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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
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Jimi Hendrix was an explorer, as so many of us young people of that era were, feeling a bit lost, disappointed with the cliched existence which which had evolved and had been passed on to us by those who had come before. We found a new way to look at life, making our own discoveries and drawing our own conclusions, because we wanted to do it better, to make it better, and to give reason to purpose. We found the minds that came before us failing and inadequate, trite and restrained. We sought expansion without limits, so we did the best we could, and Hendrix did the best he could, through his music and the concentric influences and stimulants that took him, and our generation, beyond all that had come before. Of course we failed in many ways, but for all the right reasons. Someday, others will take up the effort that we envisioned, and someday, someone will succeed, for all the right reasons.
also the businessmen feed off soldiers' blood and plowmen dig his grave.
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.
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.
It ends with:
"Outside in the cold distance
A wild cat did growl
Two riders were approaching
And the wind began to howl"
I think this represents Armageddon. Revelations 16:16
I say this because I have done the following:
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. -Matthew 7:7
But the general message of the song is about being somewhere ( Mabey Vietnam or Jesus) you don't want to be like war or earth it self.
When the theif and the joker are talking I believe the theif means that lifes a joke that it's so beutifal yet we allow the two riders (death and hades) to roam free on the earth. And that because of that life is meaning less not so much so to throw it out but enough joke and to endure the watch tower(again being somewhere sometime u don't want to be) I think the song in it's time was written to catch the eye of all the "hippes" (no offenes anyone) and GI because many people wanted out.
The Prince actually translates pretty clearly to Upper class/government. They are in the watch tower, being served. The people society works for.
Comedians (aka the joker) are often skeptics of society. The thief obviously steals, perhaps a reference to the poor, who can't pay for everything.
The joker brings up how confusing society is. How the plowmen do labor while businessmen drink, unaware of the actual worth of their work. "Nobody will level on the line" = nobody is equal
The thief is aware of this and says that there are people who don't take life seriously, but now they(the joker and the thief) do. So they shouldn't idly talk about it, but take action(let us not talk falsely now, the hours getting late)
Outside in the cold distance(out of sight)
A wildcat did growl
two riders are approaching(the joker and thief are coming after the princes)
the wind began to howl("a storm is coming")
"Let us not talk falsely now" is key, and denotes a turn in tone to sober seriousness about the fate of things. "The hour is getting late" sounds like a reference to the close-approaching prophesied Eschaton (eg. 12-20-2012). That is strengthened, I think, by reference to "the cold distance", "wildcat growl", "riders approaching"; but especially "the wind began to howl", an (I think) obvious reference to the coming of God's Final Wrath against our species. But I could be wrong.
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