Your interpretation of the " footsteps dressed in red" in The Wind Cries Mary.

[AliAlexandre]

Hi everyone

 

I'm an English teacher in France. I am preparing a lesson about literary devices for a class in Highschool and have chosen to work on "The Wind Cries Mary" by Jimi Hendrix.

 

The main topic of my lesson is to bring the pupils to understand (beyond of course the mere lexical difficulties a French pupil may have) the use of metaphors and in particular the personification of objects as a way to alter the perception of the surroundings of the character.

 

I have been able to get a reasonable explanation to each verse of the song, except one that leaves me skeptical :

 

(in 1st stanza)

..."Footsteps dressed in red"..

 

Is there here a metaphor that seems obvious to a native English speaker, and that I am not able to figure out ?

 

Of course I have seen the progression from childhood to gloom and sadness but the "RED FOOTSTEPS" don't ring any audible bell to me.

 

Since my class is tomorrow and I expect one of my pupils to ask : " Sir, what's the meaning of ....." , I would appreciate your kind help on this one.

 

Thanks a lot and regards

 

Alex.

[BillWelcome Home Studios]

"After all the jacks are in their boxes

and the clowns have all gone to bed

You can hear happiness staggering on down the street

footsteps dressed in red

And the wind whispers Mary

 

A broom is drearily sweeping

up the broken pieces of yesterdays life

Somewhere a queen is weeping

Somewhere a king has no wife

And the wind, it cries Mary

 

The traffic lights, they turn on blue tomorrow

and shine their emptiness down on my bed

This tiny island sags down stream

'cause the life that lived is, is dead

And the wind screams Mary

 

Uh-will the wind ever remember

the names it has blow in the past?

And with this crutch, its old age, and its wisdom

it whispers no, this will be the last

And the wind cries Mary"

 

Alex,

 

No really deep meaning required.... the guy is sad, his girl is gone. "The traffic lights turn on blue..." of course traffic lights aren't blue. He is. "The tiny island..." No man is an island. Except the one who just lost his girl.

One could evoke all sorts of meanings in 'footsteps dressed in red', but I think that is is just a visual image. "Happiness" could be an image of a harlequin with red shoes, or 'she' could be out there, partying with someone else and he hears her (though I doubt that this is the case). You could get really morbid, and they could be the bloody footprints of the dead or murdered loved one. I sure don't think so. It's just a pretty picture. Colors often enter into Hendrix lyrics. It was a psychedellic time, and colors were a common part of the lexicon of communication.

 

But there is no common phraseology that contains "happiness" and "red shoes" in English that I am aware of. Maybe ask Elvis Costello?

 

Bill

[I I mjrn]

That's all possible...but I suggest another thing.

There's a tendency in pop/rock music, since Bob Dylan's & John Lennon's surrealistic lyrics period(s) to simply play with words that sound intriguing but often have no actual meaning. Brian Wilson's lyricists often did this, too...heck the list could go on: Steely Dan, Pink Floyd...

 

It's a common poetic trick but also somewhat analagous to the tendency of many rock singers to obscure the clarity of their vocals.

The end result is that listeners can, & do, create their own versions of a song's "meaning" & even of it's actual lyric content.

[AliAlexandre]

All right,

 

Thanks a lot for your input

 

regards

Alex

[Shoes]

You could get all thoughtful and perhaps that's what a teacher expects..

 

Red is... well the scarlet letter as red is the color of adultress behaviour...

 

You can hear happiness staggering on down the street

footsteps dressed in red

 

What the hell does he have to worry about!

 

It's eyes are all around us but we pay no attention to the wind... the wind knows ...Mary babe... if you don't get struck down in traffic you're bound to get shot down in the ground...

 

And the wind whispers Mary

 

If he wrote it in this order, and we don't know that he did, one might otherwise draw a relationship with the broken pieces of yesterday's life... that this guy just walked all over and thus the footsteps dressed in red....

 

How often have you written something only to change motivations and leave some abstract thought or word out there only partially in context but totally in tune.

[hariseldon]

I've always thought it meant that happiness was going away death wounded and left bloody footprints on the street.

 

It's all in the mind of the listener I guess but it's a really good interpretation shoes

[I I mjrn]

Originally posted by Michael Jackson's real nose:

...

It's a common poetic trick but also somewhat analagous to the tendency of many rock singers to obscure the clarity of their vocals.

The end result is that listeners can, & do, create their own versions of a song's "meaning" & even of it's actual lyric content.

