Razor Back Woman

I still can remember Pa coming home drunk
With the boys from the Union Hall station.
And it's hard to believe all the words that I read
We are living in God's favourite nation.
And I knew he was ill from the size of his pills,
They choked on the preacher's salvation.
And to know that his blood still flows in my veins
As I fall for each two-eyed temptation.

And the razor back woman who stood by his side
Is skinny and fixing to die.
Oh the razor back woman is calling me home
And she cries,oh my God how she cries.

I was only fourteen and my dad he was mean
When his face shined a river of sweat.
Oh he started yelling,"You'll go straight to hell,
You're young and your ears are still wet."
When the other young boys were enjoying their toys
He gave me my first cigarette.
And I'd like to say that those were the days
My sprung lungs won't ever forget.

All lyrics copyright John Stewart

This song is an example of how John's songs often started from a phrase idea - in this case a skinny (razor back) woman ( actually his mother).

Interpretation

We are now plunged into a past which we're told 'won't be forgotten'. Ironically in the past itself drink is consumed to forget those times. It's a past of hardship - drink to wipe away the worries. This is assuaged by the community spirit - 'the boys' , 'stood by his side'. The heritage theme is continued ('blood it still flowed in my veins'). This is linked to the nature/elements theme - the river suggesting the flow of bloodlines through time. The subject of these songs expands from individual people - to place - to the elements. All are linked together in a unity of vision. Another theme is started though - of temptation. The rural innocence of childhood is inevitably spoiled. Linked to this is the initiation of the child into adulthood ('first cigarette'). The 'woman calling me home' is the first suggestion of sounds from the past calling into the present (as in Pirates and Missouri Birds). There is a shift in this song between past and present tenses - from remembrance of the past to a reliving of it. Though not musically literate I suspect that the heroic big chords John spoke of using can be heard here - lifting ordinary people to epic stature. John compared the courage of people - not perfect, but honest- to endure to Britain in World War 2 - people being heroes without 'letting anyone know'. He let's us know about them in this album.