The thing that moves me about this song is the sense that the person he was infatuated with is somewhat of a superior. Somehow meant for greater things. She was one of the "two who've been chosen" and when he remained in the town (and got "screwed" etc): "Of course you passed and you were never seen again." And her longing look last him the whole year. So the narrator of the song loves the girl but recognizes that she's out of his league. Then she comes back for her wedding, to someone in her league. So there's that odd recognition of social strata, but not in a social stigma sort of way -- the backdrop of the song gives us that. It's more sprung from nature. The harvest festival is both an image of how the town would regularly get together, and also an image of the children themselves growing up (or being "harvested"). Some are better crops than others. It's just nature. The theme may be the sort of thing that might anger folks if it were about another situation. But since it is about a boy's sweet memory about a girl he could never have, it's perfectly acceptable as such. And wonderful.
The thing that moves me about this song is the sense that the person he was infatuated with is somewhat of a superior. Somehow meant for greater things. She was one of the "two who've been chosen" and when he remained in the town (and got "screwed" etc): "Of course you passed and you were never seen again." And her longing look last him the whole year. So the narrator of the song loves the girl but recognizes that she's out of his league. Then she comes back for her wedding, to someone in her league. So there's that odd recognition of social strata, but not in a social stigma sort of way -- the backdrop of the song gives us that. It's more sprung from nature. The harvest festival is both an image of how the town would regularly get together, and also an image of the children themselves growing up (or being "harvested"). Some are better crops than others. It's just nature. The theme may be the sort of thing that might anger folks if it were about another situation. But since it is about a boy's sweet memory about a girl he could never have, it's perfectly acceptable as such. And wonderful.