The song is so open and non-specific, there could be 1000 different readings of it, depending on the person. It's the non-specificity and the use of elemental words like water, well, desert, etc., that contribute to a spiritual, dreamy feel. It's a feel very similar to other Southern California songs of the time.
As though part of a dance, two people come to the well every morning to draw water, which with the sun is the source of life on earth. They don't speak perhaps because they don't know each other, except for this daily, early-morning visit. Or perhaps they don't speak the same language. But in drawing water, they participate in a sacred, even though mundane, ritual that is far older than any religion. Both stare at the mountains, perhaps reading the season from the amount of snow, or just reaffirming that it is there as a permanent fixture of their lives.
It's a primitive place if you have to draw your own water. But the writer has made a long trip to come to this simpler place. Like many a religious figure, he has had to cross the desert to get there. But instead of a revelation, he goes backwards to what is already known, simpler, more primitive rhythms that are tied to nature, away from the frantic, manufactured complexity of where his country has gone. Simplicity. Growing food and watching your children run.
The picture of our lady of the well is reminiscent of paintings of pagan goddesses or patron saints. It's the gift he gives to the "people of the sun" before he returns home.
The cruel and senseless hand that passes over the country isn't a person or thing. It's a malign spirit that is destructive. The opposite of the God of Genesis who hovered over the waters in an act of creation.
Although he would like to stay and watch the children run, and commit himself to the simpler life where people have to retrieve their own water and grow there own food, he feels compelled to return to "the brave ones" back home who resist the cruel and senseless hand. Instead of the peace of life that is run by the rhythms of the sun and the splash of the water bucket, he conscience tells him he has to go home.
@thomas1005 I agree with your insightful interpretation of this song but I wanted to add an observation that I felt is important to it's essence. I believe that the "cruel and senseless hand" that he is referring to is a reference to "the invisible hand" that the economist Adam Smith used to refer to the "unseen forces that move the free market economy" in his famous book "The Wealth of Nations" and how this trend was having a negative effect on the working poor and middle class by favoring corporations and moneyed interests. He had escaped to...
@thomas1005 I agree with your insightful interpretation of this song but I wanted to add an observation that I felt is important to it's essence. I believe that the "cruel and senseless hand" that he is referring to is a reference to "the invisible hand" that the economist Adam Smith used to refer to the "unseen forces that move the free market economy" in his famous book "The Wealth of Nations" and how this trend was having a negative effect on the working poor and middle class by favoring corporations and moneyed interests. He had escaped to a simpler life but realized that he had to go back and fight the good fight. My two cents....
The song is so open and non-specific, there could be 1000 different readings of it, depending on the person. It's the non-specificity and the use of elemental words like water, well, desert, etc., that contribute to a spiritual, dreamy feel. It's a feel very similar to other Southern California songs of the time.
As though part of a dance, two people come to the well every morning to draw water, which with the sun is the source of life on earth. They don't speak perhaps because they don't know each other, except for this daily, early-morning visit. Or perhaps they don't speak the same language. But in drawing water, they participate in a sacred, even though mundane, ritual that is far older than any religion. Both stare at the mountains, perhaps reading the season from the amount of snow, or just reaffirming that it is there as a permanent fixture of their lives.
It's a primitive place if you have to draw your own water. But the writer has made a long trip to come to this simpler place. Like many a religious figure, he has had to cross the desert to get there. But instead of a revelation, he goes backwards to what is already known, simpler, more primitive rhythms that are tied to nature, away from the frantic, manufactured complexity of where his country has gone. Simplicity. Growing food and watching your children run.
The picture of our lady of the well is reminiscent of paintings of pagan goddesses or patron saints. It's the gift he gives to the "people of the sun" before he returns home.
The cruel and senseless hand that passes over the country isn't a person or thing. It's a malign spirit that is destructive. The opposite of the God of Genesis who hovered over the waters in an act of creation.
Although he would like to stay and watch the children run, and commit himself to the simpler life where people have to retrieve their own water and grow there own food, he feels compelled to return to "the brave ones" back home who resist the cruel and senseless hand. Instead of the peace of life that is run by the rhythms of the sun and the splash of the water bucket, he conscience tells him he has to go home.
@thomas1005 I agree with your insightful interpretation of this song but I wanted to add an observation that I felt is important to it's essence. I believe that the "cruel and senseless hand" that he is referring to is a reference to "the invisible hand" that the economist Adam Smith used to refer to the "unseen forces that move the free market economy" in his famous book "The Wealth of Nations" and how this trend was having a negative effect on the working poor and middle class by favoring corporations and moneyed interests. He had escaped to...
@thomas1005 I agree with your insightful interpretation of this song but I wanted to add an observation that I felt is important to it's essence. I believe that the "cruel and senseless hand" that he is referring to is a reference to "the invisible hand" that the economist Adam Smith used to refer to the "unseen forces that move the free market economy" in his famous book "The Wealth of Nations" and how this trend was having a negative effect on the working poor and middle class by favoring corporations and moneyed interests. He had escaped to a simpler life but realized that he had to go back and fight the good fight. My two cents....