The dialog form of the lyric is very much like the original Willie O' Winsbury version as recorded by Sweeney's Men that Richard Thompson adapted with his own lyric.
The first four lines (chorus) are the 2 deceased speaking to the survivors (the Band, and perhaps all roving minstrels who rise for the moon and risk their lives on the winding road).
The next 2 lines are the survivors asking Martin the drummer if he will return to see his drums.
And will you never return to see
Your bruised and beaten sons?
He answers.
"Oh, I would, I would, if welcome I were
For they loathe me, every one"
They loathe him since he's beaten them so regularly.
The rest of the lines are for the seamstress. The dead sleep along side each other.
The north wind beckons the survivors to take up the road again.
The dialog form of the lyric is very much like the original Willie O' Winsbury version as recorded by Sweeney's Men that Richard Thompson adapted with his own lyric.
The first four lines (chorus) are the 2 deceased speaking to the survivors (the Band, and perhaps all roving minstrels who rise for the moon and risk their lives on the winding road).
The next 2 lines are the survivors asking Martin the drummer if he will return to see his drums.
And will you never return to see Your bruised and beaten sons?
He answers.
"Oh, I would, I would, if welcome I were For they loathe me, every one"
The rest of the lines are for the seamstress. The dead sleep along side each other.
The north wind beckons the survivors to take up the road again.