Is it "Mother Road" or "Another Road"???
and though
I like meltonwork's interpretation.
I always change or otherwise modify lyrics when I do cover songs.
It helps to make it something a bit more personal for me to sing.
Victoria Willaims said in the liner notes for one of her records that she doesn't include lyrics becuase she likes to hear what other people come up with. Perhaps Mr. Farrar would say that no one is wrong if a listener can find a way for the song to be meaningful in some way to them. Or not.
For a long time I heard "Semaphore ghost signs and warnings" in "Medicine Hat" as "Some will forego signs and warnings." It reminds me of when I was in college in '86 spending three hours with a cassette deck trying to figure out the words to REM's "So. Central Rain." I heard an acoustic version later and either Michael Stipe changed a bunch of words or I was way off. Probably some of both.
Come to think of it, if Jay Farrar really wanted us to know that badly, he would've made Warner Brothers spring for having the lyrics printed in the booklet. He could resort to proper enunciation, but proper enunciation always sounds corny, like you're doing theater or show tunes or something. It's much bluesier to make people wonder what the hell you're saying. It gives girls something to ask you about during set break.
I always change or otherwise modify lyrics when I do cover songs.
It helps to make it something a bit more personal for me to sing.
Victoria Willaims said in the liner notes for one of her records that she doesn't include lyrics becuase she likes to hear what other people come up with. Perhaps Mr. Farrar would say that no one is wrong if a listener can find a way for the song to be meaningful in some way to them. Or not.
For a long time I heard "Semaphore ghost signs and warnings" in "Medicine Hat" as "Some will forego signs and warnings." It reminds me of when I was in college in '86 spending three hours with a cassette deck trying to figure out the words to REM's "So. Central Rain." I heard an acoustic version later and either Michael Stipe changed a bunch of words or I was way off. Probably some of both.
Come to think of it, if Jay Farrar really wanted us to know that badly, he would've made Warner Brothers spring for having the lyrics printed in the booklet. He could resort to proper enunciation, but proper enunciation always sounds corny, like you're doing theater or show tunes or something. It's much bluesier to make people wonder what the hell you're saying. It gives girls something to ask you about during set break.
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my 2 cents worth
n'Tho the road...
drawl version of "and though"
but i dont have song in frnt of me.
drawl version of "and though"
but i dont have song in frnt of me.
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If you actually listen to the words as originally recorded on "Trace", there is no way it can be "While the..." The vocal enunciation just sounds nothing like that. It has to be either "mother" or "another", and I agree with Dan for the same reasons he listed... "Mother Road" makes perfect sense.
P.S. Boy, we're a bunch of geeks, aren't we? Somebody get Mark Spencer to ask Jay in person, and while he's at it, find out what the hell he's mumbling at the end of "Blind Hope" too.
P.S. Boy, we're a bunch of geeks, aren't we? Somebody get Mark Spencer to ask Jay in person, and while he's at it, find out what the hell he's mumbling at the end of "Blind Hope" too.
All this discussion forced to me to listen to Route several times today. Tough assignment, I know... anyway, I always thought Jay was saying "While the road remains..." but I began to doubt it after reading everyone's suggestions. After some 7 or 8 listens today, I still believe it is "While the road remains...."
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Now look. Mother road does not make sense in the context of the song. I mean really! Think about it "mother road remains...", what mother road?
"Another road" makes better sense, but it still does not work. Listen to the lyrics. "Another road remains, it provides no more". If he's talking "another road", what did it provide before?
THE ANSWER. HE SAY'S "WHILE THE road remains, it provides no more".
He's talking about a "rural route" and the "rural route" is THE ROAD.
WHILE THE ROAD REMAINS, IT PROVIDES NO MORE
"Another road" makes better sense, but it still does not work. Listen to the lyrics. "Another road remains, it provides no more". If he's talking "another road", what did it provide before?
THE ANSWER. HE SAY'S "WHILE THE road remains, it provides no more".
He's talking about a "rural route" and the "rural route" is THE ROAD.
WHILE THE ROAD REMAINS, IT PROVIDES NO MORE
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Is it "Mother Road" or "Another Road"???
There's been some diagreement over the lyrics in "Route". Some say (and I agree) that it's "The mother road remains, it provides no more", others say "Another road remains, it provides no more".
What do you think????
What do you think????