Verse Six |
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| I met a girl who sang the blues | Janis Joplin | |
| and I asked her for some happy news but she just smiled and turned away, | Janis died of an accidental heroin overdose on October 4, 1970. | |
| I went down to the sacred store where I'd heard the music years before | The "sacred store" refers to a record store. At the time customers were able to listen before they bought. The word "sacred" comes in because people looked to music to be "saved". See the line "Can music save your mortal soul" | |
| but the man there said the music wouldn't play | By then nobody cared about the type of music that Buddy Holly played in the 50's. | |
| and in the streets the children screamed, | "Flower children" being beaten by police and National Guard troops; in particular, perhaps, the People's Park riots in Berkeley in 1969 and 1970. | |
| the lovers cried, and the poets dreamed | In Dylan's "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall," he says: "I met one man he was wounded in love, I met another man he was wounded in hatred," showing that love hurts sometimes as much as hate. The poets did a lot of dreaming in the 60s, probably more than they ever have (musically speaking). Even pop stars became poets. | |
| but not a word was spoken, the church bells all were broken | The "church bells" represented dead musicians. | |
| and the three men I admire most, the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost, | This actually has two meanings. It refers to Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and the Big Bopper. However it also has a direct religious reference that ties in below. | |
| they caught the last train for the coast, the day, the music, died, and they were singin... | "Went West" is a synonym for dying. So it's a refrence to the death of the three musicians mentioned above but also at this time God became a controversy. And this is a reference to the famous "God is Dead" headline in the New York Times. |
Verse Six
I met a girl who sang the blues And I asked her for some happy news
But she just smiled and turned away I went down to the sacred store
Where I'd heard the music years before But the man there said the music woudn't play
And in the streets the children screamed The lovers cried, and the poets dreamed
But not a word was spoken The church bells all were broken
And the three men I admire most The Father, Son and the Holy Ghost
They caught the last train for the coast The day the music died (Chorus)
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