Gospel Plow
Screaming Trees Lyrics

The first few lines of the song “Gospel Plow” by the Screaming Trees is a reference to a spiritual/public domain song that originated from African American folk tradition in the US. The original lyrics of the song “Gospel Plow” suggest that if one wants to get to heaven, then they need to keep their hand on the gospel plow, which is a metaphor for keeping one's faith strong until the end of time. On the other hand, the lyrics in this rendition of the song are a bit more ominous, emotionally charged, and refer to a specific instance of the loss of faith, love, or both. The singer is mourning the loss of someone, and he wants to know that he is loved and that he is their intended purpose, just like how the original lyrics referred to keeping faith in order to have a place in heaven.

The song's chorus is built around the repetition of “hold on” and “Mary had a golden chain, every link spelled Jesus’ name.” Those are references to one of two things: 1) Mary's chain represents a symbol of a principled belief in God, tying believers together in their resolve to stay loyal to their religious beliefs, or 2) the golden chain is a symbol of a desire to be like Mary, who believed in and followed God's teachings. The “hold on” repeated by the chorus could be a suggestion of holding on to that faith or belief, even when the future looks bleak, or as a plea from the singer to hold on to their love for him, so he doesn't feel alone in the darkness. The second half of the song is more introspective and intensely personal than most of the other romantic ballads in popular music. The singer feels as though his dreams were torn, leaving him feeling completely alone, and he is trying to understand where he went wrong.