This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
I am an only child
Born of the wild
Riddled to spend my time
Defending my land
You are the only one
Born in the sun
Riddled to spend your time
Defending my plan
Dead dog on the highway
Median cats are growling at me
I turn my lights on brighter
I'm counting through the night ride
And it's one more life
(For the taker)
Chickenman, chickenman
One more song
(For the maker)
Chickenman, chickenman
On the road to Athens
I saw a dead deer on the highway
I slipped into a desert
Five prairie dogs and a rabbit
I was running down on Queen Street
I saw a woman on the sidewalk
(Danger danger)
She was beaten by a stranger
(Danger danger danger danger)
Danger danger danger
And it's one more life
(For the taker)
Chickenman, chickenman
Chickenman hold my hand
One more song
(For the maker)
Hold my hand
Chickenman
I was on the road to Austin
Met a man on the highway
He sold me junk and conversation
He was wise and dirty from the weather
I said, "Darkness into darkness
All the carnage of my journeys
Makes it harder to be living"
He said, "It's a long road to be forgiven"
It's one more life
(For the taker)
Chickenman, chickenman
Chickenman hold my had
One more song
(For the maker)
Chickenman, chickenman
Chickenman hold my hand
I am an only child
Born of the wild
Riddled to spend my time
Defending my land
You are the only one
Born in the sun
Riddled to spend your time
Defending my plan
I went looking for a car
Found myself beneath the stars
I went looking for a girl
Found a man and his world
Chickenman, chickenman
(I went looking for a car)
Chickenman hold my hand
(Found myself beneath the stars)
Chickenman, chickenman
(I went looking for a girl)
Chickenman hold my hand
(Found a man and his world)
I am an only child
(Chickenman, chickenman)
(Chickenman hold my hand)
Hold my hand
(Chickenman, chickenman)
(Chickenman hold my hand)
I am an only child
(Chickenman, chickenman)
(Chickenman hold my hand)
Hold my hand
(Chickenman, chickenman)
(Chickenman hold my hand)
Chickenman chickenman
Chickenman hold my hand
Chickenman chickenman
Chickenman hold my hand
Chickenman chickenman
Chickenman hold my hand
Chickenman chickenman
Chickenman hold my hand
Born of the wild
Riddled to spend my time
Defending my land
You are the only one
Born in the sun
Riddled to spend your time
Defending my plan
Dead dog on the highway
Median cats are growling at me
I turn my lights on brighter
I'm counting through the night ride
And it's one more life
(For the taker)
Chickenman, chickenman
One more song
(For the maker)
Chickenman, chickenman
On the road to Athens
I saw a dead deer on the highway
I slipped into a desert
Five prairie dogs and a rabbit
I was running down on Queen Street
I saw a woman on the sidewalk
(Danger danger)
She was beaten by a stranger
(Danger danger danger danger)
Danger danger danger
And it's one more life
(For the taker)
Chickenman, chickenman
Chickenman hold my hand
One more song
(For the maker)
Hold my hand
Chickenman
I was on the road to Austin
Met a man on the highway
He sold me junk and conversation
He was wise and dirty from the weather
I said, "Darkness into darkness
All the carnage of my journeys
Makes it harder to be living"
He said, "It's a long road to be forgiven"
It's one more life
(For the taker)
Chickenman, chickenman
Chickenman hold my had
One more song
(For the maker)
Chickenman, chickenman
Chickenman hold my hand
I am an only child
Born of the wild
Riddled to spend my time
Defending my land
You are the only one
Born in the sun
Riddled to spend your time
Defending my plan
I went looking for a car
Found myself beneath the stars
I went looking for a girl
Found a man and his world
Chickenman, chickenman
(I went looking for a car)
Chickenman hold my hand
(Found myself beneath the stars)
Chickenman, chickenman
(I went looking for a girl)
Chickenman hold my hand
(Found a man and his world)
I am an only child
(Chickenman, chickenman)
(Chickenman hold my hand)
Hold my hand
(Chickenman, chickenman)
(Chickenman hold my hand)
I am an only child
(Chickenman, chickenman)
(Chickenman hold my hand)
Hold my hand
(Chickenman, chickenman)
(Chickenman hold my hand)
Chickenman chickenman
Chickenman hold my hand
Chickenman chickenman
Chickenman hold my hand
Chickenman chickenman
Chickenman hold my hand
Chickenman chickenman
Chickenman hold my hand
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The Night We Met
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The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
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I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
Gentle Hour
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This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
Punchline
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Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
I saw them play this live and Amy explained the song during an instrumental break. It was amazing because it was the first time the song made any sense to me. The chicken man was an old guy selling stuff on the side of the highway. I remember she started her explanation by saying that, when they were first touring, she was driving around in a beat up VW(?) and she was saddened seeing so many dead animals (roadkill: "median" cat(?), dead deer, prairie dogs, rabbit). She said something about the woman who was beaten in Austin; again, another reflection from life on the road at the time, I think. She then said something about how "all the carnage" can upset a person so much that she would end up walking around the street with a loaded gun not knowing what to do but feeling desperate; sounded like something she really did one day ("darkness into darkness/all the carnage of my journey/makes it harder to be living"). But without the explanation, the song would have made no sense.
When I was delivering pizzas in Austin around about 1995, an old homeless drifter came into our pizza joint and was hanging out talking to us in the kitchen. I happened to have Indigo Girls playing on the house sound system and this sound came on. Out of nowhere, this man turns to me all excited and says "This song is about me!! I met them!! They're gay you know." LOL
I honestly cannot attest to the truth of his statement, but he did know lots of details about them, including the fact they they were touring in an old van. I kind of like to think that he was telling the truth... :)
Is the chickenman supposed to signify/be a reference to someone in particular? the rest of the song?
I wonder if any connection was intended (not saying this is the "meaning", just that they might have had it in mind) with the Bruce Springsteen song "Atlantic City", which is about a man being paid to assassinate someone, and references the killing of a gangster known as the "Chicken Man"; there's certainly a similarity of theme, death and travelling. Er, and chicken. Men. :)
This is a song that the girls play almost always while in Austin. I wish I loved it more but it is indeed about their travels to Austin. I don't get it.
ok so the comments about this song being about drifters/homeless and traveling the country and encountering road kill. but I still don't get the chorus. any insight?