THERE ARE SOME SONGS that seem to come from a place that is at once in and out of the world. Written by men and women who, for a brief moment, are granted access to that strange, collective compendium of human experience that comes from, and belongs to, all the ages.
"Old Coat", written by Paul Stookey, Elaina Mezzetti and Mary Travers in 1963, was never a hit and is barely remembered now by anyone but old folkies like myself. A child when I first heard the song, I have never forgotten its bitter acuity and deep sadness concerning the "hard road" all of us are fated to travel from birth to death.
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Take off your old coat and roll up your sleeves,
Life is a hard road to travel, I believe.
I look to the east, I look to the west,
A youth asking fate to be rewardin'.
But fortune is a blind god, flying through the clouds,
And forgettin' me on this side of jordan.
Take off your old coat and roll up your sleeves,
Life is a hard road to travel, I believe.
Silver spoons to some mouths, golden spoons to others,
Dare a man to change the given order.
Though they smile and tell us all of us are brothers,
Never was it true this side of jordan.
Take off your old coat and roll up your sleeves,
Life is a hard road to travel, I believe.
Like some ragged owlet with it's wings expanded,
Nailed to some garden gate or boardin'.
Thus will I by some men all my life be branded
Never hurted none this side of jordan.
Yep. Thanks Chris.
I have this song on an old vinyl LP. It was always one of my favourites.
I was a young adult when I first heard it. I understood it to have been written in the heat of, and as a commentary upon, the civil rights struggle in the US. And the post-war decolonisation of the former European colonies in Africa and elsewhere.
I take your peter, Paul and Mary and raise you...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StB_ehpZyN4
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