@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday".
I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
Molly be damned smote Jimmy the Harp
With a horrid little pistol and a lariat
She's goin to the bottom
And she's goin down the drain
Said she wasn't big enough to carry it
She got to get behind the Mule
In the morning and plow
She got to get behind the Mule
In the morning and plow
She got to get behind the Mule
In the morning and plow
She got to get behind the Mule
In the morning and plow
Choppity chop goes the axe in the woods
You gotta meet me by the fall down tree
Shovel of dirt upon a coffin lid
And I know they'll come lookin for me boys
And I know they'll come a-lookin for me
Got to get behind the Mule
In the morning and plow
Got to get behind the Mule
In the morning and plow
Got to get behind the Mule
In the morning and plow
Got to get behind the Mule
In the morning and plow
Big Jack Earl was 8'1
He stood in the road and he cried
He couldn't make her love him
Couldn't make her stay
But tell the good Lord that he tried
(Chorus)
Dusty trail from Atchison to Placerville
On the wreck of the Weaverville stage
Beaula fired on Beatty for a lemonade
I was stirring my brandy with a nail boys
Stirring my brandy with a nail
(Chorus)
Well the rampaging sons of the widow James
Jack the cutter and the pock marked kid
Had to stand naked at the bottom
Of the cross
And tell the good lord what they did
Tell the good lord what they did
(Chorus)
Punctuated birds on the power line
In a Studebaker with the Birdie Joe Joaks
I'm diggin all the way to China
With a silver spoon
While the hangman fumbles with the noose, boys
The hangman fumbles with the noose
(Chorus)
Pin your ear to the wisdom post
Pin your eye to the line
Never let the weeds get higher
Than the garden
Always keep a sapphire in your mind
Always keep a diamond in your mind
(Chorus)
With a horrid little pistol and a lariat
She's goin to the bottom
And she's goin down the drain
Said she wasn't big enough to carry it
She got to get behind the Mule
In the morning and plow
She got to get behind the Mule
In the morning and plow
She got to get behind the Mule
In the morning and plow
She got to get behind the Mule
In the morning and plow
Choppity chop goes the axe in the woods
You gotta meet me by the fall down tree
Shovel of dirt upon a coffin lid
And I know they'll come lookin for me boys
And I know they'll come a-lookin for me
Got to get behind the Mule
In the morning and plow
Got to get behind the Mule
In the morning and plow
Got to get behind the Mule
In the morning and plow
Got to get behind the Mule
In the morning and plow
Big Jack Earl was 8'1
He stood in the road and he cried
He couldn't make her love him
Couldn't make her stay
But tell the good Lord that he tried
(Chorus)
Dusty trail from Atchison to Placerville
On the wreck of the Weaverville stage
Beaula fired on Beatty for a lemonade
I was stirring my brandy with a nail boys
Stirring my brandy with a nail
(Chorus)
Well the rampaging sons of the widow James
Jack the cutter and the pock marked kid
Had to stand naked at the bottom
Of the cross
And tell the good lord what they did
Tell the good lord what they did
(Chorus)
Punctuated birds on the power line
In a Studebaker with the Birdie Joe Joaks
I'm diggin all the way to China
With a silver spoon
While the hangman fumbles with the noose, boys
The hangman fumbles with the noose
(Chorus)
Pin your ear to the wisdom post
Pin your eye to the line
Never let the weeds get higher
Than the garden
Always keep a sapphire in your mind
Always keep a diamond in your mind
(Chorus)
Lyrics submitted by yuri_sucupira, edited by Mellow_Harsher
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This story is a narration told by a gravedigger (Tom Waits) about a woman (Molly) who murdered her man (Jimmy the Harp) with a pistol and a rope.
The corpse was too heavy for her to carry so she drug it behind the mule to the woods, where two boys (Jack the Cutter and the pocked marked kid) helped her make a makeshift coffin and bury him.
They caught up with Molly in Kentucky but brought her back to California (Atchison to Placerville). They strung her up on a stage in Weaverville.
Enter the 1930's black Studebaker Hearst (driven by Birdie Joe Joaks). Waits built Molly's coffin and dug her grave(with a silver spoon :p) while the hangman fumbled with a noose. Waits watched her hanging while he stirred his Brandy with a coffin Nail.
The moral of the story ... Stay Wise, Keep Watch, Don't Let Trouble take over, Keep your eye on the prize, But Sooner or later ...
You Got To Get Behind The Mule ...
The people mentioned in the song are real people: Molly be damned -en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maggie_Hall Big Jack Earle - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Earle Jack the Cutter and Pock-marked kid were criminals in the Old West Birdie Jo Hoaks was a con artist. I don't think the song is about just one story, it's several different stories, apparently all true (or at least involving real people).
thanks. glad to find out that far from a murderer, molly be damned was nearly a saint, protector of the weak and sick. a true prostitute with a heart of gold. and big jack earle wasn't 8' 1'' (well, i guess he was at one point) but 8'6'' for most of his performing life. he had a lucky fall which temporarily blinded him but apparently stopped him from growing.<br /> worked in public relations for roma wine.
It's about chuggin' through life, I think.
I think this is a good message for those emo kids. You got to stop wallowing in self-pity and get behind the mule and plow.
The idea for the song came from his wife saying that she didn't marry a man, that she married a mule. He stated that you got to get behind the mule. At that point his wheels started turning and he and his wife wrote the song together.
When I read lyrics like this I put away my notebook and pencil and pick up a new hobby. It's like watching Stevie ray Vaughn play guitar I just unplug my guitar And jump on my bike.
To me, this song always seemed like "Gun Street Girl" Part 2.
It's a song about work, or more particularly the necessity of labour/pain in all persuits. Whether you're moving a body, digging a grave or atoning for past sins ("Tell the good Lord what they did"). And as a constant; an unavoidable certainty in life no matter who you are or where you end up.
"Get behind the mule" is a poetic way of saying "gotta get to work". Not with a tone of condescension thankfully, it's presented here more as a world-wearied fact-of-life observation, perhaps grumbled by an old man in a Western saloon, stirring his brandy with a nail...
Check out the VH1 Storytellers Live version of this track if you haven't already; it's a breathtaking performance.
The story parts boil down to guilt damns. The last two verses are life is short and be wise.