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Did the wine make her dream
Of the far, distant spring?
Or a bed full of hens?
Or the ghost of a friend?
All the while that she wept,
She'd a gun by her bed
And the letter he wrote
From a dry, foundered boat
And the train track will take
All the wounded ones home
And I'll be alone.
Fare thee well, Sara Jones.
Now we lie on the floor
While the radio war
Finds its way through the air
Of the dead market square
And the beast, never seen
Licks its red talons clean.
Sara curses the cold,
"No more snow, no more snow,
No more snow."
Of the far, distant spring?
Or a bed full of hens?
Or the ghost of a friend?
All the while that she wept,
She'd a gun by her bed
And the letter he wrote
From a dry, foundered boat
And the train track will take
All the wounded ones home
And I'll be alone.
Fare thee well, Sara Jones.
Now we lie on the floor
While the radio war
Finds its way through the air
Of the dead market square
And the beast, never seen
Licks its red talons clean.
Sara curses the cold,
"No more snow, no more snow,
No more snow."
Lyrics submitted by Bravura
Track duration: 01:56
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I wish you could feel what I do during the third verse.
"All the wounded ones home" might be one of the most beautifully harmonic lines I've heard in a song in years; I know that much!
'No more snow, no more snow,
No more snow.' "
I don't think those lines are as black and white as 'it's snowing and cold.' I think that the weather is reflecting the state she is in.
"Sarah curses the cold" She's cursing the cold temperature but she's also cursing how cold life has been to her by taking away her lover, she's cursing her heartache and life's cruelty.
"No more snow" Quite literally 'no more snow' but she's also saying 'no more heartache, no more pain, no more of life's cruelty." She's wishing it would end.
I think this might be called a double entendre.
'No more snow, no more snow,
No more snow.' "
I don't think those lines are as black and white as 'it's snowing and cold.' I think that the weather is reflecting the state she is in.
"Sarah curses the cold" She's cursing the cold temperature but she's also cursing how cold life has been to her by taking away her lover, she's cursing her heartache and life's cruelty.
"No more snow" Quite literally 'no more snow' but she's also saying 'no more heartache, no more pain, no more of life's cruelty." She's wishing it would end.
I think this might be called a double entendre.
Debatable. He says "never seen," not "unknown." That girl might never be let out of her house to see whatever enemy is out there. Knowing something is there, but not being able to see it is much more terrifying than being completely oblivious to its existence, in my opinion.
I believe the song starts with verses 1 and 2 describing Sara's desperation at missing her man who is at war.
Then verses 3 and 4 are from the letter that the man wrote. He hasn't died, but he is writing her about the misery of war, even jealous of the wounded who get to return (All the wounded ones home) while he does not (And I'll be alone), wondering if he will ever return, saying goodye (fare the well).
He goes on to describe events of the war (lying on the floor, etc.)
Back to Sara at the end and her misery. She's helpless to do anything but curse the snow.
How does Sam Beam write a book in 5 verses? beautiful.
This last stanza is so hauntingly beautiful, and a really good depiction of war time despair I think.
He calls it "the beast never seen" because it is unknown, it has no identity, it either is rarely acknowledged or not acknowledged at all. Communist Soviets are established, acknowledged and have an identity therefore cannot fit the label of something "never seen." I believe that Sam is trying to make the point that people rarely see certain elements of war. This particular element being the effects on the family of a soldier, and what the death of a soldier causes/can cause outside of the obvious sad fact that the soldier died. This beast still lives and presides in the middle east and is as active as ever. And the human race will never rid themself of this beast, some of us have tried but Islamic Fascist's insist on keeping it alive.
And as for the rest of the song, I always imagined it as a girl in a little German town, mourning over a lover lost to the U.S. in the destruction of a U-boat, and the "red" would have been the occupying Communists.