Wow,

Thanks for answering Dave. I have been savoring your album for a while now, and am haing fun trying to trace the different pieces.

On the note of a temperance song, I wonder if it doesn't express something else as well. I wrote this a few minute ago, playing with both the OAT and Blue Sky Boys versions:

Are these two songs reversals of one another? I am curious as to the tone of the Blue Sky Boys performance. OAT's version is sung in a distinctly irreverent manner.

The Blue Sky Boys version seems more sincere, more religious. It addresses hypocrisy: I read it as chastising those who do all these immoral things but then have the nerve to call themselves Christians. The chorus brings us back to Christ each time it is sung.

The OAT version seems a satire of the first. I read it as talking to the "holier than thou" religious, making fun of those who put others down for their vices. At first it seems to start out sincerely religious, but then it turns. Its chorus line "tra la la, amen" marks the turning point. The song contrasts people who dress up for church against people living in ditches.

The last stanza really makes me wonder, was this from the point of view of the Salvation Army? Especially telling is the point of view, of someone calling in the street people and then "marching on to victory".

I don't know if my reading is confusing or even wrong. Pairing these two together made them even more interesting.


Thanks Dave,
Jack