Prehaps I should add that this tack invests the listener with a greater feeling that the lyric connects with them & expresses what they feel...which is true since they create part of the meaning themselves.

[miroslav]

Originally posted by Michael Jackson's real nose:

...but I suggest another thing.

There's a tendency in pop/rock music, since Bob Dylan's & John Lennon's surrealistic lyrics period(s) to simply play with words that sound intriguing but often have no actual meaning. Brian Wilson's lyricists often did this, too...heck the list could go on: Steely Dan, Pink Floyd...

Yeah...and lets not forget that there was a lot 'erb smokin' going on in those days...not to mention the use of many other mind altering substances.

 

So...who the hell knows what, if any, "meaning" there is...

...maybe he used it cuz it just rhymed real nice!

[BillWelcome Home Studios]

Originally posted by hariseldon:

I've always thought it meant that happiness was going away death wounded and left bloody footprints on the street.

 

It's all in the mind of the listener I guess but it's a really good interpretation shoes

I was afraid that someone might go down this road.... but there is no evidence for it. If you read the line, you really have to stretch to get that interpretation.... it's possible but quite a reach.

 

The line is about the end of a party.... the jacks are in their boxes, the clowns have gone to bed, and happiness is staggering away.

 

At least, that's how I read it.

 

My books are packed away right now, but I have the book of photostats of Hendrix's hand-written lyrics. Maybe there is a better clue to be gleaned by examining the manuscript (such as it is...). Perhaps we'll revisit this after I get moved and get into unpacking the books.

 

Bill

[Lee Flier]

I have no idea if this was in Hendrix's mind at all, but... In ancient pagan tribal days, young men were "initiated" into carnal knowledge by an older woman. Usually this would be during a festival when lots of people were gathered, partying and drinking and making merry. The women who considered themselves "available" for initiating virginal young men would paint the bottoms of their bare feet red. That was the "sign." There are some references in literature to men feeling aroused at the sight or thought of red painted feet, because it brings back the memory of their first time.

 

These were not supposed to be lasting relationships, and often the women involved were married. It was understood that when the festival was over, so was the affair. But all the same a lot of boys no doubt fell in love with their "initiators" and were heartbroken when it was over, and maybe that's what the song was about. Ya never know.

[BillWelcome Home Studios]

(double post...)

[BillWelcome Home Studios]

Originally posted by Lee Flier:

... The women ...would paint the bottoms of their bare feet red. ...

That's pretty cool. I don't know if it applies or not, but it's a neat reference. I know lotsa stuff like that.... but I didn't know that one!

 

Bill

[Lee Flier]

True. But then again, even if the reference is accurate, it doesn't necessarily mean he's pining for someone he only knew for a few days. Maybe she was his first love and he DID end up being in a real relationship with her... in other words he had known nobody else, and feels like he never could.

 

But as far as the overall vibe of the song, I always thought it meant that his sense of loss was so deep that he was sort of relating it to all the broken hearts throughout the ages... whether it was a king, a queen, or a man pining for his lost first love, none of their losses could compare. The wind would remember none of those other names.

So that would mean the footsteps dressed in red were somebody else's, just a passing reference. I think I'm sticking with that interpretation.

[Saint Johnny B]

It might make more sense if you knew that at one time Hendrix wanted Maryann Faithful who was also dating Mick Jagger, and Jimi told Mary that "Mick's such a little cunt."

 

Basically, running down the competition...so to speak.

 

Emotions, lust, and young men make fertile ground for lyics, no?

[hariseldon]

Originally posted by bpark@prorec.com:

Originally posted by hariseldon:

I've always thought it meant that happiness was going away death wounded and left bloody footprints on the street.

 

It's all in the mind of the listener I guess but it's a really good interpretation shoes

I was afraid that someone might go down this road.... but there is no evidence for it. If you read the line, you really have to stretch to get that interpretation.... it's possible but quite a reach.

 

The line is about the end of a party.... the jacks are in their boxes, the clowns have gone to bed, and happiness is staggering away.

 

At least, that's how I read it.

 

My books are packed away right now, but I have the book of photostats of Hendrix's hand-written lyrics. Maybe there is a better clue to be gleaned by examining the manuscript (such as it is...). Perhaps we'll revisit this after I get moved and get into unpacking the books.

 

Bill

Bill,

I see it now and that's not what I felt it meant before. You're most probably right, only that's not the way it made sense to me before. I'm non native myself so that would explain my confusion. I'd never read the lyrics written out like that before, but if you translate them directly, to me, it's an outwardly conspicuous metaphor of happiness.

