Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 4:56 pm Posts: 19957 Location: Jenny Lewis' funbags
definately one of my favorite Neil songs. i listened to it before heading to work this morning, and its been running through my head all day:
Look out, Mama,
there's a white boat
comin' up the river
With a big red beacon,
and a flag,
and a man on the rail
I think you'd better call John,
'Cause it don't
look like they're here
to deliver the mail
And it's less than a mile away
I hope they didn't come to stay
It's got numbers on the side
and a gun
And it's makin' big waves.
Daddy's gone,
my brother's out hunting
in the mountains
Big John's been drinking
since the river took Emmy-Lou
So the powers that be
left me here
to do the thinkin'
And I just turned twenty-two
I was wonderin' what to do
And the closer they got,
The more those feelings grew.
Daddy's rifle in my hand
felt reassurin'
He told me,
Red means run, son,
numbers add up to nothin'
But when the first shot
hit the docks I saw it comin'
Raised my rifle to my eye
Never stopped to wonder why.
Then I saw black,
And my face splashed in the sky.
Shelter me from the powder
and the finger
Cover me with the thought
that pulled the trigger
Think of me
as one you'd never figured
Would fade away so young
With so much left undone
Remember me to my love,
I know I'll miss her.
You listen to the words to a song but dont always sit down and look at the meaning of the lyics. I always thought the song was about a young guy left at home while the other men werent around, left to take care of a impending threat. Which it is but after poring over the lyrics there seems to be a lot more going on there, and questions i want answered dammit! Like why is somebody coming up the river with guns blazing? What did this family do? And its a white boat with a Red beacon. Is it coast guard?
Also i never clued in that the kid dies. Looking at the line: "Then I saw black, And my face splashed in the sky"....That seems like a real gory description...or maybe he just fell in the water and im reading too much into it.
Anyways i dont usually get too hung up on lyrics but im kinda bored today and felt like sharing.
Great song, arguably my favorite Neil Young song. You absolutely HAVE to find some rockin' bootlegs of this song. They blow the studio version out of the water...well...like most Neil songs.
Anyhow, Neil wrote this song for Lynard Skynard, after Lynard Skynard told some good ole southern stories to Neil (I don't know dates). Technically, this was supposed to be a Skynard song, but Neil ended up adopting it. It's kind of strange to listen to it, but it's like a southern family fued song, song in a disjointed first person Neil Young style. And of course, Neil is from Canuckland, which adds some irony. Yet, it always seems like the quintisential Neil Young song.
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 1:14 am Posts: 37778 Location: OmaGOD!!! Gender: Male
Debate on the meaning of this song is a running joke over on the RustList. There are as many interpretations as there are Neil Young fans.
Some things I can tell you for sure though.
It wasn't written for Lynyrd Skynryd, as the song was largely composed as early as 1970, before Skynyrd existed. It was originally slated to appear on the secong Neil Young & Crazy Horse album (which never happened) under the title "Big Waves". Maybe we'll get to hear this version when the "Archives" are released.
If you can, you should get the version that was to appear on Neil's aborted Chrome Dreams album from 1976. This is solo acoustic and is much more intimate than the rockin electric versions most of us are familiar with.
As for the meaning, there is obviously a "southern" theme to the song. Some people have suggested that it takes place in the Civil War era, although I disagree. I think it is definitely a 20th century story.
The most interesting interpretation I ever read suggested that like many other of Neil's songs, it is a dreamy story that jumps around in times and places (like Cortez or Pocahontas). The parallels between the rural southern family in the story and the rural people of Vietnam being invaded by the modern world and fighting back to preserve their way of life. I really wish I could find the post where I first read that interpretation, I don't do it justice here.
Great song though.
--PunkDavid
_________________ Unfortunately, at the Dawning of the Age of Aquarius, the Flower Children jerked off and went back to sleep.
If you can, you should get the version that was to appear on Neil's aborted Chrome Dreams album from 1976. This is solo acoustic and is much more intimate than the rockin electric versions most of us are familiar with.
2) Powderfinger's genesis: If I'm not mistaken, Neil wrote this song (and Sedan Delivery in 1975) for the southern band Lynyrd Skynyrd. The story behind that might be interesting. It's quite possible that someone from LynSkyn told Neil a story about some event in the South, and Neil transposed it into a song, which, as Locator suggested, reads like a script. Now those of us who've seen Neil's movies or videos know how shaky his storylines can be. More than a good story, he's after a certain feel or mood much more often than not, even in a story-like song like Powderfinger. But Neil is so all over the map where his visual imagination is concerned, there's no way I'm going to guess what script he had in mind here. All we have are the words, and more important, the music, and here I agree with Paul *SR* Gase's insightful comments on the words being a set up for those great guitar workouts, which are the heart and soul of this song.
See, I kind of see this as a civil war song. The red flag being a confederate one. That's the first image that popped into my mind.
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 1:14 am Posts: 37778 Location: OmaGOD!!! Gender: Male
SuperNintendoChalmers wrote:
punkdavid wrote:
If you can, you should get the version that was to appear on Neil's aborted Chrome Dreams album from 1976. This is solo acoustic and is much more intimate than the rockin electric versions most of us are familiar with.
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 12:29 am Posts: 2014 Location: Atlanta, GA
Powderfinger is great. As already mentioned a lot better live. I have heard Neil do it twice now once with Crazy Horse and once on his friends tour.
One thing i have also found iteresting is i have heard some people say the kid in the song was not shot to death but he actually committed suicide...
Raised my rifle to my eye
Never stopped to wonder why.
Then I saw black,
And my face splashed in the sky.
They have said raising his rifle to his eye was meant to be right at his face not the scope to shoot. He never stopped to wonder why and of course he saw black and his last instance he saw his face tear away from his body that he just shot....
I kinda don't buy that but i thought i would throw it out there since i have read it a couple times.
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 4:56 pm Posts: 19957 Location: Jenny Lewis' funbags
LittleWing wrote:
Great song, arguably my favorite Neil Young song. You absolutely HAVE to find some rockin' bootlegs of this song. They blow the studio version out of the water...well...like most Neil songs.
Anyhow, Neil wrote this song for Lynard Skynard, after Lynard Skynard told some good ole southern stories to Neil (I don't know dates). Technically, this was supposed to be a Skynard song, but Neil ended up adopting it. It's kind of strange to listen to it, but it's like a southern family fued song, song in a disjointed first person Neil Young style. And of course, Neil is from Canuckland, which adds some irony. Yet, it always seems like the quintisential Neil Young song.
the 2 versions i have are live. ive never heard the studio version ...one from live rust and another album
Joined: Tue Oct 19, 2004 7:32 pm Posts: 358 Location: Philadelphia
Yeh great song. I was so happy when he played it during the encore of the Greendale show I saw last summer, it sounded amazing.
_________________ "Heard the roar of a wave that could drown the whole world,
Heard one hundred drummers whose hands were a-blazin',
Heard ten thousand whisperin' and nobody listenin',
Heard one person starve, I heard many people laughin'...."
-Bob Dylan
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his storylines can be. More than a good story, he's after a certain feel or mood much more often than not, even in a story-like song like Powderfinger. But Neil is so all over the map where his visual imagination is concerned, there's no way I'm going to guess what script he had in mind here. All we have are the words, and more important, the music, and here I agree with Paul *SR* Gase's insightful comments on the words being a set up for those great guitar workouts, which are the heart and soul of this song.
...one from live rust and another album