"His countryside's burnin' with wolfman fairies dressed in drag for homicide"
wolfman fairies?
TIA
In the 60's a populare DJ was Wolfman Jack. He had a deep voice. In the 60's - 70's fairy was slang for queers or homosexuals, queens etc...
The wolfman in the lyrics refers to the deep voices of the fairies.
Also in those days it was believed (and some still do) that being gay was a psychological illness. Most Drs. equated this to the same illness that affected killers and criminals.
The ragamuffin gunner is returnin' home like a hungry runaway He walks through town all alone He must be from the fort he hears the high school girls say His countryside's burnin' with wolfman fairies dressed in drag for homicide They hit and run, plead sanctuary, `neath a holy stone they hide
The protagonist is coming home from the Vietnam war to see the country torn by protesters. Most of the protesters are long-haired college students who are trying to avoid the draft (just like Bruce by the way) by claiming homosexuality, claiming sole responsibility for their family, claiming moral/religious reasons (most famously Muhammad Ali), etc. I think Springsteen's shorthand for these long-haired would-be draft dodgers is "wolfman fairies". I think the "drag for homocide" is the process of claiming homosexuality to avoid going to war and I think "hit and run" is the protesting, and "plead(ing) sactuary" and hiding "'neath a holy stone" is trying to avoid the draft on moral grounds.
But you know what they say. Opinions are like assholes, everybody has one.
Away from the board for a couple of days, which is why I didn't "explain myself" until now.
Bcpkid's interpretation is a good one though I take the first verse differently. To me the imagery is a combination of his memories of Vietnam and what he is seeing when he returns home. The madness and chaos he was part of in Vietnam is reflected at home. So what words and images are specific to Vietnam and back home are jumbled together. The mud and quicksand lines at the end of the verse are a direct reference to Pete Seeger's "Waste Deep in Big Muddy." Like I said in my first post, trying to take the imagery literally is a mistake, which is why I think seeing "wolfman fairies" as war protestors is over simplifying the image. One could also see it and the dressed in drag as the Vietcong - the pajama like shirts and pants worn by the Vietnamese were described by a a couple of Vietnam vet friends (and others) as dressed in drag. To me that's the brilliance of the verse - the vet is back home but in his mind, he's also still in Vietnam.
Agree. That's why I think the dressed in drag is more the Vietcong. Draft dodgers who said they were gay weren't dressed in drag for homicide. They were trying to avoid committing homicide. And they also weren't dressed in drag.
I think "wolfman fairies dressed in drag for homicide" more accurately describes a long-haired protester/draft avoider both literally and figuratively, but again, that's just me.
And Klinger dressed in drag, even though it was Korea.
I agree "wolfman fairies" could be a war protester but they weren't dressed for homicide but the opposite of homicide. Also all Vietnam war protesters weren't draft dodgers. Many were in or had been in the armed forces, from the more famous like Ron Kovic, Bobby Muller, and John Kerry to a lot of my friends and acquaintances.
thanks for the educated debate.i try to translate this song to Hebrew and you are very helpful.
i've been listening to this song since '84 when i first found Bruce,the greatest artist of all times(along with a guy from Manchester).
the first verse always gave me an image of the judgment day,all the good and pure things gone away, replaced by evil,"his contrysides burning with wolfman fairies,dressed in drag for homicide" - the streets are dominated by werewolves figures dressed in old ripped clothing looking to kill(that the result of too much exstensive D&D being played at the time ) the regular good men are hiding in holy places where the werewolves can't get them and those who couldn't get to the holy places on time are "wrecked on main street from drinking unholy blood" "They're breakin' beams and crosses with a spastic's reelin' perfection",refers to the werewolves devotion to destroy anything good,so they breaking crosses(which with proper use can hurt them) and breaking beams of light (beams of light are an allegory to the good). "nuns run bald in Vatican halls pregnant ,pleading immaculate conception" is another image of evil, the Vatican which is the center of the good and holiness, is contaminated by the symbol of pregnant nuns running in the Vatican halls hysterical begging for forgiveness from god.
and the gunnerman which is the last hope to fight evil is trapped in quicksand.
the later verses refers to our days,to indicate the roots of the evil win over the good .
sound silly,i know ,but i was only a kid whith much too much D&D in my head.
I agree "wolfman fairies" could be a war protester but they weren't dressed for homicide but the opposite of homicide. Also all Vietnam war protesters weren't draft dodgers. Many were in or had been in the armed forces, from the more famous like to a lot of my friends and acquaintances.
I myself am not making any judgment about draft dodgers or protesters at all. I'm saying that from the protagonist's point of view, as a vet returning from the war, he could perceive the way early seventies young men dressed as "drag" and he could perceive their attack against the country he was just defending as "homicide". Like you said, it's an image, not to be taken strictly literally.
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