The song seems to be about the way in which peoples' worldview narrows with time, due to immediate pressures, ambitions and the worries of day-to-day life. It is worth noting that when Baez was ten, she was living in Iraq, where she was shocked by the abject poverty of some of the people there. The song, however, seems to place the singer's childhood in the early sixties- the train draped in mourning is probably that of JFK, and the cities burning down could be a conflation of the race riots and social upheaval of that decade.
But what of the stones? It seems they may be intended as signifying the change in time, and with it perhaps the attitude- in the early verses, the children scatter the stones, unconcerned about where they came from, more sending them on their way, whereas the last reference to the stones is concerned with the "mark from whence they came"- things closer and more immediate, and perhaps concerned for consequence.
The song asks a rhetorical question in the last line- is it something childish, with unbecoming lack of concern for other, competing worry, to take such a wide worldview with ambitions of working for the "greater good", in perhaps nebulous terms? Surely not.
Actually this song, one of my favorites, was written by Mary Chapin Carpenter but recorded first by Joan Baez. Carpenter was 10 in 1968 so she could have been referring to RFK or MLK as both were assassinated in 1968 and were brought home to their resting places by trains draped in mourning with many onlookers just like Abraham Lincoln was. In my recollection MLK's death was followed by riots and cities burning!
Actually this song, one of my favorites, was written by Mary Chapin Carpenter but recorded first by Joan Baez. Carpenter was 10 in 1968 so she could have been referring to RFK or MLK as both were assassinated in 1968 and were brought home to their resting places by trains draped in mourning with many onlookers just like Abraham Lincoln was. In my recollection MLK's death was followed by riots and cities burning!
The song seems to be about the way in which peoples' worldview narrows with time, due to immediate pressures, ambitions and the worries of day-to-day life. It is worth noting that when Baez was ten, she was living in Iraq, where she was shocked by the abject poverty of some of the people there. The song, however, seems to place the singer's childhood in the early sixties- the train draped in mourning is probably that of JFK, and the cities burning down could be a conflation of the race riots and social upheaval of that decade.
But what of the stones? It seems they may be intended as signifying the change in time, and with it perhaps the attitude- in the early verses, the children scatter the stones, unconcerned about where they came from, more sending them on their way, whereas the last reference to the stones is concerned with the "mark from whence they came"- things closer and more immediate, and perhaps concerned for consequence.
The song asks a rhetorical question in the last line- is it something childish, with unbecoming lack of concern for other, competing worry, to take such a wide worldview with ambitions of working for the "greater good", in perhaps nebulous terms? Surely not.
Actually this song, one of my favorites, was written by Mary Chapin Carpenter but recorded first by Joan Baez. Carpenter was 10 in 1968 so she could have been referring to RFK or MLK as both were assassinated in 1968 and were brought home to their resting places by trains draped in mourning with many onlookers just like Abraham Lincoln was. In my recollection MLK's death was followed by riots and cities burning!
Actually this song, one of my favorites, was written by Mary Chapin Carpenter but recorded first by Joan Baez. Carpenter was 10 in 1968 so she could have been referring to RFK or MLK as both were assassinated in 1968 and were brought home to their resting places by trains draped in mourning with many onlookers just like Abraham Lincoln was. In my recollection MLK's death was followed by riots and cities burning!