I have always enjoyed Jimmy Buffett as a poet and entertainer but finally realized his amazing his genius when I read the original lyrics to this song.
I grew up with the "Changes " version where he sings "..sits on the big grey rocks, takes off her boots and socks, NOT knowing what she will do next just starts to cry...". I can envison the big grey rocks down by the river on the Moonwalk in New Orleans and see someone who has had a rough upbringing going to live in the Quarter and trying to sort things out on one of many bad days by going to relax by the river.
When I read the original lyric "... sits on the big grey rocks, takes off her boots and socks AND knowing what she will do next just starts to cry..." This is someone who has run away from many bad things and can find no hope so she intends to end it there in the Mississippi. She is beyond hope and we suddenly understand the severity of what she's been through.
A single word changes the utlimate temper and meaning of this song. I would love to know more about his inspiration for this song.
@ChipCMD - Thank you! I owned both versions, but had learned the lyrics first from Changes in Lat. I later got High Cumberland, but whenever the older song played I heard "NOT knowing...". The lyrics from the newer version were so burned into my head I just didn't hear it.
@ChipCMD - Thank you! I owned both versions, but had learned the lyrics first from Changes in Lat. I later got High Cumberland, but whenever the older song played I heard "NOT knowing...". The lyrics from the newer version were so burned into my head I just didn't hear it.
Fast forward 35 years, I go and listen to the older version for the first time in at least a decade -- the word "AND" pops out, and repaints my entire image of this song. I thought I was going insane.
Fast forward 35 years, I go and listen to the older version for the first time in at least a decade -- the word "AND" pops out, and repaints my entire image of this song. I thought I was going insane.
IMO, this is the most inspired,...
IMO, this is the most inspired, poetic and artistic song he has ever written. It doesn't surprise me that as his fame rose, and he became Mr. Goodtime Partyman he changed the lyrics to be less fatalist.
I love the magic in that one-word change. One is a hard struggle you might win, the other is one you lose. Powerful.
I have always enjoyed Jimmy Buffett as a poet and entertainer but finally realized his amazing his genius when I read the original lyrics to this song.
I grew up with the "Changes " version where he sings "..sits on the big grey rocks, takes off her boots and socks, NOT knowing what she will do next just starts to cry...". I can envison the big grey rocks down by the river on the Moonwalk in New Orleans and see someone who has had a rough upbringing going to live in the Quarter and trying to sort things out on one of many bad days by going to relax by the river.
When I read the original lyric "... sits on the big grey rocks, takes off her boots and socks AND knowing what she will do next just starts to cry..." This is someone who has run away from many bad things and can find no hope so she intends to end it there in the Mississippi. She is beyond hope and we suddenly understand the severity of what she's been through.
A single word changes the utlimate temper and meaning of this song. I would love to know more about his inspiration for this song.
@ChipCMD - Thank you! I owned both versions, but had learned the lyrics first from Changes in Lat. I later got High Cumberland, but whenever the older song played I heard "NOT knowing...". The lyrics from the newer version were so burned into my head I just didn't hear it.
@ChipCMD - Thank you! I owned both versions, but had learned the lyrics first from Changes in Lat. I later got High Cumberland, but whenever the older song played I heard "NOT knowing...". The lyrics from the newer version were so burned into my head I just didn't hear it.
Fast forward 35 years, I go and listen to the older version for the first time in at least a decade -- the word "AND" pops out, and repaints my entire image of this song. I thought I was going insane.
Fast forward 35 years, I go and listen to the older version for the first time in at least a decade -- the word "AND" pops out, and repaints my entire image of this song. I thought I was going insane.
IMO, this is the most inspired,...
IMO, this is the most inspired, poetic and artistic song he has ever written. It doesn't surprise me that as his fame rose, and he became Mr. Goodtime Partyman he changed the lyrics to be less fatalist.
I love the magic in that one-word change. One is a hard struggle you might win, the other is one you lose. Powerful.