This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
There must be some kind of way out of here
Said the joker to the thief
There's too much confusion
I can't get no relief
Business men they drink my wine
Plowmen dig my earth
No one will level on the line
Nobody of it is worth
No reason to get excited
The thief he kindly spoke
There are many here among us
Who feel that life is but a joke
But you and I we've been through that
And this is not our fate
So let us not talk falsely now
The hour's getting late
All along the watchtower
Princes kept the view
While all the women came and went
Barefoot servants too
Outside in the cold distance
A wild cat did growl
Two riders were approaching
And the wind began to howl
Said the joker to the thief
There's too much confusion
I can't get no relief
Business men they drink my wine
Plowmen dig my earth
No one will level on the line
Nobody of it is worth
No reason to get excited
The thief he kindly spoke
There are many here among us
Who feel that life is but a joke
But you and I we've been through that
And this is not our fate
So let us not talk falsely now
The hour's getting late
All along the watchtower
Princes kept the view
While all the women came and went
Barefoot servants too
Outside in the cold distance
A wild cat did growl
Two riders were approaching
And the wind began to howl
Lyrics submitted by lzphishhead, edited by somacep4sc
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Its funny how the joker is complaining to the thief that things are being stolen from him (businessmen drink my wine, plowmen dig my earth) and the thief is complaining to the joker that people don't take life seriously and complains about 'speaking falsely'. The two characters pretty much complain to each other about each other.
Did no one else realize this connection? Thoughts?
Any thoughts on the choice of this song in Battlestar Galactica? For some reason it fits so well. There is certainly stg to this song that evokes an idea of layered perspectives and realities, blurred boundaries between right and wrong, and people being at the mercy of their circumstances. Like there is no right and wrong, just different perspectives. There is also a sense of 'chinatown', as in sometime you just don't know or should you bother to find out or worry about things, as the details of life are much too complex to understand. Maybe cylons are not that bad after all...
this is my all time favorite jimi song, it just flows ya know? the lyrics are great too.
its about two real life people with human sin who have lived the life who toghether make the commitment to rise above their earthly limitations and watch out for, guard and love the truth.
amen
Wait that was a prayer?
@Solo I think that the joker in this song is actually Jesus because in the first stanza the joker refers to the wine and earth as "my wine" and "my earth" which is why I think that the joker is Jesus because according to the bible he turned the water into wine and he owns the earth.
Bob Dylan, typically, tends to be outstandingly cryptic in his lyrics. while others are just what they are.
i tend to believe this song was connotated with Vietnam because it was going on at the time this song was released (originally on Dylan's LP "John Wesley Harding" in 1967)
but what i actually believe the song is a story about society: the upper class being the Princes,
the Joker and pregnant women being the Middle class and the Thief representing the Lower Class.
i always thought the Thief's line when speaking to the Joker was a very peculiar one: "There are many here among us who feel that life is but a joke."
the Thief is telling the Joker, of all people, that nobody takes life seriously. was it a hint from the Thief to the Joker to stop screwing around? and make plans for escape?
i'm still trying to figure that one out...
you're still trying to figure it out because it doesn't work. those are the wrong figures in your metaphor.
Bob Dylan is probably one of my fravorite artisits and who wrote the orginal song, but dont forget who the legend is here. Hendix made this song visible to the world by his outstanding music. Sure the could be about vietnam and jesus, but I think its more about old times when people were sperated into rich and poor classes. The rich overwhem the poor and the the joker and the theft represent the poor and their hope, the watchtower is the only safe place for them.
reasontorock.com/tracks/watchtower.html
The page I linked to above is the REAL meaning about the song. It isn't about Jesus, and it isn't about Vietnam, at least, not directly. It is a fierce statement of disestablishmentarianism, of a conspiracy to bring down a powerful heirarchy.
By the way, njrockstarbandit, don't be ignorant. The Vietnam War was NOT one of the worst of the century. WW1 was, followed by WW2 and various slaughters in Cambodia and Tibet.
Anyway, this is a brilliant cover, and personally I believe it is the best rock song ever, beating even "Kashmir" by Led Zeppelin.
Ok....you golks that say it is about Vietnam haven't shown any proof of your claims in the lyrics....
If you are gonna call people "fucking wackos" at least give some backing for your claim.
What, exactly, in the song says its about Vietnam, and don't just give me the "it was wrote during the Vietnam war" bs....
I would agree more with the idea of it being about society.
so what you're all basically saying is that this song is about phildelphia eagles, defending his lyrics, and albertus being a prick. thanks, it's all so clear. woohoo. I'm glad i wasted my life reading that.
I've noticed a large pattern on this site, in regards to common themes that people tend to think songs fit into. The big obvious one is religion, the other being the big social context of whatever period the song was written in. For the 60's and 70's every song is apparently about Vietnam, and for our current decade they're all reputably about 9-11, George Bush or the Iraq war. For some, this may be completely true and absolutely the case, but I have a hard time believing 90% of all songs ever made are either about Jebus or the then current/recent war.
With a song like this I can see how it would be easy to think its about Vietnam. Hell, until I really looked at the lyrics I would have agreed with you. The first four lines ("There must be some kind of way out of here", ext.) sound a lot like a statement on Vietnam. But if you get locked into that train of thought right off the bat then you're going to have to really stretch the rest of the lyrics to make it fit.
Granted, I don't know what its about. And hell, it might be about religion or Vietnam. But if you're gonna make the claim, you need more than one or two lines that sorta-kinda-maybe-could-be about your theory. I'm not trying to insult anyone here, and no offense is meant, but please try not to jump to conclusions so damn fast.
Additionally, I don't see why it (or most songs even) necessarily has to have another level of symbols and/or meaning. I think even taken at face value, taken literally, this is the start of one hell of an intriguing story.
As much as I want to agree about Jesus-freaks, I can't. All of the songs on Dylan's "John Wesley Harding" album are biblical.<br /> <br /> Whether Jimi wanted his version to be interpreted differently, I will never know, personally I find it unlikely, although Jimi did "...dedicate this song to all the soldiers in Vietnam" in his live performance in 1970.
See, this is what I'm talking about. You have evidence to suggest that this might be biblical, or in Hendrix's interpretation, about Vietnam. This may be one of those cases where it actually is about Jebus. But the point is you didn't reach that conclusion though some incredibly vague interpretation of lyrics.
I know that Jimi was the one who made this song a BIG one, but I prefer the Original and about the two last lines in first stanza, I can't say clearly what Jimi says but I think we must accept the dylan's part ("None of them along the line, Know what any of it worth"), because he wrote the song and knew why it must be like this
"Know what any of it IS worth"<br /> I'm not a good songwriter : )