Of course, proper revision may weave in the spell in one sense or another, but the fact remains that those lyrics are as evocative as can be, and are incredibly moving... nice of you to post them

In fact I'm sure anyone who's been reading them has been hearing those chords moving from red to blue

As I said before, its all about the listener.

 

To me it was then (whenever that was) about getting back home from a ball and missing her, the effect of alcohol drifting away or drifting towards that lack of her/she/it....No way around it but it's there, just like the wind

 

Un-improvable lyrics in any case

 

P.S.

Lee I'm picking up your interpretation for future reference.

No wonder Im loving these forums

[BillWelcome Home Studios]

Originally posted by Johnny B:

It might make more sense if you knew that at one time Hendrix wanted Maryann Faithful ...

 

Emotions, lust, and young men make fertile ground for lyics, no?

My view is that the purpose of a song is to pull an emotional response from the listener.

 

As such, the -less- specific it is, the better. "I love Mary Smith of 101 Main Street but she screwed me over. Now she's seeing Paul Jones..." doesn't appeal to me. In fact, it slams any cool emotional respsonse right against the wall as I think, 'who gives a shit.' or apply some other mental realtionship to the participants, because they are known (or unknown) to me.

 

There are some exceptions. In the theater, there are hundreds, because the (better...) songs are created to advance the story line. So a song like "I Love a Boy Named Frank Mills" from "Hair" works. "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" works too, but I don't know why. "The Ballad of Dwight Fry" works because so few people know who Dwight Fry was.

 

But in general, vague is better. I meran, did it help ANYONE to fins out that "Please, Please Me" is a song about oral sex?

 

Bill

[jackpine]

Originally posted by bpark@prorec.com:

...... did it help ANYONE to find out that "Please, Please Me" is a song about oral sex?

 

Thanks Brad...

Now I'm crushed

[jackpine]

Ok Brad.... you did it to me again.

 

I used to cover the Ballad of Dwight Fry and never gave it any thought.

 

Now I just googled him and for the first 5 pages it was all references to alice cooper lyrics. Is there actually a Dwight Fry and who was he.... inquiring minds want to know.

[BillWelcome Home Studios]

Originally posted by jackpine:

Ok Brad.... you did it to me again.

 

I used to cover the Ballad of Dwight Fry and never gave it any thought.

 

Now I just googled him and for the first 5 pages it was all references to alice cooper lyrics. Is there actually a Dwight Fry and who was he.... inquiring minds want to know.

Who's Brad?

 

Okay, Dwight Fry was a tragic figure of the 30s. An actor in Hollywood, he died at a very young age in bad circumstances... and in his film career he was somewhat typcast. An example of a typical role for him would be his great performance in "Dracula" (the one with Bela Lugosi ad the Count). He was Renfield. ("Spiders!!!... nice FAT JUICY SPIDERS!!!!!!!....") Tom Waits, though great, couldn't touch him.

 

Bill

[jackpine]

Originally posted by bpark@prorec.com:

Who's Brad?

 

Ooops...sorry Bill,

 

Early onset of Alzheimers here....

 

But thanks for the explanation.

[Shoes]

Originally posted by hariseldon:

Originally posted by bpark@prorec.com:

[qb]

 

The line is about the end of a party.... the jacks are in their boxes, the clowns have gone to bed, and happiness is staggering away.

 

At least, that's how I read it.

Without a doubt there was a party.

 

I don't question that it's over.

 

? How many people were there? 2 or 200

 

There's a constant regret and I just never thought it was because the party was over but what the party may have involved.

 

Crutch. That's a critical word in this story.

 

... I always put my Jack away before I zip up

 

Let's get out the Ouija board and call him up.

[I I mjrn]

I return to reiterate my earlier points because the flights of imagination here are making me as dizzy as some of the posters!

My goodness, now we can see what John Lennon was getting at when he wrote stuff like "I Am The Walrus" & "Glass Onion" just to see what it would stir up in his fans.

The combination of listener "over-response" & trying to get into the details of a strangers life becomes a morass at a certain point.

 

There's a great scene in the film Imagine where Lennon tries to comfort an overboard Beatle fan who's been camping on his property, wanting to talk to Lennon about his lyrics because he knows they are in mental sync.

John says (I'm paraphrasing), "Hey, I'm just a songwriter; some of them are serious, some are just word games."

