It is a strange mix of themes ranging from the American West to the ballads and jigs of Celtic ancestors that somehow seems to make sense in the musical world Jack Hardy has created. And it is a separate world to which the listener is transported; a timeless place inhabited by tinkers and cowboys, saints and sinners, elves, virgins and crones. From his extensive travels and reading he has forged an endearing non-academic approach to literature, one that is more at home in the pub than in the classroom. "He clearly seems to enjoy making his listeners think. He may dare his audience to figure out what he is saying, but he also credits them with the intelligence to do so" (Tom Nelligan, Dirty Linen, 1998).
In Europe, where Hardy has toured extensively for over 20 years, he is accepted as an ambassador for American music. In an Italian encyclopedia of rock Jack has a larger entry than many prominent rock stars.
"Nothing adventuresome is created in a vacuum," Jack says, "you get people together and the creative sparks fly." The weekly songwriters workshop which he has hosted for many years taught and nurtured countless songwriters, not the least of which are Suzanne Vega, John Gorka, Shawn Colvin, Richard Shindell and David Massengill. The Fast Folk Musical Magazine, which he founded and edited, released the first recordings of most of the artists currently headlining folk festivals. This collection of over 100 compilation albums has now been taken over by the Smithsonian.
Gregarious and outgoing when talking about his songs and songwriting in general, Jack fiercely guards the privacy of his personal life. Jack Hardy was born in Indiana, his father a musician, his mother a painter. He grew up in New York, Colorado, and Connecticut, studied opera and literature in college.
In 1998, Prime CD reissued his first ten albums in a box set as well as his eleventh album The Passing. In 1996, BCN Records released a tribute album The Songs of Jack Hardy: Of the White Goddess, a collection of his Celtic ballads (all sung by women). In 1997, Jack was the recipient of The Kate Wolf Memorial Award, given yearly to "an artist who makes a difference through his music" by the World Folk Music Association. In 2000, Prime CD has released Jack's twelfth album Omens.
Omens was recorded live to 24 track analog in two days, using the vintage recording equipment of Prime CD's Theater 99 recording studio in New York City, with no overdubs. The fourteen songs range from the uptempo Celtic "Sile na gCioch" where a tinker finds a dress on the side of the road and gives it to a young lass, to the majestic "West of Dingle" where a woman faces a choice between her lover and her fiddle; from the biting barrage of juxtaposed media images of "I Ought to Know" to the romantic ballad "Only One Sky" and back to the uptempo humorous Clancy Brother-ish "The Boney Bailiff." This album takes you on quite a musical voyage with some of Jack's best poetic imagery, but it is the sweeping beautiful melodies that carry these songs directly into your memory. The players include Jack's current touring band: Tom Duval on electric guitar and harmony (also heard on Jack's albums The Hunter and Civil Wars), Mike Laureanno on Hofner bass and harmony, Dave Anthony on Drums (also heard on Jack's album The Passing), and Kate MacLeod on fiddle. The album also features a buried bonus track containing 19 minutes of Suzanne Vega interviewing Jack on the subject of songwriting. Hardy's 16th album, Rye Grass, arrived on Great Divide in 2009. Jack Hardy passed away on March 11, 2011.
