while the song does read as a straight love song to his ideal woman, the other side of it criticizes society for how they don't measure up to his ideal...by carrying roses, making promises, arguing and judging others, etc. at least to me, he wants people to see the selfishness and pointlessness of their actions.
as for the "cloak and dagger dangles" verse, he talks about the ingrained rituals, ceremonies, and traditions of society that "even the pawn" is forced to follow. traditions and beliefs that lead to mistrust and hate for people the pawn has no experience with. the statues of matchsticks to me represent all the artificial structures of the society like those beliefs (e.g. communism is evil, black people are inferior) that generalize a large group of people, or even social constructs like class, gender roles, etc.
but his ideal person realizes that there are two sides to every story, and that each person has their own beliefs and reasons for their actions. so how can you judge them lower than yourself, and what good will argument bring? it seems she even sees the ridiculous humor in the whole thing.
the last lines could mean that his ideal person is bound to get frustrated with the people in society being so blind and unaware, and comes to him for a shelter.
i think this song really has a slightly larger message than a typical love song. or maybe he just wrote a love song.
while the song does read as a straight love song to his ideal woman, the other side of it criticizes society for how they don't measure up to his ideal...by carrying roses, making promises, arguing and judging others, etc. at least to me, he wants people to see the selfishness and pointlessness of their actions.
as for the "cloak and dagger dangles" verse, he talks about the ingrained rituals, ceremonies, and traditions of society that "even the pawn" is forced to follow. traditions and beliefs that lead to mistrust and hate for people the pawn has no experience with. the statues of matchsticks to me represent all the artificial structures of the society like those beliefs (e.g. communism is evil, black people are inferior) that generalize a large group of people, or even social constructs like class, gender roles, etc.
but his ideal person realizes that there are two sides to every story, and that each person has their own beliefs and reasons for their actions. so how can you judge them lower than yourself, and what good will argument bring? it seems she even sees the ridiculous humor in the whole thing.
the last lines could mean that his ideal person is bound to get frustrated with the people in society being so blind and unaware, and comes to him for a shelter.
i think this song really has a slightly larger message than a typical love song. or maybe he just wrote a love song.
Do you think that this song about Joan Baez
Do you think that this song about Joan Baez