 

With all respect to some of the suggestions , & not denying that Hendrix was a lot deeper than most credit him, y'all be making too much of this, I think.

Somesongs are quite serious; some are "mere" poetics.

If you want to get into some deep, deep, deeper than deep lyrics, take a crack at George Clinton's PFunk cosmology.

Now there's a place you can get deep, even over your head.

 

Originally posted by bpark@prorec.com:

My view is that the purpose of a song is to pull an emotional response from the listener.

 

As such, the -less- specific it is, the better.

[BillWelcome Home Studios]

Originally posted by Guitars are like shoes. But louder.:

 

The line is about the end of a party....

 

Without a doubt there was a party.

 

OKay, I was in a hurry. I vcould have spent a little more time in the development.

 

The singer could be sitting in his apartment late at night. He could be hearing the end of the merriment occuring elswhere, out his window or whatever. (Again, that is how I 'hear' it.) I'm not suggesting that he was a part of the party. I am suggesting that he wasn't. The end of the merriment is not merriment in which he would even have been involved. He is just sitting at home feeling sorry for himself, and it is getting late. Revelers are winding their way home from the night's various festivities, and our singer is doing a 'yeh, but I miss my girl...'

 

In that context, "After all the jacks are in their boxes and the clowns have all gone to bed,

You can hear happiness staggering on down the street, footsteps dressed in red.

And the wind whispers Mary" leaves us with several feelings, along the lines of 'but it's not Mary', 'I wouldn't have enjoyed it anyway without Mary', etc.

 

Wadaya think?

 

Bill

[I I mjrn]

I think there's a better chance of demonsrtating this song's debt to "They Call The Wind Mariah" than in determining the exact meaning of Hendrix's lyrics.

[Shoes]

Gettin' off the beaten track here a little....

 

I always enjoyed his work because it seemed to be a perfect balance of brilliant playing and lyrics that weren't immediately identifiable.

 

I can't remember lyrics to songs and even when I do I rarely try to interpret them and think more along the lines of how they fit melodically. He did this very well or perhaps to the best of what my likes desire.

 

No cheese, seldom dated and always in step with the music and like most of the artists I love to listen to.. the best material rarely made the radio.

 

... you're right. It is reflective and I think that Jimi was a thoughtful person who's stage image hid a very warm and caring individual.

[Bunny Knutson]

The song could be about Queen "Bloody" Mary, who had over 300 people executed for heresy during her short reign.

 

The line about "footsteps dressed in red" could be symbolizing three things: a red carpet for the queen, the blood of the heretics she killed, and her own blood, for she died fairly young.

 

This would explain all the references to royalty, jacks, queens, kings. The "tiny island" could be Britain, where Jimi lived in the late '60s.

 

Then again, it could all just be fluffy poetry.

[nursers]

ALl I want to know is when they are going to bring back the initiation festivals Lee talked about. They sound great!

[Kendrix]

I agree that you should not try an get too literal when trying to analyse Hendrix's lyrics.

 

For me the first and second versus are related.

 

Verse 1:

The partys over. Its late. The girl I want o be with (happiness) is walking away. All I get is to hear some footsteps- and becaue Im thinking about her ins "that way" red- the color of sex comes into play.

 

In verse 2 he re-iterates the theme of a man & woman (Queen/King) being lonely.

 

Alernative interpretation: late night hooker (happiness) dressed in red is all thats out there at this hour of the night. Jacks in their boxes/clowns gone to bed - could relate to the Johns.

 

Either that or he was just tripping ( he did allot of that) and when he heard some footsteps he saw flashes of red.

 

One thing I really found enchanting about Hendrix was the way he spoke in conversation. It was often poetic and not literal at all. Kinda like these lyrics. He just had a knack for expressing himself with these indirect/obtuse statements that somehow evoke meaning but dont make any sense literally.

 

I could listen to him talk like that forever and be entertained.

[Robman2]

Literal, she was either dressed in red, or her shoes, slippers, pumps etc, were red..

 

The Maryanne F aspect comes to mind...

 

Lamenting as it seems the tale is.

 

Not metaphoric...but surreal...

[I I mjrn]

Originally posted by Robman2:

The Maryanne F aspect comes to mind...

This has been mentioned a couple times here...

Though a topic in bios, it's uncertain whether JH had met her at the point of song's composition. More relevant, perhaps, is the claim by Hendrix's live-in girlfriend Kathy Etchingham that the song was inspired by her (note: "inspired by", not "about").

 

I wonder what Ali, who probably delivered his lesson already, decided to feature...