His most famous work is Alice's Restaurant, a talking blues song that lasts eighteen minutes and twenty seconds (in its original recorded version; Guthrie has been known to spin the story out to forty-five minutes in concert). The song, a bitingly satirical protest against the Vietnam War draft, is based on a true incident. In the song, Guthrie was called up for a draft examination, and rejected as unfit for military service as a result of a criminal record consisting in its entirety of a single arrest, court appearance, fine and clean-up order for littering. In reality, Guthrie, though a carrier of the genetically inherited disease Huntington's chorea, was classified as fit (1A); however, his draft-lottery number did not come up.
Miss The Mississippi & You
Arlo Guthrie Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Tired of the glamor, tired of the sights
In all my dreams, I am roaming once more
Back to my home on the old river shore
I am sad and weary far away from home
Miss the Mississippi and you dear
Days are dark and dreary everywhere I roam
Roaming the wide world over
Always along and blue, so blue
Nothing seems to cheer me under heaven's dome
Miss the Mississippi and you
Memories are bringing happy days of yore
Miss the Mississippi and you dear
Mocking birds are singing 'round the cabin door
Miss the Mississippi and you
Roaming the wide world over
Always alone and blue
Longing form my homeland, muddy water shore
Miss the Mississippi and you
Arlo Guthrie's song Miss The Mississippi & You is about the singer's homesickness for his native Mississippi and a past love. The opening lines express his weariness of city life and the glitz and glamour that come with it. He longs to return to his home on the banks of the old river, where life was simpler and more meaningful.
He confesses that he is sad and weary being far away from the Mississippi and the person he misses. He feels lost and alone, unable to find solace anywhere in the world. His only source of comfort is in the memories of happy days spent with his love and the sounds of nature, such as the mockingbird singing around the cabin door.
The song is a heartfelt tribute to the beauty and simplicity of life on the Mississippi River and the nostalgic memories that such a life evokes. It speaks to the universal longing for a place to call home and the people we love.
Line by Line Meaning
I'm growing tired of the big city lights
I am becoming weary of the artificiality represented by the illuminated urban areas
Tired of the glamor, tired of the sights
I am fatigued with the aesthetics of glitz and glamor, as I long for a simpler and more meaningful life
In all my dreams, I am roaming once more
My subconscious is filled with visions of traveling back to my origins
Back to my home on the old river shore
Returning to the area where I grew up, along the banks of the river, is where I feel most at home
I am sad and weary far away from home
Being at a distance from my roots has resulted in me feeling melancholic and exhausted
Miss the Mississippi and you dear
I am yearning for my companionship with my loved one and my homeland, mainly represented by the Mississippi river
Days are dark and dreary everywhere I roam
Regrettably, no matter where I go, everything appears gloomy and dull without the Mississippi river and my beloved's company
Roaming the wide world over
I have been wandering aimlessly throughout the vast world
Always along and blue, so blue
I am often feeling isolated and sad, extremely sad
Nothing seems to cheer me under heaven's dome
I am unable to find anything that can lift my spirits wherever I go
Memories are bringing happy days of yore
My recollections of past joyful days are reminiscing positive times that are now absent
Mocking birds are singing 'round the cabin door
Bird sounds, like mockingbirds, that surround my house remind me of a place where I was happy and comfy
Longing form my homeland, muddy water shore
My unrelenting nostalgia for my homeland, especially the muddy banks of the Mississippi River, continues to grow.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
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