Yes, the correct lyrics are "A strange hunger haunted me"
and "I felt a trembling hand"
Svarog989 and Skyzophrenyk are onto it. The first verse describes the setting-"a dusty mesa." It's a cactus, it grows slowly-"her looming shadow grows".
The seed that it grew from took root under a creosote plant- a nasty, poisonous desert pant whose oil was, and still may be , used to preserve wood for outdoor use such as railroad ties. If you have ever burned wood soaked in creosote by accident in a camp fire you know how bad this is. But, it protects the young plant and up it grows.
Then, when he touches it, he bleeds. Duh, it's a cactus. But it's also a 'she'-something more, a spirit within perhaps?
Next verse the first two lines are straight forward but the third is key- "a strange hunger haunted me" that is the urge to watch it bloom, even though it will lead to madness and death out in the desert. The viewer falls to the ground and feels a hand-the spirit embodied in the cactus?
Next verse has my favorite line. He's singing about sunset-but he gets there in such an clever and spooky way. If you have grown up in the desert, at some point you were told to never stick your hand under an overhanging rock during the day. Rattlesnakes, which can't autoregulate their body heat, coil up and hide under rocks out of the sun during the day. But as the sun sets, they unfold and come out to hunt, and at night they lie on the rocks and stay warm from the heat the rocks retain-there can be a 50-60 degree swing in temp, and they have figured out how to handle it. But what a great line to describe the sunset, and make it ominous. Then of course, another nocturnal creature-the mountain lion (cat, cougar, puma-all the same critter) comes and drags off the body of the viewer. And finally her soul is taken up and joins with ....the spirits of other victims, the cactus, whatever. Such a great, concise, evocative bit of songwriting!
In the first verse a man goes into the desert when the sun is boiling hot. He is drawn there by the spiney cactus clinging to a poison tree. When he touches the cactus it cuts him and he bleeds. In the second verse we learn he falls to the ground, perhaps poisoned by the cactus. In the second verse a woman goes into the desert when the moon is full. She is drawn there by a strange hunger. She is overcome and falls down into thorny brush where she feels the trembling hand of the man who came...
In the first verse a man goes into the desert when the sun is boiling hot. He is drawn there by the spiney cactus clinging to a poison tree. When he touches the cactus it cuts him and he bleeds. In the second verse we learn he falls to the ground, perhaps poisoned by the cactus. In the second verse a woman goes into the desert when the moon is full. She is drawn there by a strange hunger. She is overcome and falls down into thorny brush where she feels the trembling hand of the man who came before her. They die together beneath the mysterious cactus and the mountain cats drag their bones away. But in the last verse their spirits rise together over the silent sand and they live forever as forces of nature, she in the starlight, he in the wind.
Yes, the correct lyrics are "A strange hunger haunted me" and "I felt a trembling hand" Svarog989 and Skyzophrenyk are onto it. The first verse describes the setting-"a dusty mesa." It's a cactus, it grows slowly-"her looming shadow grows". The seed that it grew from took root under a creosote plant- a nasty, poisonous desert pant whose oil was, and still may be , used to preserve wood for outdoor use such as railroad ties. If you have ever burned wood soaked in creosote by accident in a camp fire you know how bad this is. But, it protects the young plant and up it grows.
Then, when he touches it, he bleeds. Duh, it's a cactus. But it's also a 'she'-something more, a spirit within perhaps?
Next verse the first two lines are straight forward but the third is key- "a strange hunger haunted me" that is the urge to watch it bloom, even though it will lead to madness and death out in the desert. The viewer falls to the ground and feels a hand-the spirit embodied in the cactus?
Next verse has my favorite line. He's singing about sunset-but he gets there in such an clever and spooky way. If you have grown up in the desert, at some point you were told to never stick your hand under an overhanging rock during the day. Rattlesnakes, which can't autoregulate their body heat, coil up and hide under rocks out of the sun during the day. But as the sun sets, they unfold and come out to hunt, and at night they lie on the rocks and stay warm from the heat the rocks retain-there can be a 50-60 degree swing in temp, and they have figured out how to handle it. But what a great line to describe the sunset, and make it ominous. Then of course, another nocturnal creature-the mountain lion (cat, cougar, puma-all the same critter) comes and drags off the body of the viewer. And finally her soul is taken up and joins with ....the spirits of other victims, the cactus, whatever. Such a great, concise, evocative bit of songwriting!
In the first verse a man goes into the desert when the sun is boiling hot. He is drawn there by the spiney cactus clinging to a poison tree. When he touches the cactus it cuts him and he bleeds. In the second verse we learn he falls to the ground, perhaps poisoned by the cactus. In the second verse a woman goes into the desert when the moon is full. She is drawn there by a strange hunger. She is overcome and falls down into thorny brush where she feels the trembling hand of the man who came...
In the first verse a man goes into the desert when the sun is boiling hot. He is drawn there by the spiney cactus clinging to a poison tree. When he touches the cactus it cuts him and he bleeds. In the second verse we learn he falls to the ground, perhaps poisoned by the cactus. In the second verse a woman goes into the desert when the moon is full. She is drawn there by a strange hunger. She is overcome and falls down into thorny brush where she feels the trembling hand of the man who came before her. They die together beneath the mysterious cactus and the mountain cats drag their bones away. But in the last verse their spirits rise together over the silent sand and they live forever as forces of nature, she in the starlight, he in the wind.