Carry Me Ohio

"Carry Me Ohio" by Mark Kozelek

Sorry that I could never love you back. I could never care enough in these last days.

Her tears fell on her pages found me well. On her words I don't know what to do or say.

Wading through warm canals and pools: clear blue. The Tuscarawas flows into the Great Lakes.

Right in back, where the highway met dead tracks, the ground is now cement and glass, so far away.

Heal her soul. Carry her, my angel, Ohio.

Green, green youth, what about the sweetness we knew? What about what's good, what's true, from those days?

Can't count to all the lovers I've burned through. So why do I still burn for you? I can't say.

Sorry that I could never love you back. I could never care enough in these last days.

Heal her soul. Carry her, my angel, Ohio.

Children bless, gather round the bed, she rest. So pull and go to her Midwestern moon and sun.

Flashes bringing on, my open eyes to lighting storm. The touch of mist fell soft, felt warm on my face.

Graven dreams, a million miles ago, you seem. A star that I just don't see anymore.

Words long gone, lost on journey's we walked on. Lost her voices heard along the way.

Sorry for, never going by your door. Never feeling love like that anymore.

Heal her soul. Carry her, my angel, Ohio.

I am pretty sure these are the correct lyrics. You can listen to the live version on his "7 Songs Belfast" live CD for a very clear rendition of these lyrics. He changes a couple of words in the live performance which I changed back to reflect the LP recording.

I'm also feeling like this is a NOT love song about a girl, but instead about a hometown that he didn't appreciate enough when he had the chance, and can't love the same way now that he's older and that childhood place is gone.

First of all, the town is not how he remembered ("Right in back, where the highway met dead tracks, the ground is now cement and glass, so far away."). Second, there is a clear "distance makes the heart grow fonder" undertone to the lyrics. But distance not just geographically, but across time. This is evidenced here: "Graven dreams. A million miles ago, you seem. A star that I just don't see anymore."

There is also the sense that he wants someone, somehow, some way, to fix her. Make her how she used to be ("Heal her soul. Carry her, my angel, Ohio."). But the tragedy is that it is probably too late. He's remorseful that he didn't visit home more often, I believe ("Sorry for, never going by your door. Never feeling love like that anymore.")

Along this line of thinking, other lines take on a new meaning when placed into this context ("Can't count to, all the lovers I've burned through. So why do I still burn for you? I can't say."). It actually feels like he is talking about all the places he has lived and been to. Maybe he wonders why, given all of the places he has experienced (ugly and beautiful), he should long for this barren hometown that time forgot? He doesn't seem to have the answer.

If you follow his catalogue and his lyrics, Mark loves to sing about geographical places: "Neon signs and Silver Lakes"; "Going past Golden Gate, elementary every day"; "I don't need a house on Lake Michigan"; "Saltwater taffy, the Jersey Shore", "A rare and blistering sun shines down on Grace Cathedral Park". I could go on and on.

The nostalgia for his hometown memories is palpable at times in this song ("Green, green youth. What about the sweetness we knew? What about what's good, what's true, from those days?"). Innocence lost is probably another valid sub-theme here.

What is very "Kozelek" about this interpretation, and why I think I am correct in my assumption, is that this wouldn't be the first time he has made a love song about an unexpected thing. Remember when he tricked us into thinking a song was about a girl he loved but it was really about his cat ("Wop a Din Din"), where a line like "She's got big green eyes, and a long Egyptian face. She moves across the floor, at her own pace," is flipped upside down after you realize this isn't a typical love song whatsoever.

That is my interpretation though, and could be off base. Just here to share my feelings. Hope they helped.

I will share one last fun fact. The Tuscarawas doesn't actually flow into any of the Great Lakes. At least not directly. It flows into the Ohio River.

...ryan