I tend to think this song is maybe a little darker than most comments here--largely because of the lyric "mother I made it up from the bruise of a floor of this prison". To me this always seemed like a son who has done something terrible and is now paying the price for it. He asks two things from his mother: one, to remember all these good and bittersweet times together, and two, to forget him "now that the creek drank the cradle you sang to", which I envision as literally throwing the cradle in the creek, as is common practice is some rural places to throw old furniture into creeks, but obviously also a metaphor for growing up. All the rememberances seem unconnected. This remindes me of (and I have no justification for this, it just reminds me of it) the scene in the movie "dead man walking" where Sean Penn is reminiscing with his family before he is executed; there is a need for your mother to remember you and a horrible need for her to forget you to lessen the pain. "sons are like birds, flying upwards over the mountain" is a metaphor for how sons find it necessary to constantly struggle and do everything the hardest way possible. I can imagine a mother saying that to herself, for the umpteeth time her son gets into trouble. That particular phrase I find just beautiful and heartbreaking. This song is just ridiculously gorgeous in every way. The guitar work is perfect. As a son I find it very moving as well.
I tend to think this song is maybe a little darker than most comments here--largely because of the lyric "mother I made it up from the bruise of a floor of this prison". To me this always seemed like a son who has done something terrible and is now paying the price for it. He asks two things from his mother: one, to remember all these good and bittersweet times together, and two, to forget him "now that the creek drank the cradle you sang to", which I envision as literally throwing the cradle in the creek, as is common practice is some rural places to throw old furniture into creeks, but obviously also a metaphor for growing up. All the rememberances seem unconnected. This remindes me of (and I have no justification for this, it just reminds me of it) the scene in the movie "dead man walking" where Sean Penn is reminiscing with his family before he is executed; there is a need for your mother to remember you and a horrible need for her to forget you to lessen the pain. "sons are like birds, flying upwards over the mountain" is a metaphor for how sons find it necessary to constantly struggle and do everything the hardest way possible. I can imagine a mother saying that to herself, for the umpteeth time her son gets into trouble. That particular phrase I find just beautiful and heartbreaking. This song is just ridiculously gorgeous in every way. The guitar work is perfect. As a son I find it very moving as well.