Born in Cleveland, Ohio,U.S., Tracy Chapman began playing guitar and writing songs as a child. She received a scholarship through A Better Chance that allowed her to attend Wooster School in Connecticut, and was eventually accepted to Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts.
Tracy Chapman helped restore songwriters to the spotlight in the '80s. The multi-platinum success of Chapman's eponymous 1988 debut was unexpected, and it had lasting impact. Although Chapman was working from the same confessional songwriter foundation that had been popularized in the '70s, her songs were fresh and powerful, driven by simple melodies and affecting lyrics. At the time of her first album, there were only a handful of artists performing such a style successfully, and her success ushered in a new era of songwriters that lasted well into the '90s. Along with 10,000 Maniacs and R.E.M., Chapman's liberal politics proved enormously influential on American college campuses in the late '80s.
Official Website: http://www.tracychapman.com
Fansite: http://www.tracychapmanonline.com
The First Person On Earth
Tracy Chapman Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
From the rock and the dirt
You were
The first person on earth
Oh the mountains
And the oceans
Witnessed your birth
By a river
On the banks of a sandy shore
Untouched clean fresh and pure
The first person on earth
In the light of the sun
You emerged
To see the good in the world
Before the pain and the scourge
The first person on earth
In the quiet in the calm
Before the storm
You heard the dream for a love
That never dies in a poem
The first person on earth
And I'm in love with you
I'm in love with a dream
That can not be realized
Held or seen
By the last person on earth
After the earthquakes the hurricanes
The fires and floods
I'm jaded cynical angry and glum
The worlds too absurd and obscene
For true love
And more than happy to let me become
The last person on earth
To let me stand on a rock
The muddy waters surround
Abandoned alone
The end soon to come
As the last person on earth
As the waters rise
At the end of the world
Thought I bear the weight
Of the rock and the dirt
I know I'm worthy of your love
As the last person on the earth
As the water rise
At the end of the world
Thought I bear the weight
Of the rock and the dirt
I know I'm worthy of your love
As the last person on the earth
Tracy Chapman's song "The First Person On Earth" is a tribute to the world's first human being who experienced the world in its pure, untouched form before the pain and suffering of humanity's existence. The opening lines of the song, "From the water, from the rock and the dirt, you were the first person on earth," set the tone for the rest of the song, where nature is the central theme. The idea of nature's purity is reinforced in the lines "By a river, on the banks of a sandy shore, untouched, clean, fresh, and pure, the first person on earth."
The song portrays the world as a haven that humans once knew and now have lost. It yearns for a simpler time, where love was eternal and untarnished, as evidenced in the lyrics, "In the quiet in the calm, before the storm, you heard the dream for a love that never dies in a poem, the first person on earth." The song continues to depict the singer's disillusionment with the world, expressing a sense of loss in the lines "After the earthquakes, the hurricanes, the fires, and floods, I'm jaded cynical angry and glum. The world's too absurd and obscene for true love."
The song captures the emotional journey of humanity, from a peaceful and serene existence to the tumultuous present-day reality. It is a plea for humanity to return to its roots, to rediscover the purity of nature, and to find love in its most innocent form.
Line by Line Meaning
From the water
You were born from the very elements that shape our planet.
From the rock and the dirt
Your origin comes from the very foundation of the earth.
You were
The first person on earth
You are the original human, the genesis of our species.
Oh the mountains
And the oceans
Witnessed your birth
The magnitude of your birth was recognized by the grandeur of the earth itself.
By a river
On the banks of a sandy shore
Untouched clean fresh and pure
The first person on earth
You were born in an idyllic paradise untouched by the corruption of society.
In the light of the sun
You emerged
To see the good in the world
Before the pain and the scourge
The first person on earth
You were blinded by the beauty of the world before you experienced its cruelty and suffering.
In the quiet in the calm
Before the storm
You heard the dream for a love
That never dies in a poem
The first person on earth
You felt the pure and eternal essence of love before it was tainted by the complications of human interaction.
And I'm in love with you
I'm in love with a dream
That can not be realized
Held or seen
By the last person on earth
The singer is in love with the ideal of love, an unattainable dream that seems lost forever.
After the earthquakes the hurricanes
The fires and floods
I'm jaded cynical angry and glum
The worlds too absurd and obscene
For true love
And more than happy to let me become
The last person on earth
The singer has become disillusioned with the world and has lost hope in finding true love. They would rather be the last person on earth than experience more disappointment.
To let me stand on a rock
The muddy waters surround
Abandoned alone
The end soon to come
As the last person on earth
The singer is resigned to their fate of being the last person alive, stranded on a rocky island surrounded by murky water with no hope of rescue.
As the waters rise
At the end of the world
Thought I bear the weight
Of the rock and the dirt
I know I'm worthy of your love
As the last person on the earth
Even as the world ends and the singer faces their final moments, they believe that they are still deserving of love, the same love that the first person on earth received.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
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