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We can share the women, we can share the wine.
We can share what we got of yours 'cause we done shared all of mine.
Keep on rollin', just a mile to go;
Keep on rollin' my old buddy, you're movin' much too slow.
I just jumped the watchman, right outside the fence.
Took his rings, four bucks in change, ain't that Heaven sent?
Hurts my ears to listen, Shannon, burns my eyes to see;
Cut down a man in cold blood, Shannon, might as well been me.
We used to play for silver, now we play for life;
And one's for sport and one's for blood at the point of a knife.
And now the die is shaken, now the die must fall.
There ain't a winner in the game, he don't go home with all.
Not with all.
Leavin' Texas, fourth day of July,
Sun so hot, the clouds so low, the eagles filled the sky.
Catch the Detroit Lightnin' out of Sante Fe,
The Great Northern out of Cheyenne, from sea to shining sea.
Gotta go to Tulsa, first train we can ride.
Gotta settle one old score, one small point of pride.
There ain't a place a man can hide, Shannon will keep him from the sun
Ain't a bed can give us rest now, you keep us on the run.
Jack Straw from Wichita cut his buddy down,
And dug for him a shallow grave and laid his body down.
Half a mile from Tucson, by the morning light,
One man gone and another to go, my old buddy you're moving much too slow.
We can share the women, we can share the wine.
We can share what we got of yours 'cause we done shared all of mine.
Keep on rollin', just a mile to go;
Keep on rollin' my old buddy, you're movin' much too slow.
I just jumped the watchman, right outside the fence.
Took his rings, four bucks in change, ain't that Heaven sent?
Hurts my ears to listen, Shannon, burns my eyes to see;
Cut down a man in cold blood, Shannon, might as well been me.
We used to play for silver, now we play for life;
And one's for sport and one's for blood at the point of a knife.
And now the die is shaken, now the die must fall.
There ain't a winner in the game, he don't go home with all.
Not with all.
Leavin' Texas, fourth day of July,
Sun so hot, the clouds so low, the eagles filled the sky.
Catch the Detroit Lightnin' out of Sante Fe,
The Great Northern out of Cheyenne, from sea to shining sea.
Gotta go to Tulsa, first train we can ride.
Gotta settle one old score, one small point of pride.
There ain't a place a man can hide, Shannon will keep him from the sun
Ain't a bed can give us rest now, you keep us on the run.
Jack Straw from Wichita cut his buddy down,
And dug for him a shallow grave and laid his body down.
Half a mile from Tucson, by the morning light,
One man gone and another to go, my old buddy you're moving much too slow.
We can share the women, we can share the wine.
Lyrics submitted by itsmyownmind
Track duration: 04:49
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If the man robbed was murdered by the narrator (who says it might have been just as easily him) that leaves 4 people left: The narrator, his "slow buddy", Shannon and Jack Straw.
The narrator next mentions Shannon by saying that she/he keeps them on the run. Considering that they played a card game where the stakes weren't for money but for life instead, it could be surmised that Shannon was the winner of the hand. Or, Shannon could be the narrator's female love interest. Hard to tell. He keeps communicating with him/her.
The next murder occurs when Jack Straw murders his buddy and buries him. Who is Jac Straw's buddy? An unnamed card player at the game? Next, it is said that one man is down and another to go. This would leave now only the Narrator, his "slow buddy", Jack Straw and Shannon (assuming the man robbed was murdered). This leaves 4 people left.
Now, either Jack Straw's buddy that he murdered, was a member of the dangerous card game that was not mentioned before in the song, or Jack Straw IS the narrator who has now killed his buddy that is "moving too slow". Or, Shannon is Jack Straw and has killed the before unmentioned other card player in the game.
If Shannon is Jack Straw who killed the unknown card player then it makes sense as to why the narrator continues with the admonition towards his slow moving buddy to pick up the pace; as they are next (one man down and another to go).
So, in my analysis of this song's potential meaning, the song ends with the narrator and his "slow moving buddy" being pursued by Jack Straw/Shannon who was the winner of the murderous hand in their card game. Of course, I still can't reconcile why the narrator communicates with Shannon twice in the song, but his second reference to Shannon keeping them on the run is damning evidence that Shannon is Jack Straw and is trying to kill the narrator and his slow buddy.
What do you think?
Which is what this song is about. Shannon (who is the Jack Straw in the song title) is running out of options, he's on the run from the law and has nowhere to hide, he then has to kill his friend because he's moving too slow as he doesn't agree with what Shannon is doing.
The meaning is that once you start being a criminal it's a downward spiral. You keep going one stage further, deeper and deeper into crime untill you're forced to do very bad things.
So in the end there's no real sharing or friendship amongst bad people....