from our past that we can never go back and fix. And it leaves us feeling incomplete an unfinished. Only God can heal those deep wounds.
So he found a jigsaw puzzle, which turns out to be a picture of a county fair, where he found the puzzle, and the missing parts are still at the fair in the picture. He's not sure if he will ever complete the puzzle. What an amazing concept.