I know the direct correlation between this whole album and Dante's Inferno but this song has always reminded me of the novel Ironweed by William Kennedy. The lines resonate the anguish, guilt, and restlessness of the protagonist Francis Phelan who deserted his family after accidentally killing his infant son, to wander aimlessly and haunted through Depression era Albany, New York. It sets and feels reminiscent of MBD's raw and guilty style, on this album anyway. Always haunted by:
"I preyed on my own people
I took them for all that they had
I laughed at their helplessness
I left them for dead"
I know the direct correlation between this whole album and Dante's Inferno but this song has always reminded me of the novel Ironweed by William Kennedy. The lines resonate the anguish, guilt, and restlessness of the protagonist Francis Phelan who deserted his family after accidentally killing his infant son, to wander aimlessly and haunted through Depression era Albany, New York. It sets and feels reminiscent of MBD's raw and guilty style, on this album anyway. Always haunted by:
"I preyed on my own people I took them for all that they had I laughed at their helplessness I left them for dead"