The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #94728 Message #3586363
Posted By: GUEST,Rob White
24-Dec-13 - 03:12 PM
Thread Name: Meaning: Farewell Farewell (Fairport Convention)
Subject: RE: Meaning: Farewell Farewell (Fairport Convention)
OK Guest, I will do you a favour... there is a great deal of the lyric that won't work with the Jeannie interpretation - though I can see that sadness over such a tragedy might prompt Richard Thompson's writing, and of course it's important not to be too literal. First though, it is "the cold north wind", not "the Great North Road", in the lyric. Then, if it is just Jeannie, as you insist - who are "the lonely travellers"? How does "the winding road" fit in (even metaphorically?) Who are the "bruised and beaten sons"? And what is the "light to be", after such a loss? And finally, who may it be who lies "asleep alongside of me"? But of course – to each her and his own. That, after all, is part of the making of good music and great songs – what we as listeners and performers bring to it. Happy Christmas 2013!