It's a song about work, or more particularly the necessity of labour/pain in all persuits. Whether you're moving a body, digging a grave or atoning for past sins ("Tell the good Lord what they did"). And as a constant; an unavoidable certainty in life no matter who you are or where you end up.
"Get behind the mule" is a poetic way of saying "gotta get to work". Not with a tone of condescension thankfully, it's presented here more as a world-wearied fact-of-life observation, perhaps grumbled by an old man in a Western saloon, stirring his brandy with a nail...
Check out the VH1 Storytellers Live version of this track if you haven't already; it's a breathtaking performance.
It's a song about work, or more particularly the necessity of labour/pain in all persuits. Whether you're moving a body, digging a grave or atoning for past sins ("Tell the good Lord what they did"). And as a constant; an unavoidable certainty in life no matter who you are or where you end up.
"Get behind the mule" is a poetic way of saying "gotta get to work". Not with a tone of condescension thankfully, it's presented here more as a world-wearied fact-of-life observation, perhaps grumbled by an old man in a Western saloon, stirring his brandy with a nail...
Check out the VH1 Storytellers Live version of this track if you haven't already; it's a breathtaking performance.