This has to be one of the loveliest and saddest songs in Smog's catalogue (which says a great deal taking into account everything Bill Callahan has done). The narrator is the prison guard of the title, who believes that his life is every bit as narrow and circumscribed as the prisoners he is supposed to be guarding- hence the fact he can only "sit in the tall grass and look the other way" when they enjoy themselves in the river. He tries to feel the same sort of peace that the prisoners enjoy in the river by driving around late at night and standing on the edges of cliffs, things the prisoners obviously don't have the freedom to do. He can't escape this sense of imprisonment, however, which is why he includes himself with the prisoners when he says "soon we will all be back in the yard, behind the wall, living hard, dreaming of cool rivers and tall grass" and again repeats that "we are constantly on trial." Very haunting.
This has to be one of the loveliest and saddest songs in Smog's catalogue (which says a great deal taking into account everything Bill Callahan has done). The narrator is the prison guard of the title, who believes that his life is every bit as narrow and circumscribed as the prisoners he is supposed to be guarding- hence the fact he can only "sit in the tall grass and look the other way" when they enjoy themselves in the river. He tries to feel the same sort of peace that the prisoners enjoy in the river by driving around late at night and standing on the edges of cliffs, things the prisoners obviously don't have the freedom to do. He can't escape this sense of imprisonment, however, which is why he includes himself with the prisoners when he says "soon we will all be back in the yard, behind the wall, living hard, dreaming of cool rivers and tall grass" and again repeats that "we are constantly on trial." Very haunting.