Gold of Sunshine- discussing Dead lyrics

[Pink11]

“Perchance to dream…”
That makes sense… I thought the words were
“Sleeping every chance to dream..” which makes no sense at all .. no wonder I do not understand this song…
As Rosanna Rosanna danna would say..
Nevermind.

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[Tone Weaver]

Good choice Pink11
I’m not the one to over think lyrics, but here ya go

Althea, these lyrics I always found intriguing

You may be the fate of Ophelia
Sleeping and perchance to dream -
Honest to the point of recklessness
Self centered to the extreme

"Ophelia Sleeping and perchance to dream" is a reference to Hamlet.

A challenging "Jeopardy " category for most.

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A challenging "Jeopardy " category for most.
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What is Shakespeare?

[I'llflyaway]

Thanks for the good feedback Illflyaway.
Without thinking too much about it, I guess I see Must’ve been the Roses as a commentary on the fleeting nature of youth I’ll check out that book by Faulkner. I think Hunter said he liked that song a lot.

I think you are right, the fleeting nature of youth and even life is part of it but I think Hunter gets much darker in this case. I believe he is tapping into the American or even Southern Gothic tradition as personified by folks like Faulkner.

Interesting references to Faulkner in IMHBTR. In Roses it is ten years that the narrator is watching "the waves blow ship in from the sea" wondering about good company. In A Rose for Emily, it is ten years from the time of the mysterious disappearance of her suitor, Homer Bannon, and the time of Emily's funeral when the the townsfolk are finally able to enter her house.

Also when they finally break into her upstairs locked bedroom, the rose- coloured window blinds are described as faded which is definately symbolic of decay and faded youth or vitality. In IMHBTR, it is Annie's ribbons which are described as faded which I think Hunter uses to convey the same idea.

The real clues, I think, come in Hunter's lyrics: ( I'm paraphrasing here)

"If I tell another what your own lips told to me
Lay me down 'neath the roses till my eyes no longer see"

Here roses symbolize death perhaps a funeral arrangement.

And once the stranger in the song enters the narrators house and closes the door:

"Faded is the crimson from the ribbons that she wore
And it's strange how noone comes round here no more"

Emily is the last of a fallen aristocratic southern family. Her father could simply not understand that after the civil war the era of the Antebellum South had passed and his era of privilege and glory had would never come back. Emily is a metaphor for the decay that sets in when it is impossible to adapt to change or to accept loss. In Emily's case her madness is a symptom of not being able to let go or change no matter how she tried. Her fate was sealed by privilege and the circumstance of her heritage.

In It Must Have Been the Roses, I think Annie must have been the love of the narrators life and when she lay her head down In the roses, probably still quite young from the ribbons in her long brown hair...

He just could not leave her there.

I wonder if we are trapped in the same rigidity and inability to accept change today and if that is not part of some of the madness in the world today. Perhaps I'm taking the metaphor too far.

Sometimes I play this to people just to see if they get it. My own perverse sense of humour.

[Nycdave]

Well written tunes about shoes & weather:

“ I lost my boots in transit babe
A pile of smoking leather
Nailed a retread to my feet
and prayed for better weather.”

“Good to know you got shoes to wear, when you find the floor
Why hold out for more.”

[SunshineSue]

Well written tunes about shoes & weather:

“ I lost my boots in transit babe
A pile of smoking leather
Nailed a retread to my feet
and prayed for better weather.”

I can tell I tend to be too literal when it comes to lyrics, because though this song is a favorite, the "nailed a retread to my feet" always bothered me a bit, makes me go "ouch!". But the verse as a whole paints such a great picture, I have to love it!

[Pink11]

Thanks for the good feedback Illflyaway.
Without thinking too much about it, I guess I see Must’ve been the Roses as a commentary on the fleeting nature of youth I’ll check out that book by Faulkner. I think Hunter said he liked that song a lot.

I think you are right, the fleeting nature of youth and even life is part of it but I think Hunter gets much darker in this case. I believe he is tapping into the American or even Southern Gothic tradition as personified by folks like Faulkner.

Interesting references to Faulkner in IMHBTR. In Roses it is ten years that the narrator is watching "the waves blow ship in from the sea" wondering about good company. In A Rose for Emily, it is ten years from the time of the mysterious disappearance of her suitor, Homer Bannon, and the time of Emily's funeral when the the townsfolk are finally able to enter her house.

Also when they finally break into her upstairs locked bedroom, the rose- coloured window blinds are described as faded which is definately symbolic of decay and faded youth or vitality. In IMHBTR, it is Annie's ribbons which are described as faded which I think Hunter uses to convey the same idea.

The real clues, I think, come in Hunter's lyrics: ( I'm paraphrasing here)

"If I tell another what your own lips told to me
Lay me down 'neath the roses till my eyes no longer see"

Here roses symbolize death perhaps a funeral arrangement.

And once the stranger in the song enters the narrators house and closes the door:

"Faded is the crimson from the ribbons that she wore
And it's strange how noone comes round here no more"

Emily is the last of a fallen aristocratic southern family. Her father could simply not understand that after the civil war the era of the Antebellum South had passed and his era of privilege and glory had would never come back. Emily is a metaphor for the decay that sets in when it is impossible to adapt to change or to accept loss. In Emily's case her madness is a symptom of not being able to let go or change no matter how she tried. Her fate was sealed by privilege and the circumstance of her heritage.

In It Must Have Been the Roses, I think Annie must have been the love of the narrators life and when she lay her head down In the roses, probably still quite young from the ribbons in her long brown hair...

He just could not leave her there.

I wonder if we are trapped in the same rigidity and inability to accept change today and if that is not part of some of the madness in the world today. Perhaps I'm taking the metaphor too far.

Sometimes I play this to people just to see if they get it. My own perverse sense of humour.

You got me thinking more about this song..
I think you are right about the reference to roses and death- maybe Annie is dead….
Anyway, it got me thinking of a favorite poem by Poe:

It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea:
But we loved with a love that was more than love—
I and my Annabel Lee;
With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
Coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsman came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in heaven,
Went envying her and me—
Yes!—that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we—
Of many far wiser than we—
And neither the angels in heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee:

For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling—my darling—my life and my bride,
In her sepulchre there by the sea,
In her tomb by the sounding sea.

From The Works of the Late Edgar Allan Poe, vol. II, 1850

[I'llflyaway]

You got me thinking more about this song..
I think you are right about the reference to roses and death- maybe Annie is dead….
Anyway, it got me thinking of a favorite poem by Poe:

It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea:
But we loved with a love that was more than love—
I and my Annabel Lee;
With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
Coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsman came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in heaven,
Went envying her and me—
Yes!—that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we—
Of many far wiser than we—
And neither the angels in heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee:

For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling—my darling—my life and my bride,
In her sepulchre there by the sea,
In her tomb by the sounding sea.

From The Works of the Late Edgar Allan Poe, vol. II, 1850

Nice! I'd never read that one before. Poe was another strange cat wasn't he?

I'm sensing a theme here.