I've always thought it was about myths, the myths we tell ourselves and how reality destroys them, through exploring the cultural myths about how our country was settled, and who settled it.
The axes who pacify with gold who walk right into town --
This makes me think of the final season of Deadwood, when predatory capitalism, in the form of George Hearst, arrives in the formerly anarchistic, illegal mining camp, and takes over. He brings his own unique and dreadful brand of industry, backed up by extreme violence. You will sell him your claim, or you will die.
And a man stood, he was brought back by lady luck --
He could be a gambler, brought to the mining town for the chance of some quick gold. A cowboy arriving on the scene in the nick of time to try to intervene.
And he was so strong, and he was so strong, and he was strong --
Here's the myth, the image we have of the lone gambler, the cowboy on the plains, the mountain man, independent, alone, the rugged individualist. This is the image we have of our ancestors, particularly in Western America.
He said, lady where's your dark undercoat? --
Underneath the civilized veneer, something hidden and frightening.
Then he rode away, and he rode away, and he died
Said I am not strong, and I am not wide, and I am not long
I am not strong, and I am not wide, I'm not long --
The myth dies when you learn the reality. We are not strong enough to keep the myths, and reality is not large enough to hold them.
Oh, but if I was a deep bathtub would you sink down to the bottom of my love? --
This is a little harder, but I see it as representing the appeal of the myth, the longing to submit to a romanticized ideal of our past and of ourselves.
But I am not strong and I am not wide and I am not tall. --
Reality is just not what you wish it were, and history is mostly lies.
Oh cowboy, ride the time
Ride it high with rhythm and rhyme
To the sound of a bleeding ghost train
And I am needing to let go of tidal pain --
The stories we tell ourselves, individually and collectively, persist because they do have a painful beauty, the feeling of something being lost. If we lost it, rather than it never having existed at all, maybe we could reclaim it again. When we realize the truth, it's hard. And since she's using Western imagery to explore this idea, I also see the last line as expressing some guilt and pain over what really happened in our history with Manifest Destiny, etc.
I don't think this song is meant only to apply to a general Western mythology or specifically to cowboys and Indians, as it were, but that she's using that symbolism deliberately to express something that happens inside ourselves as we grow up and realize how much of what we are taught about our past, both collectively and individually, are lies meant to make us feel better about that past.
I could be way off base, but this is what occurs to me when I listen to this song. Whatever the case it is stunningly beautiful. This artist is kind of local to me and just released a new album. I really hope to see her perform soon.
I've always thought it was about myths, the myths we tell ourselves and how reality destroys them, through exploring the cultural myths about how our country was settled, and who settled it.
The axes who pacify with gold who walk right into town --
This makes me think of the final season of Deadwood, when predatory capitalism, in the form of George Hearst, arrives in the formerly anarchistic, illegal mining camp, and takes over. He brings his own unique and dreadful brand of industry, backed up by extreme violence. You will sell him your claim, or you will die.
And a man stood, he was brought back by lady luck --
He could be a gambler, brought to the mining town for the chance of some quick gold. A cowboy arriving on the scene in the nick of time to try to intervene.
And he was so strong, and he was so strong, and he was strong --
Here's the myth, the image we have of the lone gambler, the cowboy on the plains, the mountain man, independent, alone, the rugged individualist. This is the image we have of our ancestors, particularly in Western America.
He said, lady where's your dark undercoat? --
Underneath the civilized veneer, something hidden and frightening.
Then he rode away, and he rode away, and he died Said I am not strong, and I am not wide, and I am not long I am not strong, and I am not wide, I'm not long --
The myth dies when you learn the reality. We are not strong enough to keep the myths, and reality is not large enough to hold them.
Oh, but if I was a deep bathtub would you sink down to the bottom of my love? --
This is a little harder, but I see it as representing the appeal of the myth, the longing to submit to a romanticized ideal of our past and of ourselves.
But I am not strong and I am not wide and I am not tall. --
Reality is just not what you wish it were, and history is mostly lies.
Oh cowboy, ride the time Ride it high with rhythm and rhyme To the sound of a bleeding ghost train And I am needing to let go of tidal pain --
The stories we tell ourselves, individually and collectively, persist because they do have a painful beauty, the feeling of something being lost. If we lost it, rather than it never having existed at all, maybe we could reclaim it again. When we realize the truth, it's hard. And since she's using Western imagery to explore this idea, I also see the last line as expressing some guilt and pain over what really happened in our history with Manifest Destiny, etc.
I don't think this song is meant only to apply to a general Western mythology or specifically to cowboys and Indians, as it were, but that she's using that symbolism deliberately to express something that happens inside ourselves as we grow up and realize how much of what we are taught about our past, both collectively and individually, are lies meant to make us feel better about that past.
I could be way off base, but this is what occurs to me when I listen to this song. Whatever the case it is stunningly beautiful. This artist is kind of local to me and just released a new album. I really hope to see her perform soon.