Perhaps John is commenting on the media and our appetite for it here. The initial tale about the indians is obviously false suggesting the other stories to follow are colored by time and perception as well. The description of blood in a black and white video appearing as "shadow" diminishes the deaths as most television "news" reports do. Likewise, the wind blowing "especially " through his lover's hair speaks to the idea that we see things through our own prism.
Bob Dylan claimed John to be his favorite song writer and this to be his favorite Prine song. It is not mine but perhaps I need to learn it better.
The tale about the indians is part fiction - although the lakes were named for two girls, Elizabeth and Mary. Prine once commented that "if they hadn't named the lakes after two white girls the waters would have remained peaceful", yet he was aware that the lakes were the site of strife between whites and natives in the past. Perhaps the murder is a comment on not only the shame of the media but the general strife that whites have brought to what was once a peaceful place (although I'd question how peaceful life was when it was...
The tale about the indians is part fiction - although the lakes were named for two girls, Elizabeth and Mary. Prine once commented that "if they hadn't named the lakes after two white girls the waters would have remained peaceful", yet he was aware that the lakes were the site of strife between whites and natives in the past. Perhaps the murder is a comment on not only the shame of the media but the general strife that whites have brought to what was once a peaceful place (although I'd question how peaceful life was when it was just the natives about, given what we know about tribal warfare in these areas in the past).
In any case, I'd say the other point of the song is that sometimes you are so caught up in your own perspective that you fail to see beyond it. I suppose they saw the news report, probably of Gacy or Dahmer's work, and thought a lot of things - how it could have been them, or maybe just how it destroyed one of their happier memories, and then perhaps thanks only to the prevalence of the media. It folds back on itself, as the people murdered had their own story that nobody else knew.
Perhaps John is commenting on the media and our appetite for it here. The initial tale about the indians is obviously false suggesting the other stories to follow are colored by time and perception as well. The description of blood in a black and white video appearing as "shadow" diminishes the deaths as most television "news" reports do. Likewise, the wind blowing "especially " through his lover's hair speaks to the idea that we see things through our own prism. Bob Dylan claimed John to be his favorite song writer and this to be his favorite Prine song. It is not mine but perhaps I need to learn it better.
The tale about the indians is part fiction - although the lakes were named for two girls, Elizabeth and Mary. Prine once commented that "if they hadn't named the lakes after two white girls the waters would have remained peaceful", yet he was aware that the lakes were the site of strife between whites and natives in the past. Perhaps the murder is a comment on not only the shame of the media but the general strife that whites have brought to what was once a peaceful place (although I'd question how peaceful life was when it was...
The tale about the indians is part fiction - although the lakes were named for two girls, Elizabeth and Mary. Prine once commented that "if they hadn't named the lakes after two white girls the waters would have remained peaceful", yet he was aware that the lakes were the site of strife between whites and natives in the past. Perhaps the murder is a comment on not only the shame of the media but the general strife that whites have brought to what was once a peaceful place (although I'd question how peaceful life was when it was just the natives about, given what we know about tribal warfare in these areas in the past).
In any case, I'd say the other point of the song is that sometimes you are so caught up in your own perspective that you fail to see beyond it. I suppose they saw the news report, probably of Gacy or Dahmer's work, and thought a lot of things - how it could have been them, or maybe just how it destroyed one of their happier memories, and then perhaps thanks only to the prevalence of the media. It folds back on itself, as the people murdered had their own story that nobody else knew.