Man Eaten Lake
Reflections by a Man Eaten Lake
Lyrics
Man Eaten Lake is where I was
Man Eaten Lake is a place of significance to the speaker.
Back when my face had just peach fuzz
Reflecting on a time when the speaker was young and had just started growing facial hair.
I bet that Pops looked a lot like that
Suggesting that the speaker's father resembled the speaker during his youth.
Staring out to the lake beneath a wide-brimmed hat
The father, possibly in a contemplative mood, gazing at the lake wearing a wide-brimmed hat.
I had two shoes but Dad had six
Contrasting the modest possessions of the speaker with the father's six shoes, possibly indicating a difference in generations or circumstances.
On the back of a horse way out in the sticks
Depicting a scene of the father on a horse in a rural area.
And I bet he wondered then as I do now
Speculating that both the speaker and the father ponder the unusual and perhaps ominous name of the lake.
How a lake ever came to get a name so foul
Raising a question about how the lake acquired a name with negative connotations.
If forty years faded and each other we found
Hypothetically projecting into the future, contemplating recognition after a long period of separation.
Would you recognize a kid with the same-shaped brow
Questioning whether facial features remain identifiable over time.
I pictured young Dad swing a pick to the ground
Imagining the father attempting to dig a grave with a pick but facing difficulties.
But he couldn't break the earth or get the body down
Expressing the father's struggle to bury someone or something, possibly metaphorical.
The winter air was brittle and Pop's cheeks burned
Describing the harsh winter weather and the effect on the father's face.
They put the body in the church until the season turned
Temporarily placing the body in a church until the weather improves.
Standing by a gravestone having done the math
Standing by a gravestone, acknowledging the father's contemplation of mortality.
Knowing in his youth my Pops walked the same path
Acknowledging that the father, in his youth, faced similar challenges or experiences.
It felt just like a dream as he stood there unphased
Describing a surreal or dreamlike feeling as the father stands unfazed by his past actions.
And said I dug this grave when I was your age
Revealing that the father dug a grave at the speaker's current age, creating a connection between generations.
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