Song Lyrics

Anything ever become of it?

 

Not to mention Moses, Luke and the Judgment Day.

The one interpretation I thought seemed most reasonable was that the song is about a guy who tries to run away from his obligation -- The Weight -- to Fanny (his wife/fiancee/girlfriend) by leaving her to go to Nazareth (his hometown, perhaps?). But once he gets there, everyone he knows keeps putting more burdens on him -- Carmen leaves him with the Devil, Luke makes him take care of Anna Lee (who in this interpretation is a child) and Crazy Chester sticks him with Jack the dog. In the end, the weight gets so heavy that he realizes he can't run away from his obligations, and in fact should embrace them, and heads back to Fanny.

Again, that's one of several theories I've read, including some with a heavy Biblical/religious slant and even one that has to do with the Civil War.

Plus there are all sorts of explanations of things like the identity of Miss Moses, Crazy Chester, etc., and what cryptic phrases like ``I'll fix your rack'' mean.

 

"Dixie Chicken" by Little Feat, not that wuss Garth Brooks.

I heard "The Rainbow Connection" at a friend's funeral (little kids singing, not Kermit) and it affected me in ways few things ever have.

 

Same for me with Yesterday. Used to think of it as just a mopey, my-girl-left-me kinda deal. Then I heard it at the end of a funeral for a 13 year old girl who loved the Beatles and had a brain aneurysm during a swim meet, and yeah, I can't really listen to that song in public now.

 

Hotel California by The Eagles.

"Warm smell of clitoris"

"Rising up through the air"


Also.......One Of These Days by Pink Floyd

"One of these days, I'm gonna ..............................."

 

I posted this on another thread, but it works here as well...

I know about a man to whom I may be related, he's leatherman.
Died a long time ago in the 1880's...leatherman, leatherman.
Covered with leather, but it was tight.
Underneath the moon in the woods at night...

Makin' the rounds ten miles a day,
Once a month they'd spot him, here's what they'd say...
"Here he comes, he's a man of the land.
He's leatherman. Smile on his face, an axe in his pack.
He's leatherman."

Comes out of the caves once a day to be fed.
Wasn't known to say but "Thanks for the bread."

So modern day I walk my way, my jacket faded,
Just like a man of leather whom I may be related.

Rolled a cigarette, but when he asked for a light,
Appeared to be an animal, yet so polite.

Makin' the rounds ten miles a day.
Once a month they'd spot him and here's what they'd say...
"Here he comes, he's a man of the land, he's leatherman.
Smile on his face, an axe in his hand.
He's leatherman."

Shake his hand he's leatherman.
Bake some bread he's leatherman.
Shame he's dead. I saw his bed,
It's all that's left of leatherman.

Give me some skin, leatherman

 

This one's for BD77 ... we're with you.

Rush
"Everyday Glory"
"Counterparts"
1994

In the house where nobody laughs
And nobody sleeps
In the house where love lies dying
And the shadows creep
A little girl hides shaking
With her hands on her ears
Pushing back the tears
'Til the pain disappears

Mama says some ugly words
Daddy pounds the wall
They can fight about their little girl later
Right now they don't care at all

No matter what they say...
No matter what they say...
No matter what they say...
No matter what they say...

Everyday people
Everyday shame
Everyday promise shot down in flames
Everyday sunrise
Another everyday story
Rise from the ashes and blaze
In everyday glory

In the city where nobody smiles
And nobody dreams
In the city where desperation
Drives the bored to extremes
Just one spark of decency
Against a starless night
One glow of hope and dignity
A child can follow the light

No matter what they say...
No matter what they say...
No matter what they say...
No matter what they say...

Everyday people
Everyday shame
Everyday promise shot down in flames
Everyday sunrise
Another everyday story
Rise from the ashes and blaze
In everyday glory

If the future's looking dark
We're the ones who have to shine
If there's no one in control
We're the ones who draw the line
Though we live in trying times
We're the ones who have to try
Though we know that time has wings
We're the ones who have to fly...

 

Ain't it just like the night to play tricks when you're tryin' to be so quiet?
We sit here stranded, though we're all doin' our best to deny it
And Louise holds a handful of rain, temptin' you to defy it
Lights flicker from the opposite loft
In this room the heat pipes just cough
The country music station plays soft
But there's nothing, really nothing to turn off
Just Louise and her lover so entwined
And these visions of Johanna that conquer my mind

In the empty lot where the ladies play blindman's bluff with the key chain
And the all-night girls they whisper of escapades out on the "D" train
We can hear the night watchman click his flashlight
Ask himself if it's him or them that's really insane
Louise, she's all right, she's just near
She's delicate and seems like the mirror
But she just makes it all too concise and too clear
That Johanna's not here
The ghost of 'lectricity howls in the bones of her face
Where these visions of Johanna have now taken my place

Now, little boy lost, he takes himself so seriously
He brags of his misery, he likes to live dangerously
And when bringing her name up
He speaks of a farewell kiss to me
He's sure got a lotta gall to be so useless and all
Muttering small talk at the wall while I'm in the hall
How can I explain?
Oh, it's so hard to get on
And these visions of Johanna, they kept me up past the dawn

Inside the museums, Infinity goes up on trial
Voices echo this is what salvation must be like after a while
But Mona Lisa musta had the highway blues
You can tell by the way she smiles
See the primitive wallflower freeze
When the jelly-faced women all sneeze
Hear the one with the mustache say, "Jeeze
I can't find my knees"
Oh, jewels and binoculars hang from the head of the mule
(Ed. Note -- Wow. fb)
But these visions of Johanna, they make it all seem so cruel

The peddler now speaks to the countess who's pretending to care for him
Sayin', "Name me someone that's not a parasite and I'll go out and say a prayer for him"
But like Louise always says
"Ya can't look at much, can ya man?"
As she, herself, prepares for him
And Madonna, she still has not showed
We see this empty cage now corrode
Where her cape of the stage once had flowed
The fiddler, he now steps to the road
He writes ev'rything's been returned which was owed
On the back of the fish truck that loads
While my conscience explodes
The harmonicas play the skeleton keys and the rain
And these visions of Johanna are now all that remain
***

Also, in his autobiography, Levon Helm explains that "The Weight," while biblically freighted, is all about people they knew coming up in music. "Crazy Chester" was a guy he knew in West Helena. "Luke" was a guy who used to play with the Hawks.

 

You know that's not correct, right?