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Sold my cold knot
A heavy stone
Sold my red horse for a venture home
To vanish on the bow
Settling slow
Fit it all, fit it in the doldrums
(Or so the story goes)
Color the era
Film it's historical
My mile could not
Pump the plumb
In my arbor 'till my ardor
Trumped every inner inertia
Lump sum
All at once
Rushing from the sub-pump
(Or so the story goes)
Balance we won't know
We will see when it gets warm
A heavy stone
Sold my red horse for a venture home
To vanish on the bow
Settling slow
Fit it all, fit it in the doldrums
(Or so the story goes)
Color the era
Film it's historical
My mile could not
Pump the plumb
In my arbor 'till my ardor
Trumped every inner inertia
Lump sum
All at once
Rushing from the sub-pump
(Or so the story goes)
Balance we won't know
We will see when it gets warm
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// Sold my cold knot
A heavy stone //
I am pretty sure this refers to a wedding ring. "Knot" means making the promise, and his commitment's gone cold. "Heavy stone" further affirms this; a diamond stone.
// Sold my red horse for a venture home //
A red horse I believe refers to car. Venture home = he's moving, trying something new.
// To vanish on the bow -- //
Vanishing off the main scene, away from people's sight.
// Settling slow //
Settling in, calming down.
// Fit it all, fit it in the doldrums //
Fitting everything, all his emotions, into the time he has alone, the time where he's inactive and everything is still. Quite a symbolic line if you think about it.
// (Or so the story goes) //
This sounds like, he's been told what to believe, and what his trip to his cabin would do for him, and he's deciding that he'll try get all his emotions out and fit them in the doldrums, and it's still apparent and he's not quite sure of it yet.
// Color the era //
Beautiful, just beautiful. He realizes how great his time is, and he's going to put color and life back into it.
// Film it, it's historical //
More to the last, he's making his own little write of history.
// My mile could not
Pump the plumb //
This is a bit cryptic and hard to decipher. I believe he's saying he couldn't get everything out where he was. He couldn't "pump the plumb" (often means to unclog, clean out, and that further adds to his description of how bad things were for him). He can't do it where he is and moves.
// In my arbor 'till my ardor
Trumped every inner inertia //
I believe he's saying he enjoyed his little arbor, his place of relaxation, and this is where things weren't going well for him. So he moved away until his excitement won over all the inertia that was holding him back.
// Lump sum //
I feel like he's talking about money and nothing but money, that it was holding him back so much and caused him so much grief.
// All at once
Rushing from the sub-pump //
Everything all at once comes out, rushing from underneath him. The idea of a sub pump also compliments the prior metaphor/analogy of "pump the plumb"
// (Or so the story goes) //
Again, his idea of what SHOULD happen, what he's been believing will happen.
// Balance we won't know
We will see when it gets warm //
He doesn't know how or who he'll be when all is finished, but he'll see once summer comes.
a red horse symbolizes a lot of things...success, nobility, war...his car. not sure why he choose that
"to vanish on the bow" I dont think its bow like a ship. That would be "OFF the bow". I think bow as in acknowledge or accept. As in he accepted something or someone... and then ran from it right away. (Or maybe someone left him and he is escaping his current life to cope with the loss.)
"My mile could not pump the plumb" He realizes that in all his efforts ...could not get rid of the issue flooding his life. He made a decision to change courses. He will wait and see when things settle down if it was for the best.
The guy has just had his heart broken and has moved up to his dad's hunting lodge to recuperate. He's exchanged a cold knot (the feeling of being all twisted inside) for a heavy stone (a sunken feeling that's oppressing). He sells his car (his red horse) and heads to the cabin, which is equivilant to vanishing on the bows of a sinking ship (the ship sinks so that it's vertical in the water with the bow the last thing to go under, although he's sunk by the weight of the heavy stone). He's imagining the calm water around the sinking ship (hence the doldrums) and feels like what's happening should be filmed in sepia, it's sort of right out of the film titanic. Anyhow, that's the first two verses, I'll return later maybe to do the rest. Gotta Jet JD
Listen to the song, from that perspective. And see if your original comprehension doesn't change.
That 'tis all.