This is a song about racism in a southern U.S. town, where you have to know which side you're on. In other words, you're white and that's understood to be against the brown man, and by against, she doesn't mean in bed. If you don't know that, you're confused and we need to take you out to the range (where they try to educate her with probably something like Tupac targets or real brown men getting shot at).
But she is Little Amsterdam. Pretty much anything goes in Amsterdam. That's how she gets that name. She's out of place in Hicksville, where illiterate, uneducated, lazy white men try to find their power/pride in their color of their skin and control of minorities and women.
She's screwing the sheriff for protection of the brown man she loves. She built a bridge. Bridges are a sign of peace to unite one side with the other. So are olives (branches). Olives in this case are her tits. She's not getting any pleasure out of sex with the sheriff, so her olives are cold pressed.
After that it's a little unclear. Somebody was killed. I don't know if it was Little Amsterdam or her brown man or both or the sheriff or someone else. And I'm not sure who did the killing. Those lines can all be taken different ways.
Little Amsterdam shut down today. They buried her with a butter bean bouquet. - This could mean she shut down because she's dead or she shut down her emotions and screwing people to protect her man, or she doesn't act like she's in Amsterdam anymore and has conformed to the white southern ways.
And the Sheriff now can't ride away like he said into the sunset - Either he's the one that's shot or he is in prison because he shot the brown man, or somebody else shot the brown man and he is getting the blame for it.
And I won't say that he shouldna pay but Momma, it wasn't my bullet - Well this could be the sheriff saying the brown man got what he ultimately deserved, if it was the brown man who was the one who was shot. He only restrained from giving him what he deserved because he was being bribed by Little Amsterdam's goodies, but always believed that he should pay for having that white woman. But he's telling Little Amsterdam, otherwise referred to as Momma, that it wasn't his bullet, i.e. he held up to his end of their bargain. OR, perhaps the sheriff was shot, and Little Amsterdam is saying he deserved to get shot, but it wasn't her bullet. OR, somebody came after the brown man and Little Amsterdam shot that guy, then maybe she got shot. Lots of possibilities in a situation like that. And often in small southern towns the wrong person gets blamed for a crime. It wasn't my bullet...
A more interesting take (and sadder) is Little Amsterdam's spirit and fight was broken, and she had to give up her brown man, and she eventually caved from the pressure, into marrying a white man. This shut her emotions down and her performance of acting like it was Amsterdam. She didn't die, but was in effect buried by a butter bean (color of a white man) bouquet (marriage). And the sheriff not being able to ride off into the sunset, could be, he won't be killing the brown man now (followed by the riding off into the sunset as old western movies did after the killing was over). This could explain the round and a round and a round I go...This time for keeps.
The possibilities in a situation like this are endless and as usual Tori does her outstanding writing to both give you the story and to make it your own. Love her.
This is a song about racism in a southern U.S. town, where you have to know which side you're on. In other words, you're white and that's understood to be against the brown man, and by against, she doesn't mean in bed. If you don't know that, you're confused and we need to take you out to the range (where they try to educate her with probably something like Tupac targets or real brown men getting shot at).
But she is Little Amsterdam. Pretty much anything goes in Amsterdam. That's how she gets that name. She's out of place in Hicksville, where illiterate, uneducated, lazy white men try to find their power/pride in their color of their skin and control of minorities and women.
She's screwing the sheriff for protection of the brown man she loves. She built a bridge. Bridges are a sign of peace to unite one side with the other. So are olives (branches). Olives in this case are her tits. She's not getting any pleasure out of sex with the sheriff, so her olives are cold pressed.
After that it's a little unclear. Somebody was killed. I don't know if it was Little Amsterdam or her brown man or both or the sheriff or someone else. And I'm not sure who did the killing. Those lines can all be taken different ways.
Little Amsterdam shut down today. They buried her with a butter bean bouquet. - This could mean she shut down because she's dead or she shut down her emotions and screwing people to protect her man, or she doesn't act like she's in Amsterdam anymore and has conformed to the white southern ways.
And the Sheriff now can't ride away like he said into the sunset - Either he's the one that's shot or he is in prison because he shot the brown man, or somebody else shot the brown man and he is getting the blame for it.
And I won't say that he shouldna pay but Momma, it wasn't my bullet - Well this could be the sheriff saying the brown man got what he ultimately deserved, if it was the brown man who was the one who was shot. He only restrained from giving him what he deserved because he was being bribed by Little Amsterdam's goodies, but always believed that he should pay for having that white woman. But he's telling Little Amsterdam, otherwise referred to as Momma, that it wasn't his bullet, i.e. he held up to his end of their bargain. OR, perhaps the sheriff was shot, and Little Amsterdam is saying he deserved to get shot, but it wasn't her bullet. OR, somebody came after the brown man and Little Amsterdam shot that guy, then maybe she got shot. Lots of possibilities in a situation like that. And often in small southern towns the wrong person gets blamed for a crime. It wasn't my bullet...
A more interesting take (and sadder) is Little Amsterdam's spirit and fight was broken, and she had to give up her brown man, and she eventually caved from the pressure, into marrying a white man. This shut her emotions down and her performance of acting like it was Amsterdam. She didn't die, but was in effect buried by a butter bean (color of a white man) bouquet (marriage). And the sheriff not being able to ride off into the sunset, could be, he won't be killing the brown man now (followed by the riding off into the sunset as old western movies did after the killing was over). This could explain the round and a round and a round I go...This time for keeps.
The possibilities in a situation like this are endless and as usual Tori does her outstanding writing to both give you the story and to make it your own. Love her.