Love Ryan. This is one of my favorite songs by him, but it's tough as hell to interpret. This is my analysis after hours of study. Please give me feedback.
The narrator is involved with Rose at the beginning of the song, and he helps her kill her landlord as revenge because he evicted her and is possibly bribing her? The landlord's body is dumped in the quarry which is why they "got a ton of worry" with every "load of granite." The narrator then meets Caroline at the diner and falls in love, but she's with rich guy Alderman Haint. Percy (Caroline's sister)and the narrator obviously get married and experience a great tragedy (two pretty girls) that seems unrelated as far as I can tell, but maybe is included to show the passage of time? Alderman becomes suspicious of the narrator's desire for Caroline, so the narrator kills him and dumps his body in the quarry. Rose knows the narrator is dangerous and has a motive for killing her since she knows about how he killed the landlord. She might even think he killed his daughters. How did they die? I don't know. Rose spills the beans to protect herself. Alderman's rosary eventually "drifts into custody" of the novice sheriff. Novice sheriff isn't trusted to carry out adequate justice which is why the two angry, drunk men kill the narrator at the banquet hall. They might even think he killed his daughters.
I think bluetangled got the closest interpretation to the song's literal meaning. I don't think the narrator or Rose were ever involved romantically though, so question the accuracy of the narrator being involved with her at any point in the story.
I think bluetangled got the closest interpretation to the song's literal meaning. I don't think the narrator or Rose were ever involved romantically though, so question the accuracy of the narrator being involved with her at any point in the story.
Rose seems more like a "busy body" who probably knew too much about the nattor's involvement with Caroline. I think the line about "a ton of worry" just means the town grew fearful of the damage caused by the quarrey dig.
Rose seems more like a "busy body" who probably knew too much about the nattor's involvement with Caroline. I think the line about "a ton of worry" just means the town grew fearful of the damage caused by the quarrey dig.
Now...there does seem to be at some point in the tale where Rose, Caroline...
Now...there does seem to be at some point in the tale where Rose, Caroline and the narrator got entangled with some mess involving Aldermann - this part is extremely ambigious, but essentially Rose got spooked and narc'd on the narrator and/or Caroline.
The narrator definitely gets shot at the end of this tale, and as bluetangled mentioned I'm fairly certain his spirit is still lingering 'round the banquet hall', and there's an interesting lyrical homophone parallel happening between "Carolina Rain" and "Oh Caroline" which leads me to believe Caroline is shedding tears for her lost love.
Over the past couple months I stumbled across this tune thanks to Grooveshark, and have to say that not only is the songwriting musically poignant, but the story is so deep that it gives you a lot to sink your teeth into. Only further solidifying Adams's genius, in my mind.
I kinda wish he wrote more work like this, as it's brilliant.
Love Ryan. This is one of my favorite songs by him, but it's tough as hell to interpret. This is my analysis after hours of study. Please give me feedback.
The narrator is involved with Rose at the beginning of the song, and he helps her kill her landlord as revenge because he evicted her and is possibly bribing her? The landlord's body is dumped in the quarry which is why they "got a ton of worry" with every "load of granite." The narrator then meets Caroline at the diner and falls in love, but she's with rich guy Alderman Haint. Percy (Caroline's sister)and the narrator obviously get married and experience a great tragedy (two pretty girls) that seems unrelated as far as I can tell, but maybe is included to show the passage of time? Alderman becomes suspicious of the narrator's desire for Caroline, so the narrator kills him and dumps his body in the quarry. Rose knows the narrator is dangerous and has a motive for killing her since she knows about how he killed the landlord. She might even think he killed his daughters. How did they die? I don't know. Rose spills the beans to protect herself. Alderman's rosary eventually "drifts into custody" of the novice sheriff. Novice sheriff isn't trusted to carry out adequate justice which is why the two angry, drunk men kill the narrator at the banquet hall. They might even think he killed his daughters.
I think bluetangled got the closest interpretation to the song's literal meaning. I don't think the narrator or Rose were ever involved romantically though, so question the accuracy of the narrator being involved with her at any point in the story.
I think bluetangled got the closest interpretation to the song's literal meaning. I don't think the narrator or Rose were ever involved romantically though, so question the accuracy of the narrator being involved with her at any point in the story.
Rose seems more like a "busy body" who probably knew too much about the nattor's involvement with Caroline. I think the line about "a ton of worry" just means the town grew fearful of the damage caused by the quarrey dig.
Rose seems more like a "busy body" who probably knew too much about the nattor's involvement with Caroline. I think the line about "a ton of worry" just means the town grew fearful of the damage caused by the quarrey dig.
Now...there does seem to be at some point in the tale where Rose, Caroline...
Now...there does seem to be at some point in the tale where Rose, Caroline and the narrator got entangled with some mess involving Aldermann - this part is extremely ambigious, but essentially Rose got spooked and narc'd on the narrator and/or Caroline.
The narrator definitely gets shot at the end of this tale, and as bluetangled mentioned I'm fairly certain his spirit is still lingering 'round the banquet hall', and there's an interesting lyrical homophone parallel happening between "Carolina Rain" and "Oh Caroline" which leads me to believe Caroline is shedding tears for her lost love.
Over the past couple months I stumbled across this tune thanks to Grooveshark, and have to say that not only is the songwriting musically poignant, but the story is so deep that it gives you a lot to sink your teeth into. Only further solidifying Adams's genius, in my mind.
I kinda wish he wrote more work like this, as it's brilliant.