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| Songwriter Mark Knopfler. |
This song is a fictional dialogue from Thomas Pynchon's 1997 novel "Mason & Dixon" between English astronomer Charles Mason (1728-1786) and surveyor/astronomer Jeremiah Dixon (1733-1779) as they set out in 1763 to draw the line named after them, a line which would define a nation more than the sum of its borders.
Prophetically, Phil Churchill (of "The Once", singing the part of Jeremiah Dixon) expresses a concern that many of us share today:
"You talk of liberty!
How can America be free?"
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| Michael David Rosenberg of "Passenger". |
"See, America lies there.
The morning tide has raised
The capes of Delaware.
Come up and feel the sun.
A new morning has begun.
Another day will make it clear
Why your stars should guide us here."
The subtext between the two is evident: Dixon was five years younger but significantly wealthier than Mason.
Lyrics:
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| Phil Churchill of "The Once" |
I am a Geordie boy
A glass of wine with you, sir
And the ladies I'll enjoy
All Durham and Northumberland
Is measured up by my own hand
It was my fate from birth
To make my mark upon the earth
He calls me Charlie Mason
A stargazer am I
It seems that I was born
To chart the evening sky
They'd cut me out for baking bread
But I had other dreams instead
This baker's boy from the west country
Would join the Royal Society
We are sailing to Philadelphia
A world away from the coaly Tyne
Sailing to Philadelphia
To draw the line
A Mason-Dixon Line
Now you're a good surveyor, Dixon
But I swear you'll make me mad
The West will kill us both
You gullible Geordie lad
You talk of liberty
How can America be free
A Geordie and a baker's boy
In the forests of the Iroquois
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| Stu Larsen. |
See America lies there
The morning tide has raised
The capes of Delaware
Come up and feel the sun
A new morning has begun
Another day will make it clear
Why your stars should guide us here
We are sailing to Philadelphia
A world away from the coaly Tyne
Sailing to Philadelphia
To draw the line
A Mason-Dixon Line
One of the reasons this song resonates in memory is its subtle use of alliteration (i.e. the repetition of sounds that begin stressed syllables, like "world away" or "baking bread But") and consonance (e.g. those "m" sounds in the last four lines of the first stanza). Incidentally, these techniques--or the lack of them--will often explain why we forget certain passages, even in the most familiar songs.
I'd have gone with a Mark Knopfler version, with or without James Taylor, but I think Passenger, The Once and Stu Larsen hammered this one out of the park. IMHO, they also aced John Prine's "Angel from Montgomery" and a number of other covers.
Lyrics:
I am an old woman named after my mother
My old man is another child that's grown old
If dreams were lightning thunder was desire
This old house would have burnt down a long time ago
Make me an angel that flies from Montgom'ry
Make me a poster of an old rodeo
Just give me one thing that I can hold on to
To believe in this living is just a hard way to go
When I was a young girl well, I had me a cowboy
He weren't much to look at, just free rambling man
But that was a long time and no matter how I try
The years just flow by like a broken down dam.
Make me an angel that flies from Montgom'ry
Make me a poster of an old rodeo
Just give me one thing that I can hold on to
To believe in this living is just a hard way to go
There's flies in the kitchen I can hear 'em there buzzing
And I ain't done nothing since I woke up today.
How the hell can a person go to work in the morning
And come home in the evening and have nothing to say.
Make me an angel that flies from Montgom'ry
Make me a poster of an old rodeo
Just give me one thing that I can hold on to
To believe in this living is just a hard way to go
Links:
Songs for a 4 Year Funeral
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