Thank you voodoochilde for your comments and for summarizing the story.
A story so deceptively simple, told kind of unemotionally, yet it has made me cry when I heard it and sometimes even when I talk about it.
The reason I think--Bruce leaves so much unsaid, but the power of the song lies in imagining what goes through Janey's mind as she decides about letting her son drown...or getting back to living.
Many of us have gone through moments like that, although probably less dramatic.
But we faced a similar dilemma--do you just give up and say "this part of my life isn't worth it...it's too hard," or do you say, "I made a bad mistake but I need to fucking deal with it and its consequences."
A long while back I watched a movie, The Outlaw Josey Wales, about a guy who had killed maybe dozens of people in the Civil War and the first few years afterwards. He finally gets a chance to live in peace with some people he met later and a woman he loves. Someone, I forget who, has a line, "It shall be life."
The ring and the cash, I think, represent the positive inside us that keeps us caring and loving and trying to do our best for ourselves and those we care about. The key is getting in touch with that part of ourselves.
Thank you voodoochilde for your comments and for summarizing the story. A story so deceptively simple, told kind of unemotionally, yet it has made me cry when I heard it and sometimes even when I talk about it. The reason I think--Bruce leaves so much unsaid, but the power of the song lies in imagining what goes through Janey's mind as she decides about letting her son drown...or getting back to living. Many of us have gone through moments like that, although probably less dramatic.
But we faced a similar dilemma--do you just give up and say "this part of my life isn't worth it...it's too hard," or do you say, "I made a bad mistake but I need to fucking deal with it and its consequences." A long while back I watched a movie, The Outlaw Josey Wales, about a guy who had killed maybe dozens of people in the Civil War and the first few years afterwards. He finally gets a chance to live in peace with some people he met later and a woman he loves. Someone, I forget who, has a line, "It shall be life." The ring and the cash, I think, represent the positive inside us that keeps us caring and loving and trying to do our best for ourselves and those we care about. The key is getting in touch with that part of ourselves.