To me, this song is about having one of life's precious memories permanently tainted. Legends such as lakes being named after lost babies are interesting to most people, thus enhancing the location's charm. It's not a lake named for some unknown politician of yore, it's named for a lost baby. That makes it cool. You want to tell your cousin visiting from out of state how the lakes got their names.
So, when you want to save your marriage, you go to a lake with character. You go to Lake Marie. Was the marriage saved? Maybe, maybe not. Either way, it was a good time. So good, you can almost feel the wind blowing and hear those sausages sizzle on the grill many years later. Every time you think of Louie, Louie, you remember her falling asleep in your arms. It's a good memory- most of us have a few of them.
Well, John's got a cynical sense of humor, so why not completely destroy that special memory? Create lots of images for the brain- horrible crime, black and white video, naked bodies, disfigurement, lots of commotion...
There's no way to escape, however your brain takes you back there- the song, the girl, the name Marie, fishing, Indians... whatever might have triggered that warm memory is now going to cause you pain or disgust or disillusion. What was once something good is now something bad. Peaceful waters? Yeah, right. John often tell us it can be a cruel world. Not even your own memory is safe.
@joe1129754 I think you nailed it. This is exactly how I interpreted the song, and when I looked up other interpretations just now, I found them unconvincing. I don't think it's a metaphor for how the modern world is corrupted or anything like that. The focus is clearly on the narrator and his wife, and your interpretation (mine too!) is the one that explains the song's climax, at the end of the last verse: That the love they shared was slammed up against the banks of Lake Marie. The question of whether their love survived is left up in the...
@joe1129754 I think you nailed it. This is exactly how I interpreted the song, and when I looked up other interpretations just now, I found them unconvincing. I don't think it's a metaphor for how the modern world is corrupted or anything like that. The focus is clearly on the narrator and his wife, and your interpretation (mine too!) is the one that explains the song's climax, at the end of the last verse: That the love they shared was slammed up against the banks of Lake Marie. The question of whether their love survived is left up in the air, but it was definitely threatened, and probably permanently damaged, by this horrible event that intruded on their idyllic memory.
To me, this song is about having one of life's precious memories permanently tainted. Legends such as lakes being named after lost babies are interesting to most people, thus enhancing the location's charm. It's not a lake named for some unknown politician of yore, it's named for a lost baby. That makes it cool. You want to tell your cousin visiting from out of state how the lakes got their names.
So, when you want to save your marriage, you go to a lake with character. You go to Lake Marie. Was the marriage saved? Maybe, maybe not. Either way, it was a good time. So good, you can almost feel the wind blowing and hear those sausages sizzle on the grill many years later. Every time you think of Louie, Louie, you remember her falling asleep in your arms. It's a good memory- most of us have a few of them.
Well, John's got a cynical sense of humor, so why not completely destroy that special memory? Create lots of images for the brain- horrible crime, black and white video, naked bodies, disfigurement, lots of commotion...
There's no way to escape, however your brain takes you back there- the song, the girl, the name Marie, fishing, Indians... whatever might have triggered that warm memory is now going to cause you pain or disgust or disillusion. What was once something good is now something bad. Peaceful waters? Yeah, right. John often tell us it can be a cruel world. Not even your own memory is safe.
Tremendous song.
@joe1129754 What a great Interpretation, thanks.
@joe1129754 What a great Interpretation, thanks.
@joe1129754 I think you nailed it. This is exactly how I interpreted the song, and when I looked up other interpretations just now, I found them unconvincing. I don't think it's a metaphor for how the modern world is corrupted or anything like that. The focus is clearly on the narrator and his wife, and your interpretation (mine too!) is the one that explains the song's climax, at the end of the last verse: That the love they shared was slammed up against the banks of Lake Marie. The question of whether their love survived is left up in the...
@joe1129754 I think you nailed it. This is exactly how I interpreted the song, and when I looked up other interpretations just now, I found them unconvincing. I don't think it's a metaphor for how the modern world is corrupted or anything like that. The focus is clearly on the narrator and his wife, and your interpretation (mine too!) is the one that explains the song's climax, at the end of the last verse: That the love they shared was slammed up against the banks of Lake Marie. The question of whether their love survived is left up in the air, but it was definitely threatened, and probably permanently damaged, by this horrible event that intruded on their idyllic memory.