I have quite a different view of this song than most others do. I think the song is all about one person in three different stages of his life (early adulthood, middle-aged, and old), and the poor decisions/troubles he's encountered in his life.
The first part is about a younger boy who wants to leave home and be adventurous. His sister seems to be well-aware of his wanderlust, and acknowledges that she may not see him again until he's much older (hence the beard having grown so long). The sister doesn't sleep well and worries due to missing her sibling, which is why she wakes in the night. The two-cent coins reference could be alluding to the fact that it's two things in one. One-cent and one-cent (two separate things) have come to form a single two-cent coin. She probably felt very close to her brother, but now that they're separated, she doesn't feel like she's worth anything anymore.
The second part is talking about the brother when he's reached middle-age. The brother had established a family, but it went wrong, and he's now by himself. He has a wife and kids, but he's distraught due to his divorce. I think the lyrics imply that the divorce is mainly his fault (because it shows that he's upset by it), but by spending some time alone (on the mountainside and by the sea), he's come to terms with it and finds peace within himself.
Lastly, the brother has reached old age. This is the same man who's wife divorced him. He's upset that she's passed on, because it was the only woman that he's ever loved. The divorce may have been his fault, but just because you divorce someone, it doesn't mean that you stop loving them. So now that she's passed on, all he has left to do is die. Maybe he spent a lot of time after the divorce trying to win her back, but since she's died, there's "nothing you can do about it now."
This is one of my favorite songs of all time, and I may be way off on the interpretation, but hopefully it at least made a little sense the way that I wrote all of this.
I have quite a different view of this song than most others do. I think the song is all about one person in three different stages of his life (early adulthood, middle-aged, and old), and the poor decisions/troubles he's encountered in his life. The first part is about a younger boy who wants to leave home and be adventurous. His sister seems to be well-aware of his wanderlust, and acknowledges that she may not see him again until he's much older (hence the beard having grown so long). The sister doesn't sleep well and worries due to missing her sibling, which is why she wakes in the night. The two-cent coins reference could be alluding to the fact that it's two things in one. One-cent and one-cent (two separate things) have come to form a single two-cent coin. She probably felt very close to her brother, but now that they're separated, she doesn't feel like she's worth anything anymore. The second part is talking about the brother when he's reached middle-age. The brother had established a family, but it went wrong, and he's now by himself. He has a wife and kids, but he's distraught due to his divorce. I think the lyrics imply that the divorce is mainly his fault (because it shows that he's upset by it), but by spending some time alone (on the mountainside and by the sea), he's come to terms with it and finds peace within himself. Lastly, the brother has reached old age. This is the same man who's wife divorced him. He's upset that she's passed on, because it was the only woman that he's ever loved. The divorce may have been his fault, but just because you divorce someone, it doesn't mean that you stop loving them. So now that she's passed on, all he has left to do is die. Maybe he spent a lot of time after the divorce trying to win her back, but since she's died, there's "nothing you can do about it now." This is one of my favorite songs of all time, and I may be way off on the interpretation, but hopefully it at least made a little sense the way that I wrote all of this.
i agree !
i agree !