Romero got married on the fifth of July
In our Lady of Immaculate Dawn
Could have got married in the revival man's tent
But there ain't no reviving what's gone
Slipped like a shadow from the family he made
In a little white house by the woods
Dropped the kids at the mission, with a rose for the virgin
She knew he was gone for good
It's a long way to Heaven, it's closer to Harrisburg
And that's still a long way from the place where we are
And if evil exists its a pair of train tracks
And the devil is a railroad car
Could have stayed somewhere but the train tracks kept going
And it seems like they always left soon
and the wolves that he ran with they moaned low and painful
sang sad misery's to the moon
Rose at the altar withered and wilted
Romero sank into a dream
He didn't make Heaven, he didn't make Harrisburg
He died in a hole in between
Some say that man is the root of all evil
Others say God's a drunkard for pain
Me I believe that the Garden of Eden
Was burned to make way for a train
In our Lady of Immaculate Dawn
Could have got married in the revival man's tent
But there ain't no reviving what's gone
Slipped like a shadow from the family he made
In a little white house by the woods
Dropped the kids at the mission, with a rose for the virgin
She knew he was gone for good
It's a long way to Heaven, it's closer to Harrisburg
And that's still a long way from the place where we are
And if evil exists its a pair of train tracks
And the devil is a railroad car
Could have stayed somewhere but the train tracks kept going
And it seems like they always left soon
and the wolves that he ran with they moaned low and painful
sang sad misery's to the moon
Rose at the altar withered and wilted
Romero sank into a dream
He didn't make Heaven, he didn't make Harrisburg
He died in a hole in between
Some say that man is the root of all evil
Others say God's a drunkard for pain
Me I believe that the Garden of Eden
Was burned to make way for a train
Lyrics submitted by geekusa, edited by lildave151
Harrisburg Lyrics as written by Josh Ritter
Lyrics © DUCHAMP, INC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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But yes, the industrial revolution and the railroad are obviously important, as a metaphor for movement in the most negative sense, i,e, abandonment. I personally see it as a pretty straightforward song about abandonment and fleeing responsibility. I'm guessing Harrisburg represents a sort of industrial 'hell'- the terminus of the railroad, which is a 'modern' path to hell. It's the old 'iron horse' vision of the trains and the railroad, as percieved by American Indians- you know, scary metal satan coming to destroy the lush paradise that used to be the American West (aka the Garden of Eden). And all that is just a vehicle (literally! hardy har) to illustrate the man's abandonment of his family and put it into this sort of huge parallel historical context.
In that sense it's reminiscent of the English ballad 'The Dalesman's litany', which was set during the glory days of the Industrial revolution and is sort of a plea for god to deliver the narrator from 'Hull and Halifax and Hell' modern cities where 'furnaces thrust out tongues of fire' etc etc. Except that that has a happy ending, and 'Harrisburg' definitely doesn't!
displacing thousands upon thousands of people and shaking the very foundations of Western Civilization. In particular, the railroad revolutionized transportation - especially in the sprawling United States.
"Harrisburg" is the story of Romero, an Italian immigrant, possibly second generation. Even in three verses he is subtly characterized - he's a bit of a rebel, though in the beginning he still respects his Catholic religion and heritage. He was married in "Our Lady of Immaculate Dawn" though he "could have got married in the revival man's tent." His bride, obviously, may have preferred being married in that tent - she was most likely a Protestant. But the fact that they were married in a Catholic service is an indicator of his dominant, alpha male personality. This, along with other easily imagined incidents, sowed the seeds of strife in the young couple's life, and eventually bore fruit. Romero, always looking for something more, abandoned
his family and his tradition, symbolized by leaving a "rose for the Virgin".
Where did he go? Not to Harrisburg, the most industrialized city in the northeastern United States, but West with the Pennsylvania Railroad. Like many Italian immigrants of the time, he was most likely from the rural southern areas of the country - poor, eager for opportunities to make his way
in a new land.
Life building the tracks was not enough for Romero. Perhaps his co-workers, Irish Catholic immigrants, reminded him of the heritage he had rejected. Like the tracks themselves, Romero "kept going", drifting from one place and job to the next. He may have gone a little wild, or become a little lonely ("wolves that he ran with", "sang sad miseries to the moon").
As he fell farther and farther away from his religion, symbolized by the rose that "withered and wilted", Romero may have "sank into a dream" induced by alcohol. But most tragically, he stopped believing. He no longer believed he could "make" Heaven because he didn't believe in Heaven or Hell but rather was left with only "a hole in between" - the void that accompanies loss of faith. He vacillates between blaming God, calling him a "drunkard for pain" and blaming himself ("man is the root of all evil"). Finally, he concludes that "the Garden of Eden was burned to make way for a train." This is a difficult phrase to decode without a further look
into the chorus.
"If evil exists, it's a pair of train tracks," Romero says. It's easy to see that he faults industrialization, represented by the rails, with most of the problems that have befallen him. They tempted him, along with many others, West and away from his family, his foundation, and his values. They also drew him into the previously unexplored lands of doubt.
"If" evil exists - Romero begins to question the basic facts he's believed all his life. The Garden of Eden was the only place where man walked with God - the only time when the human and divine had no need of a priest or intercessor to commune. In a cynical statement, Romero caustically proposes that what destroyed the relationship between God and Man was the evils of this world - the "train" the Devil is a part of.
hahahaha so funny. YaleChik do you actually think that you are interpreting the song? It sounds more like you have written a little short story loosely based on Josh Ritter's Harrisburg. Not a bad one though!
People often read into lyrics a little too much when they attempt to dissect their meaning but you took it to a whole new level! had me cracking up the entire time i was reading it :)
I mean, it not be so specific, but it' sprobably somewhere in that ballpark. Definitely shadows of the industrial revolution, the railroads going west (western migration being a theme on this album) broken families, broken faith.
I mean, it not be so specific, but it' sprobably somewhere in that ballpark. Definitely shadows of the industrial revolution, the railroads going west (western migration being a theme on this album) broken families, broken faith.
An excellent, well thought out interpretation of this song. I won't try to improve it.
I am struck by the STARK difference between Harrisburg and another folk classic - Canadian Railroad Trilogy by Gordon Lightfoot.
Lightfoot was commissioned by the Canadaian Broadcast Company to make a tune to mark Canada's centennial. Though he remarks on the hardships of the "navvies", who built the railroad, he is extolling the Industrial Revolution when he sings:
"But time has no beginnings and hist'ry has no bounds
As to this verdant country they came from all around
They sailed upon her waterways and they walked the forests tall
Built the mines the mills and the factories for the good of us all"
Back to Josh Ritter:
Harrisburg reminds me of Jim Jarmusch's 'Dead Man', as William Blake's voyage by train, complete with buffalo slaughter, portend the death of the Country's spirit due to modernization.
The song is almost definitely historical, Harrisburg isn't exactly the type of place you write a song about unless it has some sort of historical reference. Also he had a self-created major in college titled "American History Through Narrative Folk Music" so this song is probably historic.
While I think YaleChick85 is right the song could also be related to the underground rail road/ slavery.
Harrisburg is far enough away from the mason dixon line and across the Susquehanna that it was a relatively large stop on the underground rail road.
I like the fact that the writer of this song wrote the lyric "*IF* evil exists", because this leaves open the possibility that Romero is not evil. This makes Romero a much more sympathetic, nuanced, and multi-dimensional character.