I think it's about Moriarty's (Jim Moriarty, Sherlock Holmes' Nemesis) early years, where he came from and how he came to be a criminal.
It's a nice, welcoming family, with uncles, aunties, cousins, "where the grass is green and the buffaloes roam" (buffaloes being his family, of course) ...But under the clean surface lies a darker side ("daft" grandpa, mental illness ?)
There are two contradictory messages sent by the buffaloes to our young Jimmy : never let others get you down, be proud of yourself and what you are ("be what you are, do what you do", etc) ; but also the necessity of belonging to the group, not rocking the boat ("All roads lead to roam with the buffaloes").
It would be contradictory to Moriarty, because he has such a brilliant mind he doesn't want to be just like any other man, or he wouldn't be true to his nature, he wouldn't be fulfilling what he feels is his destiny, and this is why he can't belong in his family. Whichever way he chooses, he just ends up with a disappointing life, a feeling of incompleteness ("there's buffalo piss, and it's all kind of wet" gives me the impression of a disappointing life)
Driven by this inner conflict and dissatisfaction, he turns to a life of crime, and finds out there's no going back ("you can't clean your name", "One of Jimmy's friends has taken the floor"). Jimmy has "forgotten he's young" (= forgotten his youth, forsaken his innocence, turned his back to his family).
And the last call from his family is for him to "remember he's unknown", put his ego aside to finally come home in buffaloland, with his family, but Moriarty can't do that any more, which ends the song on a very tragic note.
I think it's about Moriarty's (Jim Moriarty, Sherlock Holmes' Nemesis) early years, where he came from and how he came to be a criminal.
It's a nice, welcoming family, with uncles, aunties, cousins, "where the grass is green and the buffaloes roam" (buffaloes being his family, of course) ...But under the clean surface lies a darker side ("daft" grandpa, mental illness ?)
There are two contradictory messages sent by the buffaloes to our young Jimmy : never let others get you down, be proud of yourself and what you are ("be what you are, do what you do", etc) ; but also the necessity of belonging to the group, not rocking the boat ("All roads lead to roam with the buffaloes"). It would be contradictory to Moriarty, because he has such a brilliant mind he doesn't want to be just like any other man, or he wouldn't be true to his nature, he wouldn't be fulfilling what he feels is his destiny, and this is why he can't belong in his family. Whichever way he chooses, he just ends up with a disappointing life, a feeling of incompleteness ("there's buffalo piss, and it's all kind of wet" gives me the impression of a disappointing life)
Driven by this inner conflict and dissatisfaction, he turns to a life of crime, and finds out there's no going back ("you can't clean your name", "One of Jimmy's friends has taken the floor"). Jimmy has "forgotten he's young" (= forgotten his youth, forsaken his innocence, turned his back to his family).
And the last call from his family is for him to "remember he's unknown", put his ego aside to finally come home in buffaloland, with his family, but Moriarty can't do that any more, which ends the song on a very tragic note.