And what did he mean by "cracklin’?
Beng a "store-bought woman’ sounds pretty insulting. Is he calling her a prostitute? High maintenance? How high maintenance can she be, being a poor man’s woman?
When I was young, the title made me think of when the science guys on TV would dip a flower in dry ice and then smash it.
Why am I thinking of this song now? Because of Time/Life, that’s why.
I think it refers to a type of cheap wine.
You mean he’s singing about going on a bender with some Wild Irish and not doing The Humpty Dance with a chap floozy?
Here’s the explanation from Wiki.
Wikipedia says that it’s about drinking wine:
Here are the lyrics:
I may or may not have this song on one of my running playlists.
Hey, it’s got a good RPM!
When the song came out, everybody knew what he was referring to. Cracklin’ Rose’ was a popular cheap pink wine for all us poor folk.
Glad that the collective wisdom has cleared this up.
If he’s singing about a drink, why is he asking it to “Hang on to me, girl”? How is a bottle of booze going to let go of somebody? A woman can leave you but a bottle can’t.
And what does it mean when he sings “Girl, if it lasts for an hour, that’s all right. We got all night”? If you’ve got all night ahead of you, it would not be all right if whatever solace you had only lasted for an hour.
This is the kind of thing that makes me suspect even Neil Diamond doesn’t listen to Neil Diamond songs.
I think it’s called poetic license. He’s using the metaphor of a fling with a woman to represent the fact that he’s planning on a wine bender. The story doesn’t have to conform to perfect logic, since the narrator is probably already half-drunk (within the context of the lyrics). And, besides, it’s poetry, not academic writing.
Remember, this is from a man who says “Sweet Caroline” was about Caroline Kennedy.
Ah, yes, the song the opened with the lyrics “Where it began, I can’t begin to knowing”.
You know, Neil, there’s a reason that chair didn’t want to hear you.