I'm very well aware the song is a fable, and it's a powerfully emotional one. Lambert and Potter did a fine job of marrying the lyrics to a melody suitable to the passion of their lyrics.
But besides being shamelessly manipulative, the moral hangs by one skinny thread:
The Mountain People are complete idiots.
Let us get this straight: Your valley counterparts are psychos propelled by avarice to slaughter for fortune. The sum total of the Mountain People's "treasure" is a big ol' rock that reads "Peace On Earth" on the bottom or inscribed in the earth.
Now, setting aside questions like...
"Why did they feel the need to hide the inscription under a rock? Who exactly was going to steal it?"
"Why couldn't they just carve it into the rock itself, or paint it all over their houses- Hell, blaze the slogan on your t-shirts!"
... why did they play coy with a group of angry people who were "Asking for the buried treasure; Tons of gold for which they'd kill"?
Did they have a DEATH WISH? A MARTYR COMPLEX?
It seems to me that all they had to do was let the Valley People come up the hill, turn over the rock and say, "That's it. That's the treasure." Then they could let the Valley People search to their hearts' content- yeah, out of line and invasive, but the alternative was the slaughter of their village.
SO- THE "REAL" MORAL OF THE STORY IS THIS:
Don't play coy with psychos.
@BurningOldSage Sorry, mr. Sage, but if they had showed the up-turned rock, as you pointed out, they wouldn't have believed them... and instead of looking, they would have tortured all alive to tell "where it was moved to" ... NO, the story is true, an empty victory and proof the valley will never be satisfied... "give a foot, they'll demand both arms"
@BurningOldSage Sorry, mr. Sage, but if they had showed the up-turned rock, as you pointed out, they wouldn't have believed them... and instead of looking, they would have tortured all alive to tell "where it was moved to" ... NO, the story is true, an empty victory and proof the valley will never be satisfied... "give a foot, they'll demand both arms"
@BurningOldSage gaswhiz-
You have no clue.
You call Tony an idiot because you BELIEVE the Dennis Lambert that wrote this song is the same Evangelical Catholic Deacon Dennis Lambert.
He is not.
On top of that Deacon Dennis Lambert didn't become a deacon until 2004. FCS, pal.
Your insight is as false as your knowledge.
@BurningOldSage gaswhiz-
You have no clue.
You call Tony an idiot because you BELIEVE the Dennis Lambert that wrote this song is the same Evangelical Catholic Deacon Dennis Lambert.
He is not.
On top of that Deacon Dennis Lambert didn't become a deacon until 2004. FCS, pal.
Your insight is as false as your knowledge.
I'm very well aware the song is a fable, and it's a powerfully emotional one. Lambert and Potter did a fine job of marrying the lyrics to a melody suitable to the passion of their lyrics.
But besides being shamelessly manipulative, the moral hangs by one skinny thread: The Mountain People are complete idiots. Let us get this straight: Your valley counterparts are psychos propelled by avarice to slaughter for fortune. The sum total of the Mountain People's "treasure" is a big ol' rock that reads "Peace On Earth" on the bottom or inscribed in the earth. Now, setting aside questions like...
It seems to me that all they had to do was let the Valley People come up the hill, turn over the rock and say, "That's it. That's the treasure." Then they could let the Valley People search to their hearts' content- yeah, out of line and invasive, but the alternative was the slaughter of their village. SO- THE "REAL" MORAL OF THE STORY IS THIS: Don't play coy with psychos.
@BurningOldSage Sorry, mr. Sage, but if they had showed the up-turned rock, as you pointed out, they wouldn't have believed them... and instead of looking, they would have tortured all alive to tell "where it was moved to" ... NO, the story is true, an empty victory and proof the valley will never be satisfied... "give a foot, they'll demand both arms"
@BurningOldSage Sorry, mr. Sage, but if they had showed the up-turned rock, as you pointed out, they wouldn't have believed them... and instead of looking, they would have tortured all alive to tell "where it was moved to" ... NO, the story is true, an empty victory and proof the valley will never be satisfied... "give a foot, they'll demand both arms"
@BurningOldSage gaswhiz- You have no clue. You call Tony an idiot because you BELIEVE the Dennis Lambert that wrote this song is the same Evangelical Catholic Deacon Dennis Lambert. He is not. On top of that Deacon Dennis Lambert didn't become a deacon until 2004. FCS, pal. Your insight is as false as your knowledge.
@BurningOldSage gaswhiz- You have no clue. You call Tony an idiot because you BELIEVE the Dennis Lambert that wrote this song is the same Evangelical Catholic Deacon Dennis Lambert. He is not. On top of that Deacon Dennis Lambert didn't become a deacon until 2004. FCS, pal. Your insight is as false as your knowledge.