(For those who don’t know, a pirogue (pronounced like pee-rogue or just pee-roe) is a small boat often pushed with a pole).
First line, I get. He’s down in the Louisiana bayous.
The rest seems to make no literal sense. The guy’s in a pirogue, pushing it with a pole. Natural soul doesn’t seem to come into it anywhere.
I think the line given might be wrong, though. Maybe it’s “A pirogue pole, all your natural soul, keeps you tied…” In which case, he’s struggling mightily to fight the high tide currents. But if he’s tied to a tree, he’s not going anywhere, no matter how hard he poles.
I’m sure it’s a metaphor, but I’m not sure of what. The rest of the song doesn’t seem to me to carry on the idea of internal conflict, pointless struggles, or everything staying the same.
So is there a better literal reading for this or is it poetic license that sets a scene but doesn’t have to make literal sense?
ETA: Also, what are “Gypsy rains?” Is that like “the devil’s beating his wife” when it’s rainy and sunshiny at the same time?
“Gypsy rain”, AFAICT, is a term for a fast-passing shower: suddenly shows up but doesn’t linger, just like traveling folk.
And I’m no expert in this song genre and haven’t spent much time in Louisiana, but I don’t think the first stanza is supposed to be a “conflict” metaphor. I think the idea is, much more literally, that you poled your boat down to the beer joint on the bayou at high tide and “tied up” to a tree by jamming your pole against it, or maybe you just positioned your boat skilfully enough (by means of “natural soul”) so it wouldn’t float away.
Then you made your way to the waterside beer joint and enjoyed the evening with the crowd that came rollin’ in. All the stanzas seem to have the same kind of atmosphere of appreciative nostalgia about southern rural seashore nightlife: there’s no theme of struggle or hopelessness.
I’m afraid I can’t answer your question but I’d like to thank you for enlightening me as to what a pirogue is. Now I know what Hank Williams means when he sings “Me gotta go pull the pirogue down the bayou.” Never too old to learn!
So either the pole or skill is what kept him tied to the tree. I can see that. Thanks again.
That’s what I like about the song. The imagery of being out alone on that dark water, then lights come on one by one all across the harbor, and you know there’re people over there having a good time.
Welcome! I’ve only been in a couple of pirogues. It’s very cool–you can go pretty much anywhere you want if you know the way. But it’s also the only thing between you and the gators.