Poor Man
Surviving Hardship: A Poignant Reflection in Louise Distras' 'Poor Man'
Lyrics
Preachers preach for gold and not for souls
Preachers prioritize wealth over spiritual guidance.
It's what keeps a poor man always in a hole
Financial struggles consistently burden the poor.
We can hardly get our breath
A sense of suffocation or difficulty in coping with challenges.
Taxed and schooled and preached to death
Overwhelmed by taxes, education, and relentless preaching.
Tell me how can a poor man stand such times and live?
Rhetorical question expressing the harshness of impoverished life.
We got bodies swinging in the southern breeze
References to racial violence, possibly alluding to historical events.
Blood on the roots, blood on the leaves
Symbolic imagery of violence and its lasting impact.
It's a bittersweet crop for the wind to suck
The bitter consequences of a system affecting the innocent.
Strange fruit swinging in the southern breeze
Evoking the haunting image of lynching and racial injustice.
Bodies floating on canal the levees gone to hell
Describes a disaster, with social structures failing.
Martha get me my sixteen gauge and some dry shells
Seeking protection or revenge in a dire situation.
Them who got, got out of town
Privileged individuals escaping the troubled environment.
Thеm who ain't got, left to drown
The less fortunate left to face the consequences.
Tell me how can a poor man stand such timеs and live?
Reiteration of the harshness faced by the impoverished.
I got family scattered all over the world
Expresses the dispersion of family members worldwide.
And I ain't got no hope in this world no more
A sense of despair and loss of hope in the current world.
Gonna be a judgement that's a fact
Anticipation of a moral reckoning or divine judgment.
A righteous train rolling down this track
An impending sense of justice, portrayed as a train.
Tell me how can a poor man stand such times and live?
Reiteration of the earlier question about survival in difficult times.
Tell me how can a poor man stand such times and live?
Repeated plea for an explanation of coping with adversity.
Tell me how can a poor man stand such times and live?
Continued emphasis on the challenges faced by the impoverished.
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