I came here looking for other's opinions on the "little babies" lyric. Specifically "figures fill their heads, visions bathed in red". It has always puzzled me...seems out of place....but now seems to make sense to me as I read other's comments. I now think it is referring to their innocence and that they see the world through rose-colored glasses. Their visions are bathed in red...rose color.
Something else that struck me, and it could be a long shot, but there seems to be a couple of songs by the Jayhawks that refer to traveling and in a very subtle way, derive from the mood of the folk classic City of New Orleans. In All the Right Reasons,, either she or he is n a train. In the City of New Orleans, "Mothers with their babes asleep rockin' to that gentle beat, and the rhythm of the rails is all they feel". In All the Right Reasons:
"From the train in Manchester, England
Lightning fills the sky
As I watched you wave goodbye
From the mountains to the prairie little babies
Figures fill their heads
Visions bathed in red"
And then in the Jayhawk's Tampa to Tulsa the lyrics talk about the card game that is going on during the trip (on a bus)..."There's a card game in the back seat, They're throwing dice in the aisle" .and in City of New Orleans "Dealin' cards with an old man in the club car, Penny a point, ain't no one keepin' score".....
I came here looking for other's opinions on the "little babies" lyric. Specifically "figures fill their heads, visions bathed in red". It has always puzzled me...seems out of place....but now seems to make sense to me as I read other's comments. I now think it is referring to their innocence and that they see the world through rose-colored glasses. Their visions are bathed in red...rose color.
Something else that struck me, and it could be a long shot, but there seems to be a couple of songs by the Jayhawks that refer to traveling and in a very subtle way, derive from the mood of the folk classic City of New Orleans. In All the Right Reasons,, either she or he is n a train. In the City of New Orleans, "Mothers with their babes asleep rockin' to that gentle beat, and the rhythm of the rails is all they feel". In All the Right Reasons: "From the train in Manchester, England Lightning fills the sky As I watched you wave goodbye From the mountains to the prairie little babies Figures fill their heads Visions bathed in red"
And then in the Jayhawk's Tampa to Tulsa the lyrics talk about the card game that is going on during the trip (on a bus)..."There's a card game in the back seat, They're throwing dice in the aisle" .and in City of New Orleans "Dealin' cards with an old man in the club car, Penny a point, ain't no one keepin' score".....
Just some thoughts.