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In the failing light of the afternoon
Lucy in the shade of the dogwood blooms
Yesterday the solace of a poison fish
Tomorrow I'll be kissing on her blood red lips
No one is the saviour they would like to be
The lovesong of the buzzard in the dogwood tree
With a train of horses laughing through the traffic line
And the cradle's unimaginative sense of time
Springtime and the promise of an open fist
A tattoo of a flower on a broken wrist
Lucy tells me jokingly to wipe her brow
With a pocket map to heaven and the sun goes down
Lucy in the shade of the dogwood blooms
Yesterday the solace of a poison fish
Tomorrow I'll be kissing on her blood red lips
No one is the saviour they would like to be
The lovesong of the buzzard in the dogwood tree
With a train of horses laughing through the traffic line
And the cradle's unimaginative sense of time
Springtime and the promise of an open fist
A tattoo of a flower on a broken wrist
Lucy tells me jokingly to wipe her brow
With a pocket map to heaven and the sun goes down
Lyrics submitted by sethbrown
Track duration: 04:27
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“Lucy in the shade of the dogwood blooms
Yesterday the solace of a poison fish”
The dogwood fable, as explained above by Beam92, specifically alludes to Christ. Sitting under the dogwood blooms could be listening/understanding his teaching, it could be mourning his crucifixion. I prefer the former because during the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus fed the masses with one fish—but the fish in this song is poisoned, a twist to traditional dogma, a hint of skepticism. The fish, perhaps an image for the sermon itself, feigns solace. People listen to Jesus and are comforted, but there is something not quite right about what they are hearing, something beneath the surface is not quite healthy—while they are taking in the idealism, they are dying. The body is in pain while the “spirit” soars towards something hopeful and chimerical.
“No one is the saviour they would like to be
The lovesong of the buzzard in the dogwood tree”
Despite all Christ’s good intentions, the world is still full of shit. Terrible stuff still happens. Things die, other things eat the dead things (like the buzzard). The buzzard could also be Christ, which I think is a pretty shocking image. He preaches about life after death, an eternity of happiness, all wishes fulfilled. Almost like a buzzard feeding on carrion, his message gains strength on his “afterlife” assertions. People want hope, they want something greater, better than reality; they are more likely to abide by his teachings if they are promised a cushy seat in heaven. Jesus gains strength and followers by feeding on their fears and notions of death. The horses and the “cradle’s unimaginative sense of time” also juxtapose worldly and heavenly life. Horse laughing: “Yes this world sucks; sucker them in by offering better.” The cradle plays the obvious, “unimaginative” eternity card to sway a mass of mortal followers.
“Springtime and the promise of an open fist
A tattoo of a flower on a broken wrist”
Jesus rises on Easter, opens his fist to show where the stakes hung him to the cross, but in this instance he is very worldly and contemporary, having a tattoo instead of a hole, and despite having risen from death as the son of God, he still has a broken wrist, a very mortal thing to sport when associated with God. The "flower tattoo" also substantially links Christ to the dogwood image. Anyway, all of this puts his "godhood" into serious doubt: what diving being has a tattoo and broken wrist?
These descriptions are framed by the scene of two people, man and woman, sitting on a hill beneath a tree in the late afternoon. The song's religious skepticism is superbly amplified by the last two lines:
“Lucy tells me jokingly to pe her brow
With a pocket map to heaven and the sun goes down”
To wipe your brow with a map to heaven doesn’t put much faith or importance in the map. It’s like she’s saying, “Yes, Christ’s promises about eternity are nice, but right now my brow is sweaty and I’d like to clean it. I’ll deal with that other stuff later--if ever. Right now, the sun’s setting and I’d like to watch.”
His response was, "I have no idea!"
My bad. I'm a ridiculously overworked girl. Ha.
Not every song has to have a deep powerful meaning, guys. Haven't you ever written anything that was aesthetically pleasing and nothing more?
P1: "Wow, this song really touched me. I think its about someone overcoming thoughts of suicide."
P2: "No, it's about his dog that died. He said so in an interview on YouTube."
Bleh. You're making it sound like thinking about the words is somehow bad or takes away from the song, but that's how many people really grow to love a song. I can easily overlook a song just letting the sounds flow over me, but suddenly really love it once I come up with my own interpretation of the lyrics. I'll never forget the song then.
(Nothings wrong with just liking the sound either though. Many people get more out of music that way, like what Jim James is talking about in "The Way He Sings".)
