Anyone have any thoughts on what "the air smelled like snakes" means? The rest of the song seems to be pretty literal. Is this line referring to something real and specific?
@bjohns7778 Snakes release a foul smelling musk as a defense. If you're in an area with a big population of snakes and startle one or get too close they will often musk, and you can smell it fairly strongly
@bjohns7778 Snakes release a foul smelling musk as a defense. If you're in an area with a big population of snakes and startle one or get too close they will often musk, and you can smell it fairly strongly
@bjohns7778 (Please excuse the long reply. I am having fun recalling the first 23 yrs of my life in rural Mississippi.)
@bjohns7778 (Please excuse the long reply. I am having fun recalling the first 23 yrs of my life in rural Mississippi.)
There is an amazing amount of rural culture encapsulated in this couplet. While I don't know about any actual 'snake smell,' any wet, muddy place would be thought to have snakes.
There is an amazing amount of rural culture encapsulated in this couplet. While I don't know about any actual 'snake smell,' any wet, muddy place would be thought to have snakes.
Here are some of my thoughts related to the phrase:
Where the air smelled like snakes we would shoot with our pistols,
but empty pop bottles was all we would kill.
Here are some of my thoughts related to the phrase:
Where the air smelled like snakes we would shoot with our pistols,
but empty pop bottles was all we would kill.
Snakes are serpents, and serpents are 'bad' (They tempted Eve and brought sin into the world!) and...
Snakes are serpents, and serpents are 'bad' (They tempted Eve and brought sin into the world!) and must be eliminated from God's creation. This is the sacred mission of every teenage boy entrusted with the 0.22 pistol from his Granddaddy's tackle box.
On a day when the fish 'ain't' biting, the pistol comes out and anything may become a target.
The choice of 'pop bottles' is interesting, and I suspect it was to keep the rhythm of the phrase. Even in the 1970s when this song was recorded, pop/soda bottles were returned/reused for a deposit. (Typically 5 cents) Shooting 'money' would have been unthinkable! (In my young world, .22 bullets were free...) We would gather every can, empty mayonnaise jar, and cast-off container available for future targets. There was always a stash in the back of the trunk or hiding under the front of the Jon Boat.
Killing a snake with a pistol? Never seen it happen. But we murdered thousands of cans & bottles. My favorites were Testors Model Paint bottles that were dried shut.
@bjohns7778 I recently moved to Muhlenberg County and my wife grew up here. According to her, it’s about honeysuckle. An old wives tale down here is that if you smell honeysuckle there’s a copperhead nearby.
@bjohns7778 I recently moved to Muhlenberg County and my wife grew up here. According to her, it’s about honeysuckle. An old wives tale down here is that if you smell honeysuckle there’s a copperhead nearby.
Anyone have any thoughts on what "the air smelled like snakes" means? The rest of the song seems to be pretty literal. Is this line referring to something real and specific?
@bjohns7778 Snakes release a foul smelling musk as a defense. If you're in an area with a big population of snakes and startle one or get too close they will often musk, and you can smell it fairly strongly
@bjohns7778 Snakes release a foul smelling musk as a defense. If you're in an area with a big population of snakes and startle one or get too close they will often musk, and you can smell it fairly strongly
@bjohns7778 (Please excuse the long reply. I am having fun recalling the first 23 yrs of my life in rural Mississippi.)
@bjohns7778 (Please excuse the long reply. I am having fun recalling the first 23 yrs of my life in rural Mississippi.)
There is an amazing amount of rural culture encapsulated in this couplet. While I don't know about any actual 'snake smell,' any wet, muddy place would be thought to have snakes.
There is an amazing amount of rural culture encapsulated in this couplet. While I don't know about any actual 'snake smell,' any wet, muddy place would be thought to have snakes.
Here are some of my thoughts related to the phrase: Where the air smelled like snakes we would shoot with our pistols, but empty pop bottles was all we would kill.
Here are some of my thoughts related to the phrase: Where the air smelled like snakes we would shoot with our pistols, but empty pop bottles was all we would kill.
Snakes are serpents, and serpents are 'bad' (They tempted Eve and brought sin into the world!) and...
Snakes are serpents, and serpents are 'bad' (They tempted Eve and brought sin into the world!) and must be eliminated from God's creation. This is the sacred mission of every teenage boy entrusted with the 0.22 pistol from his Granddaddy's tackle box.
On a day when the fish 'ain't' biting, the pistol comes out and anything may become a target.
The choice of 'pop bottles' is interesting, and I suspect it was to keep the rhythm of the phrase. Even in the 1970s when this song was recorded, pop/soda bottles were returned/reused for a deposit. (Typically 5 cents) Shooting 'money' would have been unthinkable! (In my young world, .22 bullets were free...) We would gather every can, empty mayonnaise jar, and cast-off container available for future targets. There was always a stash in the back of the trunk or hiding under the front of the Jon Boat.
Killing a snake with a pistol? Never seen it happen. But we murdered thousands of cans & bottles. My favorites were Testors Model Paint bottles that were dried shut.
@bjohns7778 I recently moved to Muhlenberg County and my wife grew up here. According to her, it’s about honeysuckle. An old wives tale down here is that if you smell honeysuckle there’s a copperhead nearby.
@bjohns7778 I recently moved to Muhlenberg County and my wife grew up here. According to her, it’s about honeysuckle. An old wives tale down here is that if you smell honeysuckle there’s a copperhead nearby.