Now I can buy the proverbial gun
And shoot the proverbial child
While my uncle looks me in the eye
And speaks of freedom
And my conscience goes up on trial
In the courtrooms of the mind
Where the judges all have sons
And all the lawyers are wounded
And the backs are all broke
And the bailiff is my brother
And the witness is my sister
And I'm guilty as hell
But by the afternoon I'm out
Out on the pavement walking
Wreaking of salt and blood
No hat upon my head
No shoes upon my feet
Picking your body
From my teeth
No stars above me
No stripes upon me
Free
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
The Proverbial Gun - Derek Webb
I don't know what this song means. I really like Derek Webb. And while I haven't listened to it much, I think this new CD, Stockholm Syndrome, shows promise. I don't know. Explain these lyrics to me.
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2 comments:
These are intriguing lyrics.
It's an analogy, it must be, if it's a proverbial gun. I don't know of any proverbs that involve guns and kids. And I wonder what the uncle is doing.
Is the uncle criticizing the writer, saying that shooting children isn't freedom? Or is the uncle cautioning him, like "you are now able to buy the gun, which makes it possible for you to shoot the child, so be careful nephew, with freedom comes responsibility"? What does the uncle think about freedom? What does Derek Webb want us to think about freedom?
Second stanza: wow. The legal system is stacked against him. I'd think that his conscience is the jury, but no: his conscience is going on trial. What does that mean? His conscience is being tested.
Third stanza: I'm lost now. What does this analogy mean? I think he's guilty of shooting the child. But if this is still in the courtroom of the mind, it's a theoretical guilt.
Fourth stanza: "salt and blood" denotes sweat? A fight? He's wounded? He's wounded others?
Fifth stanza: Ugh, he's (metaphorically, of course) bit into "you".
Sixth stanza: this is the most powerful stanza, I think. He claims, cynically, that not being under the law of America, or belonging to any nation, makes him free.
But I don't think this song is really about political theory, or about how freedom must have restraint. It seems too simple to convey in this confusion.
Maybe it means that being free from rules hurtles you into a lonely world of death. Or maybe it's talking about what happens when we defy conscience, or rather, the conscience becomes clouded. If we won't let our selves be judged (but why unfairly? why is there such judge bias? is this trying to bring in the question of why Job did not see justice? Is true justice based on something we can't understand?) and rather break out into a fight, the freedom we get is hollow.
This is most definitely the longest comment I have ever written. Do tell me what you think of this muddled interpretation.
The uncle is America, Uncle Sam. That's it, I got nothin'.
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