Johanna comes to New York because one of her family members, most likely her younger brother, has just died from cancer. She has been to visit him previously in the cancer ward at Sloan-Kettering, as evidenced by the lyric "she'd seen the thing at the young man's wing in Sloan-Kettering"
"His Honor" could be just that, a judge who has settled the family estate. She takes the ring from him. The line "a thousand years in one piece of silver" can refer to the ring having been in the family for generations. The "raincoats coming" are a symbol of her sadness. She watches them from her apartment or hotel window.
I think that the lines about His Honor's trip to the southwest are showing that the whole experience was difficult for everyone. Even the estate executor had to take some time off (maybe permanently) to distance himself from the emotional turmoil of a young person dying of cancer.
Johanna takes an apartment in the city to be close to the memory of her lost loved one. However, she has thrown the ring into the sea because of the painful association with the death.
I think that the narrator of the song is the deceased relative. The line "half of the ring lies here with me, but the other half's at the bottom of the sea" means that the physical location of the ring is the ocean where it was thrown, but the "other half" is the memory associated with the ring, which lies with the dead person.
@icy40oz I like this, only I wonder could “his honor” refer to someone that was going to marry Johanna with someone, and instead of it being her younger brother, it was her husband-to-be instead?
@icy40oz I like this, only I wonder could “his honor” refer to someone that was going to marry Johanna with someone, and instead of it being her younger brother, it was her husband-to-be instead?
Ok, how about this:
Johanna comes to New York because one of her family members, most likely her younger brother, has just died from cancer. She has been to visit him previously in the cancer ward at Sloan-Kettering, as evidenced by the lyric "she'd seen the thing at the young man's wing in Sloan-Kettering"
"His Honor" could be just that, a judge who has settled the family estate. She takes the ring from him. The line "a thousand years in one piece of silver" can refer to the ring having been in the family for generations. The "raincoats coming" are a symbol of her sadness. She watches them from her apartment or hotel window.
I think that the lines about His Honor's trip to the southwest are showing that the whole experience was difficult for everyone. Even the estate executor had to take some time off (maybe permanently) to distance himself from the emotional turmoil of a young person dying of cancer.
Johanna takes an apartment in the city to be close to the memory of her lost loved one. However, she has thrown the ring into the sea because of the painful association with the death.
I think that the narrator of the song is the deceased relative. The line "half of the ring lies here with me, but the other half's at the bottom of the sea" means that the physical location of the ring is the ocean where it was thrown, but the "other half" is the memory associated with the ring, which lies with the dead person.
Just my two pennies.
hey icy i totally agree. i was thinking that it was a judge every time i heard the song. not a king. u achieved greatness
hey icy i totally agree. i was thinking that it was a judge every time i heard the song. not a king. u achieved greatness
@icy40oz I like this, only I wonder could “his honor” refer to someone that was going to marry Johanna with someone, and instead of it being her younger brother, it was her husband-to-be instead?
@icy40oz I like this, only I wonder could “his honor” refer to someone that was going to marry Johanna with someone, and instead of it being her younger brother, it was her husband-to-be instead?