@[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.
Hangman, hangman, hold it a little while,
Think I see my friends coming, Riding a many mile.
Friends, did you get some silver?
Did you get a little gold?
What did you bring me, my dear friends, To keep me from the Gallows Pole?
What did you bring me to keep me from the Gallows Pole?
I couldn't get no silver, I couldn't get no gold,
You know that we're too damn poor to keep you from the Gallows Pole.
Hangman, hangman, hold it a little while,
I think I see my brother coming, riding a many mile.
Brother, did you get me some silver?
Did you get a little gold?
What did you bring me, my brother, to keep me from the Gallows Pole?
Brother, I brought you some silver,
I brought a little gold, I brought a little of everything
To keep you from the Gallows Pole.
Yes, I brought you to keep you from the Gallows Pole.
Hangman, hangman, turn your head awhile,
I think I see my sister coming, riding a many mile, mile, mile.
Sister, I implore you, take him by the hand,
Take him to some shady bower, save me from the wrath of this man,
Please take him, save me from the wrath of this man, man.
Hangman, hangman, upon your face a smile,
Pray tell me that I'm free to ride,
Ride for many mile, mile, mile.
Oh, yes, you got a fine sister, She warmed my blood from cold,
Brought my blood to boiling hot To keep you from the Gallows Pole,
Your brother brought me silver, Your sister warmed my soul,
But now I laugh and pull so hard And see you swinging on the Gallows Pole
Swingin' on the gallows pole!
Think I see my friends coming, Riding a many mile.
Friends, did you get some silver?
Did you get a little gold?
What did you bring me, my dear friends, To keep me from the Gallows Pole?
What did you bring me to keep me from the Gallows Pole?
I couldn't get no silver, I couldn't get no gold,
You know that we're too damn poor to keep you from the Gallows Pole.
Hangman, hangman, hold it a little while,
I think I see my brother coming, riding a many mile.
Brother, did you get me some silver?
Did you get a little gold?
What did you bring me, my brother, to keep me from the Gallows Pole?
Brother, I brought you some silver,
I brought a little gold, I brought a little of everything
To keep you from the Gallows Pole.
Yes, I brought you to keep you from the Gallows Pole.
Hangman, hangman, turn your head awhile,
I think I see my sister coming, riding a many mile, mile, mile.
Sister, I implore you, take him by the hand,
Take him to some shady bower, save me from the wrath of this man,
Please take him, save me from the wrath of this man, man.
Hangman, hangman, upon your face a smile,
Pray tell me that I'm free to ride,
Ride for many mile, mile, mile.
Oh, yes, you got a fine sister, She warmed my blood from cold,
Brought my blood to boiling hot To keep you from the Gallows Pole,
Your brother brought me silver, Your sister warmed my soul,
But now I laugh and pull so hard And see you swinging on the Gallows Pole
Swingin' on the gallows pole!
Lyrics submitted by kevin
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Holiday
Bee Gees
Bee Gees
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
When We Were Young
Blink-182
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.
Indigo
Of Mice & Men
Of Mice & Men
This track is about is about questioning why the sky would choose to be blue if it had the choice to be anything else, “blue also meaning sad,” states frontman Aaron Pauley. “It's about comforting a loved one in a time of loss by telling them you feel blue, too.”
I have been listening to this today because I think the lyrics are wrong here. The last line, I believe says "She's swingin' on the Gallows Pole." The sister gave herself sexually to the hangman in exchange for freedom for her brother. So the final line is "she's swinging on the gallows pole." Meaning either figuratively (by prostituting herself) or figuratively (the hangman actually hanged her after he "did" her). Personally, I believe it is figurative...that the hangman's desire for sex was greater than the money and finally won the brother's freedom (at the expense of the sister). My two cents.
ToOlHoLiO was close but also not colse...the song does talk about friends and family coming and trying to help, but in the end it doesn't work...the person talking ends up being hung. "Swingin' from te gallows pole!" the song tells us that if you do something bad take it like a man and dont drag your family and friends down with you.
Gallows Pole is actually a very AMERICAN tune. It is an old Delta Blues (as with many of LZ's songs) song originally recorded by Lead Belly. Plant references this on one of the newer recordings of the song, either a bootleg or the "Walking into Clarksdale"
This song comes from a VERY old folk song. It has many many many different versions. This one being the most popular. It most of the versions the accused actually lives though. Zeppelin is the only one that kills him. Also, in the original version, it was a woman who was being hanged. She kept begging her family to bribe the hangman, but they had just came to watch her die. Eventually, her lover comes and saves her, and she puts a curse on her family. Led Zeppelin got this song from Huddie Ledbetter. His version is KICK ASS. He called it Gallis Pole though. Dylan also did a version of it called Seven Curses.
there are a few different versions of the variant with the woman being the one that is hanged. In one she sleeps with the hangman and gets let off. The whole idea of the song was to scare kids.. er at least It would scare me if I was little, it was sort of a buggy man song...
This song is about how you can try to whore your own sister to save yourself. That's the British for you.
No it isnt Bite Me this song is about family making sacrifices to try to save another family member. Its lyricaly beautiful.
This is actually an old british folk-style sort of song, just redone by Led Zeppelin. It is pretty odd, bbut like you said, that`s the British for you.
I love it when the drums come in!!
The practice of paying provincial hangmen was very common in England up to the early 18th C. I think that the lyrics have been embellished a little but it's a deliciously dark little number that they have taken right out of medieval history and brought it back to us with a fusion of folk and heavy rock. Fantastic stuff!
look, ive read all your "definitions"..... its about the meaning of the song, not the origin, and analysing every detail, just listen to it, theres this guy about to be hung, desperate to survive, and he tries everything to save himself including whoring his sister (Whether intentional or not)... and the guy still hangs him, its about life, its about the struggle to survive, there are people out there doing it tough, trying to get themselves out of shit day by day, but theres always a guy above them pulling them by the chain...... thats what the song is about, so yeh, in summary. a song about betrayal, and the human will to survive... thinking about that just reminded me of the song by the verve "bitter sweet symphony"... 'try to make ends meet try to make some money then you die'........
This song is more of a cover of an old blues song of the same name by the blues singer "leadbelly", with a few more improvised lyrics.