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Looking down from the apple tree
My hands tied in back of me
With this rope below my chin
We don't fear death my adrian
Trust me son that one day soon
You'll be on the bottom where the boat breaks through
To let our freedom in again
We don't fear death my adrian
From now on I am part of you
I am the story that you'll tell
Let my life empower you
Let my troubles teach you well
Let your burning hatred go
Learn yourself until you know
That fear is where all hatred begins
We don't fear death my adrian
From now on I am part of you
I am the story that you'll tell
Let my life empower you
Let my troubles teach you well
As they set my last breath free
Turn your eyes but don't fail to see
The love you feel inside your skin
We don't fear death my Adrian
We don't fear death my Adrian
My hands tied in back of me
With this rope below my chin
We don't fear death my adrian
Trust me son that one day soon
You'll be on the bottom where the boat breaks through
To let our freedom in again
We don't fear death my adrian
From now on I am part of you
I am the story that you'll tell
Let my life empower you
Let my troubles teach you well
Let your burning hatred go
Learn yourself until you know
That fear is where all hatred begins
We don't fear death my adrian
From now on I am part of you
I am the story that you'll tell
Let my life empower you
Let my troubles teach you well
As they set my last breath free
Turn your eyes but don't fail to see
The love you feel inside your skin
We don't fear death my Adrian
We don't fear death my Adrian
Lyrics submitted by dragonflower44
Track duration: 02:59
"Adrian" as written by Mason Stewart Jennings
Lyrics © MEMORY LANE MUSIC GROUP
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I don't think it's meant to be read literally but as a metaphor for racism and the change civil rights will bring. Things will be easier for the boy when it's his turn to be in the tree. In other words he will have to face the same problems as his father but the consequences of the racism will be less severe. He won't have to die because of it. Things will get better.
I couldn't come up with any reason that it should read "boat" and my interpretation works nicely. What do you think?
I've listened to this song easily over 50 times and performed it many times as well and I've always said "boat". Which never made sense to me as I imagined Adrian getting engulfed in a deluge of water when the hull of the small glass bottomed boat he's sitting inside suddenly bursts. Definitely not in line with the rest of the song's narrative and hardly the sort of freedom I'd be hoping for :)
As for my personal feelings about the song, I find it somber but not all that sad. It's a song about conquering hatred in an unjust world and focusing on love, living without being ruled by fear, and accepting death even if it comes before it should.
There comes a certain point where the physical world and how others treat you is out of your hands, and the only thing left to do is look within to get what no one will give you. The narrator of this song isn't given freedom and so he/she seeks it the only way possible and that is to have the power to not fear death and search within for freedom.
My favorite line is "fear is where all hatred begins." You can't be at peace and find freedom within if you are incapable of overcoming your fears, even the greatest of them all: death. To not fear death seems to be the ultimate way to be at ease with yourself and the universe, and this lesson is what the narrator thinks is most important for Adrian to know in order to be at peace and find freedom.
Looks like I have another book to add to my ever increasing "to read" list.
I think it's from the standpoint of an African American man dying against his will and telling his son not to fear, not to hate, but to love and to do right by his father and by all of mankind.
by the way, reason he's in an apple tree is because they weren't always hung from gallows. lynchings were much less formal affairs, so they'd just grab the local lad and torture him and then hang him in a nearby tree.
while i'm writing this i thought i might just add, two things i love about this song:
"my hands tied in back of me"
lyrics are deliberate. the natural phrase is "in front of me". if i imagine someone with their hands tied in front of them, they're much more helpless. but with his hands behind his back it's obvious that he's tied up to restrain him. you can still punch someone with your hands tied in front of you. by his hands behind his back he is restrained, not just captive. he is strong, not submissive.
"turn your eyes but don't fail to see"
this message should be spoken to us too. Don't watch the atrocities happen. death is traumatic, never go into a situation of rights violation or of injustice without being appalled by it. don't let yourself be able to watch it and feel nothing. but don't fail to see that it's happening. be active. make change.
this is such a good song. still wondering what the go is with the boat though... historians? nerds? help me out?
I love this song.
The song is a simple yet incredibly powerful one, Adrian is the song of the narrator of the song. The narrator is being hung, but the tone that he takes during the hanging, not fear, not anger, but one of complete calmness makes the song that much more powerful.
When we look at the hatred lyrics, "Let your burning hatred go
Learn yourself until you know
That fear is where all hatred begins" He is telling his son that he cannot hate in the same manner that the white people hate blacks. And where does this hate come from, is there any justifiable reason for the hate? No, rather hatred comes from fear. The whites feared the blacks, and because of that, they hate the blacks.
The we reference is toward him and his son. "From now on I am part of you."
What the narrator is attempting to do at the point of his death is to try to stop hate. Even during the time of his hanging, he is concerned that his son does not follow the same path that countless numbers have before, and by doing that he will start the change that will eventually lead to the hate stopping. You'll be on the bottom when the boat breaks through could have to do with this and the idea that he will help lead this movement towards understanding. HE wants adrian to understand what is going on here is not the product of bad people or the attempt to try to reach unattainable goals, but rather repeated patterns throughout history which do nothing but facilitate hate to remain and be powerful.
"Turn you head but dont fail to see". The last words of a father about to die, he doesnt want his son to watch as he is killed, but he also doesnt want him to forget what happened here and to take the lessons that he was taught and carry them on throughout his life and spread that idea to others.
So, thats what I think
perhaps the man killed someone out of hatred/bigotry and he is realizing his hatred came from fear, and telling his son that's not the way to be.
he's obviously hoping his son learns from his life - "let my troubles teach you well."
as for the apple tree, i think the man is already hanging, and therefore looking down from the tree, with his hand tied behind his back, and the rope below his chin.
i don't know what the boat reference is about. boats can break through ice or a blockade. i think it somehow means that his son will soon have choices to make in his life, and whether or not he will let fear affect his choices. but i still don't get the reference.
the general theme "we don't fear death" is a comfort to his son - they don't need to fear death since the father will live through the son.
the last line is my favorite - "turn your eyes but don't fail to see the love you feel inside your skin." he just wants his son to know he loves him, no matter what else happened in his life, and that that love beats death.