source and more infos: http://www.jackhardy.com/
Don't Tread on Me
Jack Hardy Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
That says "don't tread on me"
With my hand on a bottle like a weapon in my hand
That spells my liberty
Well, there ain't no work on a hot summer's night
You know there ain't no work at all
And a dollar and a quarter gonna buy another bottle
Help me make it to the fall
I was itchin' for a fight when my country come a-callin'
I was educated for that chore
I believed what they said about fightin' them reds
And i marched off to that war
Well, the only red i saw was blood on the field
And my bank account when i got home
And the red in the bottle that i thought that i needed
'gainst the nightmares of being alone
Well, out in california th'got some very fine wine
And they keep it in the bottle 'til it's aged
And they know when they bottle that the rich gonna pay
So they place it in a wooden crate
But the poison that they bottle for a dollar and a quarter
You know it comes from the very same grapes
But they play the percentage that no one gonna notice
Keep the poor man with nothing on his plate
Well, this country it was founded on a flag with a snake
That said "don't tread on me"
And a flag with a chain with thirteen little circles
Whose weakest link is me
When cannon fodder sells for a dollar and a quarter
How unlucky can one boy be
But i'm pledging my time when i break this bottle
And i say "don't tread on me"
In Jack Hardy's song Don't Tread on Me, the lyrics paint a bleak picture of a man on a hot summer's night, drinking from a bottle while hoping for fortune in the future. His words reveal the harsh reality of having no work and no hopes, but he clings to his freedom with the help of the bottle, which he sees as his redemption. With his hand on the bottle like a weapon, the man is ready to do whatever it takes to keep his liberty.
The second part of the song speaks to the heartbreaking experiences of war. The singer fought in a war, believing in what the country had taught him about fighting reds. However, he returned home to find himself alone and traumatized. The red he saw was the blood he had shed in the war and the bank account he had lost due to the cost of war. The singer reveals that he turned to alcohol to cope with his loneliness, but it only made his situation worse.
In the last part of the song, the singer uses metaphors to convey his distrust of the government and its treatment of the poor. He talks about how the wealthy can afford to wait for their wine to age, while the poor cannot afford the luxury of waiting. He mentions how the wealthy get better quality wine, while the poor get the same grape juice but in a poor quality bottle. The singer finally pledges his time to the flag with a snake that says, "Don't tread on me," and to the thirteen circles whose weakest link is him. The song is a warning to the government not to tread on the poor and powerless.
Line by Line Meaning
You may see me on the corner with a big old smile
That says "don't tread on me"
I am happy and confident, but also warn others not to come in my way.
With my hand on a bottle like a weapon in my hand
That spells my liberty
I hold this bottle which represents freedom and my right to do what I want.
Well, there ain't no work on a hot summer's night
You know there ain't no work at all
And a dollar and a quarter gonna buy another bottle
Help me make it to the fall
There are times when there is no work available in the summer and I need to use my money wisely to sustain myself till autumn.
I was itchin' for a fight when my country come a-callin'
I was educated for that chore
I believed what they said about fightin' them reds
And i marched off to that war
I was eager to fight for my country and believed what I was taught about the enemy, so I joined the war.
Well, the only red i saw was blood on the field
And my bank account when i got home
And the red in the bottle that i thought that i needed
'gainst the nightmares of being alone
The only red I saw during the war was blood, and when I returned home, I was financially broke. The only solace I found was in the bottle.
Well, out in california th'got some very fine wine
And they keep it in the bottle 'til it's aged
And they know when they bottle that the rich gonna pay
So they place it in a wooden crate
California has very expensive wine, and they store it in bottles until it is aged because the wealthy are willing to pay a lot of money for it.
But the poison that they bottle for a dollar and a quarter
You know it comes from the very same grapes
But they play the percentage that no one gonna notice
Keep the poor man with nothing on his plate
However, the cheap wine that the poor drink comes from the same grapes and is also bottled, but they don't care about quality because they assume nobody will notice and continue to keep the poor people only surviving.
Well, this country it was founded on a flag with a snake
That said "don't tread on me"
And a flag with a chain with thirteen little circles
Whose weakest link is me
Our country was created with a flag that warned others not to come into our personal space and with another flag whose weakest link is people like me, the poor and vulnerable.
When cannon fodder sells for a dollar and a quarter
How unlucky can one boy be
But i'm pledging my time when i break this bottle
And i say "don't tread on me"
When people like me are seen as disposable and worth only a small amount, how unlucky can I be? But despite that, I will use my time and voice to tell others not to push me around and to respect my freedom.
Contributed by Thomas T. Suggest a correction in the comments below.