Posted on 07/07/2016 4:53:37 PM PDT by fatima
It was written after the songwriter had read and was influenced by an old story authored by Ambrose Bierce, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, [link to story] also known in some publications as "A Dead Man's Dream".
From another link, to the Plot Summary at this wikipedia link, the what makes I Cheat The Hangman spooky;
[excerpt]
In a flashback, Farquhar and his wife are relaxing at home one evening when a soldier rides up to the gate. Farquhar, a supporter of the Confederacy, learns from him that Union troops have seized the Owl Creek railroad bridge and repaired it. The soldier suggests that Farquhar might be able to burn the bridge down if he can slip past its guards. He then leaves, but doubles back after nightfall to return north the way he came. The soldier is actually a disguised Union scout who has lured Farquhar into a trap, as any civilian caught interfering with the railroads will be hanged.The story returns to the present, and the rope around Farquhar's neck breaks when he falls from the bridge into the creek. He frees his hands, pulls the noose away, and surfaces to begin his escape. His senses now greatly sharpened, he dives and swims downstream to avoid rifle and cannon fire. Once he is out of range, he leaves the creek to begin the journey to his home, 30 miles away. Farquhar walks all day long through a seemingly endless forest, and that night he begins to hallucinate, seeing strange constellations and hearing whispered voices in an unknown language. He travels on, urged by the thought of his wife and children despite the pains caused by his ordeal. The next morning, after having apparently fallen asleep while walking, he finds himself at the gate to his plantation. He rushes to embrace his wife, but before he can do so, he feels a heavy blow upon the back of his neck; there is a loud noise and a flash of white, and everything goes black.
It is revealed that Farquhar never escaped at all; he imagined the entire third part of the story during the time between falling through the bridge and the noose breaking his neck.
As for the Doobie Brothers song that was influenced by the story, as the songwriter Patrick Simmons is attributed to saying; "It's about a ghost returning to his home after the Civil War and not realizing he's dead".
In end result the man in the story doesn't really cheat the hangman, which changes everything, doesn't it? I'd bet people who followed this explanation, if they not knew of this previous, will never hear that song quite the same as they may have, before, although in Simmon's thoughts the returning soldier is more as full-time ghost, instead of having an ornate and seemingly long, waking fantasy dream sequence while falling, in that briefest moment of time prior to reaching the end of the hangman's rope (as in the famous Bierce story).
Er...maybe just a teensy bit less...well....green? :)
LOL! I’d say there are plenty who wouldn’t mind making contact with her.
Howdy, LUV.
Have a good day at work? No sourpusses, I hope.
I came of age with the Doobie Brothers and just loved their stuff.
Thanks!
That Felt Good !
OK, you made me look it up! I always thought it was by the Faces, in part because of the name of the album: "First Step"
Turns out the album was the first album recorded by the line up that changed their name to Faces, after the album was recorded and before it was released. Steve Marriott had left and Rod Stewart had joined. The album was released in North America under the name "Small Faces" and in the UK under "Faces". My album shows as "Small Faces" but if you do a google images search you will see both versions!
Thanks!
LOL. I kept getting an error message and thought it was not posting!
Goin’ for it.
Goin’ for it.
It wasn’t a bad day. Then it was done and I have tomorrow off! Yay, me!
No sourpusses...everyone I waited on was happy with what they got.
Hope you had a good day, too!
Oh. BTW, we got rain this evening! I guess the 4th time was the charm. :)
LOL! I think we’re all having a similar problem tonight. FR’s acting screwy and sloooooooooow.
WooooHoooo! :)
The song is from the ‘No Guru, No Method, no Teacher Album, which is one of the few by Van that I do not have.
“Not sure if I could pick any actual favorites...I absolutely love the first two in this thread, Long Way Home and Solsbury Hill. I probably have a dozen other Supertramp favorites too...Rudy, School, Crime of the Century, Breakfast in America...”
I LOVE Supertramp. Nice to see someone else appreciate them. My older sister had the “ Breakfast in America” album. Even though I was only 8 when it came out, I would listen to it almost every day.
Agree with “Long Way Home” as the best song off that LP.
Yay you! A day off tomorrow!
And yay for the rain y’all got too. ‘Bout time your luck changed.
Always nice when all the day’s customers are happy ones. If every day was like that, people wouldn’t mind going to work, would they? LOL
It was a good day though incredibly hot and steamy. We got most of the decorations up at our HQ after just a little cleaning. We’ve had the same building before and the landlord is great about keeping it clean, and that helps so much.
Now chillin’ and listening to today’s hearing on C-SPAN.
What kind of decorations are you putting up?
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