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Up in the highest of heights
O'Hara blinks and fights
This land is yours, this land is mine
I see the Captain in red
And Cairo at his head
This land is yours, this land is mine
The lightning over the park
The waters, brash and dark
We take a swim, we take a swim
I never meant to escape
The carpet and the trade
This land is yours, this land is mine
And when I make up my mind
I change it all the time
I take it back, I take it back
The numbers over the dam
Jo Davies and the band
I count them out, I count them out
There was a car in the bay
By the boat that swept and swayed
Whoever you are in the light
In the water that we made
I'm counting it out
I'm counting it out
I'm working it out inside
I'm counting it out
From the floor
The ferry hatches Moline
Panola Beauty Queen
She takes a bow, she takes a bow
In Charles, we climb the hill
And Danville window sill
I take it back, I take it back
My sister she counts the bars
The Macon county cars
She takes a bow, she takes a bow
The Mississippi amends
The Carver and the bends
This land is yours, this land is mine
My brother punches my ear
The injured ivory deer
I call my dad, I call my dad
We skip inside of the store
The Mason winter door
This land is yours, this land is mine
There was a car in the bay
By the boat that swept and swayed
Whoever you are in the light
In the water that we made
I'm holding your hand by the shore
With our collars pulled up tight
I'm counting it out
I'm counting it out
I'm working it out inside
I'm counting it out
(This land is not your land
For the right hand takes what it can
Ransacks with the madman
For this land is not yours or mine to have
This land was made for the good of itself)
O'Hara blinks and fights
This land is yours, this land is mine
I see the Captain in red
And Cairo at his head
This land is yours, this land is mine
The lightning over the park
The waters, brash and dark
We take a swim, we take a swim
I never meant to escape
The carpet and the trade
This land is yours, this land is mine
And when I make up my mind
I change it all the time
I take it back, I take it back
The numbers over the dam
Jo Davies and the band
I count them out, I count them out
There was a car in the bay
By the boat that swept and swayed
Whoever you are in the light
In the water that we made
I'm counting it out
I'm counting it out
I'm working it out inside
I'm counting it out
From the floor
The ferry hatches Moline
Panola Beauty Queen
She takes a bow, she takes a bow
In Charles, we climb the hill
And Danville window sill
I take it back, I take it back
My sister she counts the bars
The Macon county cars
She takes a bow, she takes a bow
The Mississippi amends
The Carver and the bends
This land is yours, this land is mine
My brother punches my ear
The injured ivory deer
I call my dad, I call my dad
We skip inside of the store
The Mason winter door
This land is yours, this land is mine
There was a car in the bay
By the boat that swept and swayed
Whoever you are in the light
In the water that we made
I'm holding your hand by the shore
With our collars pulled up tight
I'm counting it out
I'm counting it out
I'm working it out inside
I'm counting it out
(This land is not your land
For the right hand takes what it can
Ransacks with the madman
For this land is not yours or mine to have
This land was made for the good of itself)
Lyrics submitted by musicforlife!
Track duration: 04:45
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Images of present day Illinois, the ferries, the beauty queens, the bars and cars (dealers?)….and of the past, Black Hawk’s band, the Eads Bridge the bends, floods, mine accidents, the civil war…
Ephemeral, wispy, impermanent. Man’s dramas swirling up like dust devils from the land, dissipating quickly…swept away by God’s right hand…disease, disaster, war, the passage of time.
The refrain, this land is yours, this land is mine… At first blush the end seems to turn this into irony, but in context it’s sincere. There’s no hint of disdain in his delivery. It is your land, it is my land, but not in the sense of ownership. It’s your home, part of your life, but not your possession. It’s a fact unto itself.
Sting’s All this Time expresses similar bemusement at man’s self-importance, contrasting the eternal flowing of river to sea against the busy fussing of priests with their rituals.
Dunnos: O’Hara the airport (O’Hare) or Frank O’Hara the poet…in heaven? Who’s the Captain? In red because he’s in hell? Cairo doesn’t sound like Cairo to me… Injured Ivory Deer? Ivory soap is a deer repellent. Is that what he means? What’s he counting out? The deaths? Did he get laid near that boat? Water-that-we-made = sweat?
If you like this analysis, I have web page dedicated to analyzing Sufjan's lyrics:
mindthatknowsitself.tumblr.com/
Also, Dreamer, it's not hard to tell what time signature a song is in if you keep a good running beat in your head as you listen to it. Then you simply count the beats as they come. As for its significance... An unusual time signature, especially when it's part of a passage consisting mostly of common time, usually has an accentuating effect. In No Man's Land, the extra beat added by the 5/4 measure in each phrase is almost exclusively reserved for the flute run. This serves to set it off from the rest of the phrase and signify a transition to a new one.
. . .Woody Guthrie, whose song /No Man's Land/ references here, was from Oklahoma. Before the distinctive strip of land (the 'panhandle') of Oklahoma became a part of the state, it was an unclaimed area called 'no man's land,' where various groups sought sanctuary and fought each other.
im actually in music classes, but i dont know why the time signature really matters, or how you notice a differance. i can tell between 3/4 and 4/4 but other than that....
also i like this song a lot
the earth doesnt belong to anyone, it doesnt belong to those who inhabit it, and it doesnt belong to us who destroy it.