--Correction: "For I am an engine and I'm rolling on"
--Interpretation:
This song is about the fleeting nature of beauty.
"For I am an engine and I'm rolling on
Through endless revisions to state what I mean
For sweetness alone who flew out through the window
And landed back home in a garden of green"
This singer is in a tongue-tied, in a state of disbelief after a loved one leaves him. He refers to her simply as "sweetness". It could be a woman. It could also be a more general embodiment of the concept of beauty.
"You're riding alone in the back of a steamer
And steaming yourself in the warm shower spray
And water rolls on off the round captain's belly
Who's talking to tigers from his cafeteria tray"
His love is leaving and doing so in a beautiful way.
NMH lyrics create wonderful imagery. It's probably not useful to try too hard to tie this verse to the theme of the song. Just enjoy the pictures it puts in you're head.
"And sweet babies cry for the cool taste of milking
That milky delight that invited us all
And if there's a taste in this life more inviting
Then wake up your windows and watch as those sweet babies crawl away"
There are 2 parallels between this and the first verse.
1) "Sweet babies" and "Sweetness". Babies grow up. At first, they like the "cool taste of milking", but as toddlers, they give it up and crawl away. They move on to "a taste more inviting" and move forward in life. This explains the singer's loved one left as well. She had to fly away to a better place.
2) "Sweetness alone flew out through the window" and "Wake up you're windows". In the first verse, the singer doesn't know how to feel about his loved one leaving. In the last verse, he has come to terms with it. He even instructs the listener to open our windows and let beauty leave us.
This is because the nature of beauty is fleeting. We too were once babies who crawled away from our mother's milk for a taste more inviting.
If we want to move forward and leave things behind (and we do), we must accept that sweetness will leave us as well. All things change.
--Correction: "For I am an engine and I'm rolling on"
--Interpretation:
This song is about the fleeting nature of beauty.
"For I am an engine and I'm rolling on Through endless revisions to state what I mean For sweetness alone who flew out through the window And landed back home in a garden of green"
This singer is in a tongue-tied, in a state of disbelief after a loved one leaves him. He refers to her simply as "sweetness". It could be a woman. It could also be a more general embodiment of the concept of beauty.
"You're riding alone in the back of a steamer And steaming yourself in the warm shower spray And water rolls on off the round captain's belly Who's talking to tigers from his cafeteria tray"
His love is leaving and doing so in a beautiful way.
NMH lyrics create wonderful imagery. It's probably not useful to try too hard to tie this verse to the theme of the song. Just enjoy the pictures it puts in you're head.
"And sweet babies cry for the cool taste of milking That milky delight that invited us all And if there's a taste in this life more inviting Then wake up your windows and watch as those sweet babies crawl away"
There are 2 parallels between this and the first verse.
1) "Sweet babies" and "Sweetness". Babies grow up. At first, they like the "cool taste of milking", but as toddlers, they give it up and crawl away. They move on to "a taste more inviting" and move forward in life. This explains the singer's loved one left as well. She had to fly away to a better place.
2) "Sweetness alone flew out through the window" and "Wake up you're windows". In the first verse, the singer doesn't know how to feel about his loved one leaving. In the last verse, he has come to terms with it. He even instructs the listener to open our windows and let beauty leave us.
This is because the nature of beauty is fleeting. We too were once babies who crawled away from our mother's milk for a taste more inviting.
If we want to move forward and leave things behind (and we do), we must accept that sweetness will leave us as well. All things change.
Well, I think I've had enough beer for one night.