In the first stanza, Lucy, the woman, is represented as a nature lover. She seems to find comfort in things that remind her of godly images such as the dogwood bloom. Her "in the shade of the dogwood blooms" could be interpreted as her resting place in which the dogwood symbolizes the four corners of the cross. In the third verse, Lucy seems to be in a situation in which the comfort she is receiving from the "poison fish" can be compared to what the devil brings. In the fourth verse, Sam states that he'll be bringing her true comfort by "kissing on her blood red lips".
In the second stanza, Sam states that he wishes he could do more to help out Lucy. He, ironically, compares the nourishment that Lucy is receiving from God as not being quite helpful to her. This is evident in the second verse when he parallels "the lovesong of the buzzard" to Jesus. The "train of horses laughing" symbolizes the ridiculement she is receiving from others by putting her trust in God. The last verse, Sam is saying that he wishes he had more time to spend with her.
In the third stanza, Sam compares the spring to a can of problems. These problems are symbolized through "the promise of an open fist". In the next verse, the "broken wrist" portrays Lucy's ability to take down a fight. She overcomes her battles through love, beauty, and patience which is symbolizes by the "tattoo of a flower". Lucy jokingly tells Sam to wipe her brow because she just wants to show to Sam that she did overcome her obstacle by trusting in God. The last verse affirms the argument that her belief in God has helped throughout her life. Just like every battle their is always an ending to it; hence, "the sun goes down".
I dont know, it seems rather hopeful overall. Its just that last stanza that makes things unclear.
I dont know, it seems rather hopeful overall. Its just that last stanza that makes things unclear.
Two people are sitting together in a beautiful spring setting, watching the sun go down together. Lucy is currently "blooming" or coming to life in the shade of the dogwood, or under the "protection" of the cross of Jesus. I've read that poisons derived from fish are used to help heroine addicts recover from their addictions; this means that "yesterday," with the solace of the poison fish, she was undergoing treatment. Because she is currently sitting beneath the dogwood, it seems that faith helped her through recovery. As a result, the singer is looking toward a hopeful tomorrow, when he knows she will continue to thrive and live, as evidenced by the healthy coloring of her lips.
In the second stanza, I think he is saying that Jesus does not get the response from people that he wants to, that he isn't able to save everybody. As he hangs on the cross (the dogwood) in an act of love (his lovesong) people only hear a message that annoys them – hence the singer comparing his message to the song of a buzzard, one of the birds that the Bible says are unclean, one that no one pays attention to. In other words, his message of love falls on deaf ears when heroine (aka the train of "horses"--another word for heroine) races through people's veins (the traffic line). I'm not quite sure what the "cradle's unimaginative sense of time" is, but I think it symbolizes the steady, unchanging tempo of ordinary life. Basically, the drugs laugh at this ordinary cadence and call regular days (such as the one that the singer and Lucy are sharing) boring. (This may have more significance than I'm giving it... I'm open to suggestions.)
The third stanza goes back to the hopeful scene with the singer and Lucy. She is in contrast with the second stanza, because she is no longer under the influence of drugs. It is springtime (signifying a renewal) and the promise of an open fist is a sign for her promise to no longer use drugs, or to squeeze her fist while injecting. Also, Lucy herself is springtime. The flower tattoo on her wrist is something beautiful covering something broken, or the springtime (her sobriety) that blooms on top of a bleak winter (her addiction).
Lucy says her brow needs to be wiped, due (I think) to the sweating that occurs during detox. She jokes that it should be wiped with the Bible, or what he calls the pocket map to heaven. Maybe she's saying, "Phew! Saved just in time!" the way cartoon characters do when they narrowly escape, and she's suggesting that the Bible is what saved her.
……But this is also where my interpretation breaks down. She says it jokingly. This could mean it's just a figure of speech suggesting that she's relieved (not actually sweating)... but it could almost mean that the singer's whole theme of Christianity was skeptical to begin with. She might be joking about the Bible playing a role in her recovery. This raises the following issues with my above interpretation:
- He might be suggesting that the "shade" of the dogwood is like a cloud instead of protective covering.
- He might be BLAMING Jesus for not saving everyone, saying that he's not the savior he claims to be. Is he suggesting that he thinks Jesus IS like a buzzard, using the word "lovesong" ironically? He might be saying that Jesus merely chirps in a tree while people are suffering.
- Is Lucy saying to wipe her brow with the Bible because it's just a rag, that it didn't help her through recovery?
Anyone have thoughts on this?
i always took the "the cradle's unimaginative sense of time" line coupled with Lucy's "broken wrist" as an indication that Lucy is underage, somewhere between 16-18 maybe. Perhaps people have told the singer he is "robbing the cradle", and the rambunctiousness of youth often leads to broken limbs...
just my take on that line.