This is one of my favorite songs by the Band. When I first started listening to groups like the Band and Bob Dylan I was drawn in by Dylan's complex lyrics, like on Highway 61 Revisted. Over time though, I came to appreciate songs like this by the Band.
This story seems straight forward enough. A man tries to save the girl he loves from the clutches of some kind of cult-like church. In the end he fails, and doesn't understand why.
However, he seems like a classic unreliable narrator. Once you consider this, the song is more interesting. Does she actually want to leave? Is she even aware of him? Does she, or the old wives, actually have any special powers? Probably not. Who would really want to go to a place "they'll never find", and deal with "the dogs". So, now we have a perhaps deranged mountain man who has been smitten by a nun-like character. She's probably happy that the, possibly drug-dealing, watchman is keeping her safe.
This doesn't change his earnestness though. We can all fall for someone, or something, even though we don't really understand who, or what, it is.
This is one of my favorite songs by the Band. When I first started listening to groups like the Band and Bob Dylan I was drawn in by Dylan's complex lyrics, like on Highway 61 Revisted. Over time though, I came to appreciate songs like this by the Band.
This story seems straight forward enough. A man tries to save the girl he loves from the clutches of some kind of cult-like church. In the end he fails, and doesn't understand why.
However, he seems like a classic unreliable narrator. Once you consider this, the song is more interesting. Does she actually want to leave? Is she even aware of him? Does she, or the old wives, actually have any special powers? Probably not. Who would really want to go to a place "they'll never find", and deal with "the dogs". So, now we have a perhaps deranged mountain man who has been smitten by a nun-like character. She's probably happy that the, possibly drug-dealing, watchman is keeping her safe.
This doesn't change his earnestness though. We can all fall for someone, or something, even though we don't really understand who, or what, it is.