My interpretation is a bit crass but, delicacy aside, it seems to me that the speaker sees this girl, Annabelle, asleep on the beach and contemplates raping her, hence the "ne'er-do-well" line. His lack or moral judgment is further illustrated by the confession that he never paid attention in church ("..fell asleep at the pealing of the steeple bell"). It looks like he decides to not do it, though:
The field is right for reaping
Oh, well
I guess I'm something of a ne'er-do-well
Even though that's something I could never do well
In the end, he still wants to, but I guess he just couldn't go through with it. Funny song, I think. Call it what you will.. satire, denouncement.. I just find it amusing.
But I must admit, if the song does have refernces like you guys say, they're lost on me.
My interpretation is a bit crass but, delicacy aside, it seems to me that the speaker sees this girl, Annabelle, asleep on the beach and contemplates raping her, hence the "ne'er-do-well" line. His lack or moral judgment is further illustrated by the confession that he never paid attention in church ("..fell asleep at the pealing of the steeple bell"). It looks like he decides to not do it, though:
The field is right for reaping Oh, well I guess I'm something of a ne'er-do-well Even though that's something I could never do well
In the end, he still wants to, but I guess he just couldn't go through with it. Funny song, I think. Call it what you will.. satire, denouncement.. I just find it amusing.
But I must admit, if the song does have refernces like you guys say, they're lost on me.