It's definitely about an unfaithful wife and the husband/hill farmer's reaction.
At first, the farmer seems to be describing a normal trip into town, but the tone quickly gets dark. The second line of each verse makes it increasingly clear that the farmer is discussing his reaction to emotional pain ("For what I need" / "To fuel my fire" / "To have my fun"). In the last verse, he makes the unfaithfulness explicit ("Behind my back, Lord / You made a fool of me").
The last verse seems to imply that the farmer is going into Tow Law to be unfaithful, in turn, to his wife, even though he still loves her ("I'm going into Tow Law / To have my fun / Don't get me wrong you were the only one.") This idea is reinforced by his repetition of "Don't wait up for me."
As earlier comments have suggested, the "shopping list" helps to set a dark tone for the song as everything the farmer mentions buying is capable of doing violence. (ripsaw chain, weed killer, shotgun shells, razor wire) His command "Don't do jack" (i.e. don't do anything) is also threatening; he is commanding her to stay alone in the house while he goes into town to "have his fun." How much of his threat is physical and how much is emotional (or metaphorical) is not explicitly clear.
The song's violence is counterposed by the "So bad..." lyrics, suggesting that the farmer's innermost thoughts are of the weakness of hurt.
I personally think of the dog as having been exiled to the backdoor (outside) as a consequence of their fight. He tells his wife not to feed it, underlining how the dog is an innocent victim of the farmer's anger (or perhaps an ineffectual voice of reason). I'd be open to other readings here, though.
I think you are spot on. I had my thoughts as to the meaning of his words, but was still a little hazy on a couple of things. After having read your insightful interpretation, It all makes perfect sense to me. Having said that, this song is simply brilliant, as is most all of this most talented gentleman's creations. I'm of the opinion, when it comes to being a composer, musician and vocalist, this man is far above the majority of musical talent that currently exists. His music is treasured and his talent is much...
I think you are spot on. I had my thoughts as to the meaning of his words, but was still a little hazy on a couple of things. After having read your insightful interpretation, It all makes perfect sense to me. Having said that, this song is simply brilliant, as is most all of this most talented gentleman's creations. I'm of the opinion, when it comes to being a composer, musician and vocalist, this man is far above the majority of musical talent that currently exists. His music is treasured and his talent is much respected and appreciated! At least by this one, very long time fan. I hope his brilliance shines for a good many more years to come.
I enjoyed your interpretation and also found the darkness too in some of the lyrics. Mark shows again great richness in this, another interesting character portrayal.
Firstly, the man telling her to leave the dog out the back because of the fight is interesting, as you pointed out [which didn’t occur to me]. A dog is a man’s best friend, almost an extension of him, and loyal and trusting [particularly so for a farmer]. The dog is thus an expression of his hurt: the man hurts - so will the dog. So it’s as if the man is choosing to be...
I enjoyed your interpretation and also found the darkness too in some of the lyrics. Mark shows again great richness in this, another interesting character portrayal.
Firstly, the man telling her to leave the dog out the back because of the fight is interesting, as you pointed out [which didn’t occur to me]. A dog is a man’s best friend, almost an extension of him, and loyal and trusting [particularly so for a farmer]. The dog is thus an expression of his hurt: the man hurts - so will the dog. So it’s as if the man is choosing to be in the doghouse by telling her to ‘leave him [the dog] be’. The dog being left out the back is like a reversal of the sleeping on the sofa idea when a couple argue, but this time the man has license to take the initiative by telling her to leave the dog alone, since he’s the wronged one. The dog and the farmer are effectively unified in their contempt of resignation against the wife. Furthermore the shared hurt of the farmer and his dog is suggested as being something that the wife won’t understand: he says ‘leave him be’ and one would think that the dog would not want to be in her company anyway, whatever she does. By saying ‘leave him be’, he’s really saying ‘leave me be’, in a nice reversal of the bright way the likes of the Beatles and Louis Armstrong [‘how do you do/they’re really saying I love you’] expressed idealised sentiments — It is a blues song after all, this one.
The theme of loyalty is also in the fact that the man appears to have been so: ‘don’t get me wrong, you were the only one’. His indignation against her seems righteous and you can feel that the last thing he wants is to be made a fool of again by her having the cheek to get to have a relationship with the dog, in his absence, given what she’s done.
I like how you pointed out the dark theme, which I got listening to it. I find his shopping activities typical of a man, who would want to retreat to his work and routine in order to try to deal with his hurt. The items he buys such as ‘killer for the weed’, ‘razor wire’ and ‘shells’ are interesting. One might see a less likely vision of him engaging in a murderous revenge, than what is far more likely symbolic of his therapy: he may be repairing and/or building new fences with the ‘razor wire’ in order to protect his heart or is acting to fend off who might have tempted his wife. The retreat into his work includes cathartically shooting pests on the farm and killing weeds.
As to the less likely more literal interpretation, it occurred to me having been watching the Jodi Arias murder trial that the farmer could indeed have been wronged and is seeking to take revenge, like she did on her boyfriend Travis. Such a view highlights the way that writers like Mark sometimes takes inspiration from events in life, and portrays stories to not only give insights into interesting character perspectives, but also into the creative writing process itself.
