Where to Now St Peter
Elton John – Where to Now St Peter
Tumbleweed Connection 1970
This one scares the hell out of me.
First: wow. Elton John, man… that guy can write and sing in a way that surprises me every time I hear something new from him.
His rendition of the line Blue Canoe is extraordinary. It’s almost like that one line is an entire verse. :-o
Blooooooooooooooooooooooo canooooee…💕
I think that the metaphor of choice is what scares me. What road am I on? Of course, he states he isn’t a christian but it is clear that he understands he’s made a choice and he wants to know what’s right and what’s wrong. He states he's done his best. And as long as we have, we should sleep well. Fitfulness, I think comes when we have slacked our hand at the wheel of our personal industry.
What level of honesty is appropriate? Merlin sleep is a good place to be… if you are trying to have your cake and eat it. Sort of I'm doing a thing, but not really admitting I'm doing it. Sleepwalking, as it were. Not everything needs to see the light of day. Maybe he lost someone once and he would rather have some small portion of them in his life and heart as opposed to none at all. He had all, then most and now none. An occasional drink of water is all it takes to keep us alive.
‘Dirty was the daybreak
Sudden was the change
In such a silent place as this
Beyond the rifle range’
Possible reference to war? Probably. This was nearly the peak of the Viet Nam conflict… so I assume this was related in some way? The harsh reality life and the carnage of war have real parallels when the light of day makes everything suddenly visible. Beyond the rifle range seems a metaphor for having gone beyond the practice stage of a thing, real life now with real consequences.
The rubber meeting the road, if you will.
It's metaphor-city up in here.
I took myself a blue canoe
And I floated like a leaf
Dazzling, dancing half enchanted
In my Merlin sleep
Crazy was the feeling
Restless were my eyes
Insane, they took the paddles
My arms they paralyzed
So where to now, St. Peter?
If it's true I'm in your hands
I may not be a Christian
But I've done all one man can
I understand I'm on the road
Where all that was is gone
So where to now, St. Peter?
Show me which road I'm on
Which road I'm on
It took a sweet young foreign gun
This lazy life is short
Something for nothing always ending
With a bad report
Dirty was the daybreak
Sudden was the change
In such a silent place as this
Beyond the rifle range
So where to now, St. Peter?
If it's true I'm in your hands
I may not be a Christian
But I've done all one man can
I understand I'm on the road
Where all that was is gone
So where to now, St. Peter?
Show me which road I'm on
Which road I'm on
I took myself a blue canoe
Finally: Why the pelican in the canoe illustration? In this image, our protagonist is on a journey in his blue canoe. Through the cosmos, let's say. It's a big and dangerous place. And, if you've traveled, you know how getting lost is a real possibility. So what do you need? Google maps, of course, but in our poetic and metaphorical journey, we're all analog. There are no precise maps for those brave souls like our paddler, so he needs a symbol of navigation and safe travels. The pelican is the perfect bird for this. It also is typically a lonely creature. So, not only is it representative of where and how he is going, it is a companion on his lonely journey.
Discuss...
words are our only real power
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