Old Man Luedecke (Chris Luedecke) is a singer and banjo player living near … Read Full Bio ↴Old Man Luedecke (Chris Luedecke) is a singer and banjo player living near Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Old Man Luedecke left the big old city of Toronto, met a girl in the Yukon, fell in love, bought a banjo and fell in love again. After a couple of years of love and banjo and the makings of a brilliant performing career in sunny Halifax, he returned to the Yukon with his sweethearts. There he woodshedded. He wrote a ton of songs over the next year and a half. He held regular gigs playing banjo in a gambling hall with can-can girls and in a honky tonk called the Snakepit accompanying piano barnacle Bob. Even made an appearance at the Dawson City Music Festival. After a time, he left again for Halifax to renew musical acquaintances and record his debut CD Mole in the Ground. That CD has become a smash on college radio, was featured on CBC's Atlantic Airwaves and is a hot item in stores and at shows. He continues to live in Halifax and perform there and around the country to ever-wider acclaims. His stage show blends hokum and inspiration into powerful and fun entertainment that will delight young and old. He's still sweet on the girl he met up there in Yukon, and the banjo

http://www.oldmanluedecke.ca

Tender Is the Night
Old Man Luedecke Lyrics

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I will not go down
On the feast of Stephen
I will not sail away
On the Rights of Man
Never saw the sun
When I was leaving
I’m sure it smiles on you all
Now and then

Tender is the night upon your pillow
Tender is the light above our door
Tender is the night upon this airplane
But tender is the hope of coming home

You know every traveller has a self-deception
You know every sailor longs for time on shore

Leaving is a feeling that I hate but
Homesick is a longing I get more and mor

Overall Meaning

In Old Man Luedecke’s song Tender Is the Night, the first few lines suggest that the singer is not going to follow conventional paths or traditions. By saying, “I will not go down on the feast of Stephen, I will not sail away on the Rights of Man,” Luedecke creates a resistance to authority or organized patterns followed by society. He then mentions how he had never seen the sun when he was leaving, but he is sure that it smiles on others, which implies that he feels a little neglected or caught up in his own world while moving around. The use of the phrase “feast of Stephen” is a reference to the day after Christmas on the Christian calendar, and “Rights of Man” refers to the French Revolution’s declaration by the same name, which further reinforces the idea of defying authority.

The chorus in the song is a mix of imagery and contrasting emotions. The words “tender” and “light” are repeated frequently, creating an image of warmth, comfort, and softness. The line, “Tender is the hope of coming home,” brings out a contrasting sentiment over the tender music in the background. The words “hope” and “home” are repeated, which highlights the importance of having something to come back to. The following lines in the song describe how every traveler has self-deception, every sailor wants to return to shore, and leaving is hard but homesickness only grows ever stronger over time.

Line by Line Meaning