| Steve Earle – Copperhead Road Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| I'm surprised someone hasn't already brought it up, but the song title may have a direct correlation with growing marijuana in that region of the country. When talking about booby trapping the fields, "I learned a thing or two from Charlie don't yah know", I think it's worth noting copperheads were used by paranoid growers who thought they might be robbed as their plants were budding. The technique was described to me, not in the context of the song, but by someone who lived and farmed** in the area in the late 70's/early 80's. I can't say for certain, but tend to believe this person when they told me how they used to round up copperheads two weeks before harvesting, secure the tails of the snakes to the stalks of the plants with fishing line, so if anyone tried to rob them in the "middle of the night," they would be bitten by an ornery snake with a fishing hook in it's tail. Anyway, that's how I've always interpreted the meaning. "You better stay away from copperhead road," rephrased; You better not be in my fields chopping off buds in the middle of the night. Maybe the DEA symbolizes anything/anyone that threatens a grower's operation? | |
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