Civil War? American Revolution? Jesus H. Christ....how many white boats with numbers on the side and big red lights were cruising around "making big waves" (and yes that is exactly the lyrics!) with their wake back then? The Viet Nam war idea is not bad, except that the boats would not likely be white and you would probably not find many natives named "Big John" or "Emmy Lou" around that area. It's hard to imagine the setting being anything other than rural America, most likely in the South sometime during the past century (i.e. after the invention of motorboats, at least.) Moonshining, whatever - the exact nature of the family's alleged transgressions are irrelevant. The boy's father had clearly had some run-ins with the law and had passed down his distrust and lack of respect for the authorities to his son, who then paid with his life.
And I agree - the guitar solos on the electric version are chilling and incredible.
@zoso726 Replying to my own overly snippy post from ten years ago (I'm sorry, I was having a tough time back then.) Now that I am older and a bit mellower, and have continued to listen to Neil's songs, I'm inclined to agree with other posters that the time and place are irrelevant. Neil tends to write songs that evoke and explore feelings, and I suspect that was his focus here. To me, the fast boat with a red beacon and "numbers on the side" indicates some type of law enforcement boat in perhaps the mid to late 20th century....
@zoso726 Replying to my own overly snippy post from ten years ago (I'm sorry, I was having a tough time back then.) Now that I am older and a bit mellower, and have continued to listen to Neil's songs, I'm inclined to agree with other posters that the time and place are irrelevant. Neil tends to write songs that evoke and explore feelings, and I suspect that was his focus here. To me, the fast boat with a red beacon and "numbers on the side" indicates some type of law enforcement boat in perhaps the mid to late 20th century. "Red means run, son" reinforces the moonshiner angle because before the early 1960's most police vehicles in the USA had a red flashing beacon.
But it simply doesn't matter to the song; change the technology a bit and the same tragic scenario could have played out at many different times and places. Note that Neil has sometimes even sung the lyrics as "Red men run, son" which puts yet a different spin on the story. So that seems to support the idea that he wants us to focus on the scenario and feelings instead of a strict storyline.
Civil War? American Revolution? Jesus H. Christ....how many white boats with numbers on the side and big red lights were cruising around "making big waves" (and yes that is exactly the lyrics!) with their wake back then? The Viet Nam war idea is not bad, except that the boats would not likely be white and you would probably not find many natives named "Big John" or "Emmy Lou" around that area. It's hard to imagine the setting being anything other than rural America, most likely in the South sometime during the past century (i.e. after the invention of motorboats, at least.) Moonshining, whatever - the exact nature of the family's alleged transgressions are irrelevant. The boy's father had clearly had some run-ins with the law and had passed down his distrust and lack of respect for the authorities to his son, who then paid with his life.
And I agree - the guitar solos on the electric version are chilling and incredible.
This was all live, too. Freaking amazing guitar work.
This was all live, too. Freaking amazing guitar work.
Exactly!
Exactly!
@zoso726 Replying to my own overly snippy post from ten years ago (I'm sorry, I was having a tough time back then.) Now that I am older and a bit mellower, and have continued to listen to Neil's songs, I'm inclined to agree with other posters that the time and place are irrelevant. Neil tends to write songs that evoke and explore feelings, and I suspect that was his focus here. To me, the fast boat with a red beacon and "numbers on the side" indicates some type of law enforcement boat in perhaps the mid to late 20th century....
@zoso726 Replying to my own overly snippy post from ten years ago (I'm sorry, I was having a tough time back then.) Now that I am older and a bit mellower, and have continued to listen to Neil's songs, I'm inclined to agree with other posters that the time and place are irrelevant. Neil tends to write songs that evoke and explore feelings, and I suspect that was his focus here. To me, the fast boat with a red beacon and "numbers on the side" indicates some type of law enforcement boat in perhaps the mid to late 20th century. "Red means run, son" reinforces the moonshiner angle because before the early 1960's most police vehicles in the USA had a red flashing beacon.
But it simply doesn't matter to the song; change the technology a bit and the same tragic scenario could have played out at many different times and places. Note that Neil has sometimes even sung the lyrics as "Red men run, son" which puts yet a different spin on the story. So that seems to support the idea that he wants us to focus on the scenario and feelings instead of a strict storyline.