While I actually like your opinions on the song meaning, I am afraid this song is actually about something quite dark. Tom Waits wrote this song for a play called Woyzeck, and the album Blood Money contains all the music that he wrote for the play. In this play the main character, Franz Woyzeck, is a German soldier who lives with his love Marie. She leaves him for another man who forces himself upon her. In a fit of jealousy kills Marie and then kills himself. At least this is what I have read. My interpretation is that this song is something that Woyzeck is expressing as remorse right before he kills himself.
The drum major doesn't force himself upon Marie, it is a consensual relationship, she is ridden with guilt for what she has done, she quotes the bible trying to hunt for forgiveness or for a way to get Woyzeck to forgive him.
The drum major doesn't force himself upon Marie, it is a consensual relationship, she is ridden with guilt for what she has done, she quotes the bible trying to hunt for forgiveness or for a way to get Woyzeck to forgive him.
In the original play, Woyzeck doesn't kill himself and in many of the play adaptations he doesn't kill himself. However, because the play was never finished properly (the playwright died before the play was published so it can never be confirmed that it was actually finished). Woyzeck doesn't feel guilty for killing Marie, he is depressed that he had to but he felt he was washing her of her sin. The song is about Marie's guilt for cheating on him.
The "pretend that you owe me nothing and all the world is green" is reference to Woyzeck and Marie's social situation. They live in deep poverty and Woyzeck is gone all day trying to make enough money to survive, he only sees Marie to give her his wage so she can feed their child. The "pretend you owe me nothing" is reference to the fact that he'd not given her any love and attention for a very long time and the money he makes isn't enough to make up for it. "All the world is green" refers to pretending they're not stuck in poverty. A green world is a prosperous one, she's trying to pretend that they, too, are prosperous.
The song is a duet between Woyzeck and Marie. Woyzeck is intended to sing the first verse.
While I actually like your opinions on the song meaning, I am afraid this song is actually about something quite dark. Tom Waits wrote this song for a play called Woyzeck, and the album Blood Money contains all the music that he wrote for the play. In this play the main character, Franz Woyzeck, is a German soldier who lives with his love Marie. She leaves him for another man who forces himself upon her. In a fit of jealousy kills Marie and then kills himself. At least this is what I have read. My interpretation is that this song is something that Woyzeck is expressing as remorse right before he kills himself.
The drum major doesn't force himself upon Marie, it is a consensual relationship, she is ridden with guilt for what she has done, she quotes the bible trying to hunt for forgiveness or for a way to get Woyzeck to forgive him.
The drum major doesn't force himself upon Marie, it is a consensual relationship, she is ridden with guilt for what she has done, she quotes the bible trying to hunt for forgiveness or for a way to get Woyzeck to forgive him.
In the original play, Woyzeck doesn't kill himself and in many of the play adaptations he doesn't kill himself. However, because the play was never finished properly (the playwright died before the play was published so it can never be confirmed that it was actually finished). Woyzeck doesn't feel guilty for killing Marie, he is depressed that he had to but he felt he was washing her of her sin. The song is about Marie's guilt for cheating on him.
The "pretend that you owe me nothing and all the world is green" is reference to Woyzeck and Marie's social situation. They live in deep poverty and Woyzeck is gone all day trying to make enough money to survive, he only sees Marie to give her his wage so she can feed their child. The "pretend you owe me nothing" is reference to the fact that he'd not given her any love and attention for a very long time and the money he makes isn't enough to make up for it. "All the world is green" refers to pretending they're not stuck in poverty. A green world is a prosperous one, she's trying to pretend that they, too, are prosperous.
The song is a duet between Woyzeck and Marie. Woyzeck is intended to sing the first verse.