I have a feeling that, and just a feeling as I haven’t had the time to give it a proper breakdown, that considering Frank’s affinity with folklore, literature and all things history, that there may be a hint of influence from the story of The Pedlar of Swaffham in this song.
I don’t think this is where the origin of the tale begins either but the most recent rendition of this tale is through the 1988 novel The Alchemist if you’re interested.
This story loosely goes: A Pedlar from Swaffham, Norfolk has a recurrent dream where he is told that he will find great wealth at London Bridge, he travels to the bridge and spends three unfruitful days in search of it until a shopkeeper confronts him out of curiosity. The pedlar explains and the shopkeeper replies, “why I have had a similar dream of a great treasure buried in the garden of a pedlar’s house but I know this is just a dream and I am wiser than you to just take off on a whim in search of it”. Naturally the Pedlar returns home, digs to find the riches and the rest is history…
“Sometimes the things you need are right back where you started from…”
I’ve unjustly paraphrased the tale but it’s much too intricate too fully expand upon in here. And likely not too tightly tied back to the lyrics within this song but moreso in it’s premise and metaphor.
It’s a powerful piece, rich with allegory just like the story of the fisher king is which is also worth looking into.
I have a feeling that, and just a feeling as I haven’t had the time to give it a proper breakdown, that considering Frank’s affinity with folklore, literature and all things history, that there may be a hint of influence from the story of The Pedlar of Swaffham in this song. I don’t think this is where the origin of the tale begins either but the most recent rendition of this tale is through the 1988 novel The Alchemist if you’re interested. This story loosely goes: A Pedlar from Swaffham, Norfolk has a recurrent dream where he is told that he will find great wealth at London Bridge, he travels to the bridge and spends three unfruitful days in search of it until a shopkeeper confronts him out of curiosity. The pedlar explains and the shopkeeper replies, “why I have had a similar dream of a great treasure buried in the garden of a pedlar’s house but I know this is just a dream and I am wiser than you to just take off on a whim in search of it”. Naturally the Pedlar returns home, digs to find the riches and the rest is history…
“Sometimes the things you need are right back where you started from…”
I’ve unjustly paraphrased the tale but it’s much too intricate too fully expand upon in here. And likely not too tightly tied back to the lyrics within this song but moreso in it’s premise and metaphor.
It’s a powerful piece, rich with allegory just like the story of the fisher king is which is also worth looking into.
[Edit: Spelling mistake]