It's definitely about an unfaithful wife and the husband/hill farmer's reaction.
At first, the farmer seems to be describing a normal trip into town, but the tone quickly gets dark. The second line of each verse makes it increasingly clear that the farmer is discussing his reaction to emotional pain ("For what I need" / "To fuel my fire" / "To have my fun"). In the last verse, he makes the unfaithfulness explicit ("Behind my back, Lord / You made a fool of me").
The last verse seems to imply that the farmer is going into Tow Law to be unfaithful, in turn, to his wife, even though he still loves her ("I'm going into Tow Law / To have my fun / Don't get me wrong you were the only one.") This idea is reinforced by his repetition of "Don't wait up for me."
As earlier comments have suggested, the "shopping list" helps to set a dark tone for the song as everything the farmer mentions buying is capable of doing violence. (ripsaw chain, weed killer, shotgun shells, razor wire) His command "Don't do jack" (i.e. don't do anything) is also threatening; he is commanding her to stay alone in the house while he goes into town to "have his fun." How much of his threat is physical and how much is emotional (or metaphorical) is not explicitly clear.
The song's violence is counterposed by the "So bad..." lyrics, suggesting that the farmer's innermost thoughts are of the weakness of hurt.
I personally think of the dog as having been exiled to the backdoor (outside) as a consequence of their fight. He tells his wife not to feed it, underlining how the dog is an innocent victim of the farmer's anger (or perhaps an ineffectual voice of reason). I'd be open to other readings here, though.
I think you are spot on. I had my thoughts as to the meaning of his words, but was still a little hazy on a couple of things. After having read your insightful interpretation, It all makes perfect sense to me. Having said that, this song is simply brilliant, as is most all of this most talented gentleman's creations. I'm of the opinion, when it comes to being a composer, musician and vocalist, this man is far above the majority of musical talent that currently exists. His music is treasured and his talent is much...
I think you are spot on. I had my thoughts as to the meaning of his words, but was still a little hazy on a couple of things. After having read your insightful interpretation, It all makes perfect sense to me. Having said that, this song is simply brilliant, as is most all of this most talented gentleman's creations. I'm of the opinion, when it comes to being a composer, musician and vocalist, this man is far above the majority of musical talent that currently exists. His music is treasured and his talent is much respected and appreciated! At least by this one, very long time fan. I hope his brilliance shines for a good many more years to come.
I enjoyed your interpretation and also found the darkness too in some of the lyrics. Mark shows again great richness in this, another interesting character portrayal. Firstly, the man telling her to leave the dog out the back because of the fight is interesting, as you pointed out [which didn’t occur to me]. A dog is a man’s best friend, almost an extension of him, and loyal and trusting [particularly so for a farmer]. The dog is thus an expression of his hurt: the man hurts - so will the dog. So it’s as if the man is choosing to be...
I enjoyed your interpretation and also found the darkness too in some of the lyrics. Mark shows again great richness in this, another interesting character portrayal. Firstly, the man telling her to leave the dog out the back because of the fight is interesting, as you pointed out [which didn’t occur to me]. A dog is a man’s best friend, almost an extension of him, and loyal and trusting [particularly so for a farmer]. The dog is thus an expression of his hurt: the man hurts - so will the dog. So it’s as if the man is choosing to be in the doghouse by telling her to ‘leave him [the dog] be’. The dog being left out the back is like a reversal of the sleeping on the sofa idea when a couple argue, but this time the man has license to take the initiative by telling her to leave the dog alone, since he’s the wronged one. The dog and the farmer are effectively unified in their contempt of resignation against the wife. Furthermore the shared hurt of the farmer and his dog is suggested as being something that the wife won’t understand: he says ‘leave him be’ and one would think that the dog would not want to be in her company anyway, whatever she does. By saying ‘leave him be’, he’s really saying ‘leave me be’, in a nice reversal of the bright way the likes of the Beatles and Louis Armstrong [‘how do you do/they’re really saying I love you’] expressed idealised sentiments — It is a blues song after all, this one. The theme of loyalty is also in the fact that the man appears to have been so: ‘don’t get me wrong, you were the only one’. His indignation against her seems righteous and you can feel that the last thing he wants is to be made a fool of again by her having the cheek to get to have a relationship with the dog, in his absence, given what she’s done. I like how you pointed out the dark theme, which I got listening to it. I find his shopping activities typical of a man, who would want to retreat to his work and routine in order to try to deal with his hurt. The items he buys such as ‘killer for the weed’, ‘razor wire’ and ‘shells’ are interesting. One might see a less likely vision of him engaging in a murderous revenge, than what is far more likely symbolic of his therapy: he may be repairing and/or building new fences with the ‘razor wire’ in order to protect his heart or is acting to fend off who might have tempted his wife. The retreat into his work includes cathartically shooting pests on the farm and killing weeds. As to the less likely more literal interpretation, it occurred to me having been watching the Jodi Arias murder trial that the farmer could indeed have been wronged and is seeking to take revenge, like she did on her boyfriend Travis. Such a view highlights the way that writers like Mark sometimes takes inspiration from events in life, and portrays stories to not only give insights into interesting character perspectives, but also into the creative writing process itself.