Contrary to a number of comments, I don't think the song has anything to do about freedom or the hippie movement of the 1960s. Hartford was inspired by Dr Zhivago, which may be the greatest tragedy ever filmed. This should be clue number one.
To me the song speaks of the bigger than life realities that can ruin love, while the memory of that love does not utterly disappear. Sometimes love can resemble Romeo and Juliet, or like Zhivago, larger forces can forever separate someone from their beloved.
Some 35 years ago as a young man, I myself loved a girl very deeply, but it was a crippling fear of marriage that caused me to destroy it. This is the same girl who had been my muse whilst I had been in a rock band through high school and first year of college.
It took many years for me to understand my fear of marriage and why I would commit love suicide. Likely, it had to do with being taken from my Mother at a young age. Attachment issues, they say. Anyway, unbeknownst to me at the time, the relationship was ultimately doomed from the very beginning. I spent many years accumulating the reality of it all...forgiving myself, others, and destiny itself.
Anyway, like no other, this song speaks loudly to me of the things I have spoken above. Today, I am happily married now to a woman I dearly love. As far as the young woman grown older, I know she is happily married with a family, and I am very happy for that. My only regret is hurting her so badly so long ago, and with no apparent explanation on my part. From time to time, her memory bittersweetly comes up... gentle, or not so gentle on my mind.
Contrary to a number of comments, I don't think the song has anything to do about freedom or the hippie movement of the 1960s. Hartford was inspired by Dr Zhivago, which may be the greatest tragedy ever filmed. This should be clue number one.
To me the song speaks of the bigger than life realities that can ruin love, while the memory of that love does not utterly disappear. Sometimes love can resemble Romeo and Juliet, or like Zhivago, larger forces can forever separate someone from their beloved.
Some 35 years ago as a young man, I myself loved a girl very deeply, but it was a crippling fear of marriage that caused me to destroy it. This is the same girl who had been my muse whilst I had been in a rock band through high school and first year of college.
It took many years for me to understand my fear of marriage and why I would commit love suicide. Likely, it had to do with being taken from my Mother at a young age. Attachment issues, they say. Anyway, unbeknownst to me at the time, the relationship was ultimately doomed from the very beginning. I spent many years accumulating the reality of it all...forgiving myself, others, and destiny itself.
Anyway, like no other, this song speaks loudly to me of the things I have spoken above. Today, I am happily married now to a woman I dearly love. As far as the young woman grown older, I know she is happily married with a family, and I am very happy for that. My only regret is hurting her so badly so long ago, and with no apparent explanation on my part. From time to time, her memory bittersweetly comes up... gentle, or not so gentle on my mind.
[Edit: .]
@Dapperhead41 This is beautifully written. You should probably write a song like this yourself.
@Dapperhead41 This is beautifully written. You should probably write a song like this yourself.