Yon Two Crows Lyrics

Lyric discussion by hardlikker12 

Cover art for Yon Two Crows lyrics by Mark Knopfler

An amazing song both lyrically and musically. The lyrics seem ambiguous as in a very melancholy type poem. No idea really. Musically it's quite unique since the main hook isn't played until halfway through the song.

@hardlikker12 Well, the singer is a sheep farmer, sheltering from the rain under the eaves of some little outbuilding with his dog (who thinks his master is a wizard, his shepherd's crook a magic stick). It's a hard life, maybe a bad choice ("What made you think there'd be a livin' in sheep?" he asks himself twice), but he's not giving up. He can work as hard as any two men, and drink as much as three. That's not really sheep-dip in his flask - probably whiskey.

@hardlikker12 Oh, and the shepherd toasts "the clearing skies" and the two crows ("carrion spies"), and proposes that they look out for each other. If they can scavenge a living, so can he. Being visited by a pair of crows or ravens carries a heavy weight symbolically, usually indicating change, transformation (as do the clearing skies; Google that and make what you will of it!