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Since my request for the longest Bruce track ending up being The Show Goes On, I thought it might be fun to get your thoughts on the meaning of the song.
I know that a little bit is explained in another part of this site, but I was wondering if anyone had any new or further explanantions of one of my all time favorite tracks. (That I really can’t explain much about 😡 )
Scott
The Rich’s Cliff Notes version:
A woman has a one-night stand that she comes to regret. She thinks everyone is gossiping about her (as small town folk are want to do), so she moves away to avoid the embarrassment. And yet… there’s this wistful longing for “what it was like before.” While she’s wishing for what might have been, time still marches on, regardless of what happens. In short, the whole fear of embarrassment or whatever that caused her to leave turns out to be one big “yeah? so?” in the grand scheme of things.
The man in the long coat is guy who shared the one-night stand, and apparently not a stranger to such encounters.
The sad-eyed sisters are the gossips in town. The are sad-eyed, in part, because while they gossip about what happens to others as though they are somehow morally superior to the whole thing, they are secretly jealous because their love/sex life is a tad on the dry side (i.e. they are a bunch of miserable spinsters who couldn’t get laid if they paid someone to help them out).
Here’s my take….
“Opie Cunnigham” asked Bruce to write a song for the movie “Backdraft”. TSGO was it. I see it as a woman left behind as her man goes out on a dangerous task (firefighting, Viet Nam, Iraq). The “sad-eyed sisters” I see as her comrades-in-arms who are also waiting for their guys to come home. The “man in the long coat, with his long list of victims” is the chaplain/officer/whoever who comes to deliver the news that her man is dead. The sad-eyed sisters feel bad because they’re relieved it wasn’t them…….. this time (sad-eyed sisters go walking on along). “The curtain falls down” on her life, but, as we know, “The Show Goes On…..”
Perhaps my thoughts are a bit jaded, though. My father was in Viet Nam, and we lived in Navy Housing in Virginia Beach (Oceana Naval Air Station). I can never forget the panic that would hit the neighborhood when the Navy Chaplain’s car drove through. Everybody prayed he’d stop before he got to your house, or that he would drive on by. When he did stop in front of a house, all the other families would go back into their houses, and “let the curtains fall down” so as to give that family a chance to receive the news without an audience. But every one of those families were on their knees praying thanks that it wasn’t their man. Thankfully, my dad came back in one piece….at least physically.
Hmmm…
I can see where both of the explanations are make sense…Thanks
Hey Miss Virginia Former…Thanks for the info on Opie, I did not know that the song was written especially for the movie…
Anyone else thoughts welcomed….
ScottThis discussion has lead to realize that this song is one were the voice is another instrument for me. I have never really considered the content of the Lyric itself.
This will now change of course. 😆
MVF is on the right track! A Road Scholar is always “on track”.
Check out: https://bruuuce.com/valleyroadshowgoeson.htm
David Day
Lake Lanier, GAThe Show Goes On
I like MVF’s interpretation. It fits neatly with “Backdraft,” but I was under the impression that the song pre-dates the film and was just added to the soundtrack after it appeared on “Scenes from the Southside.”
I always had the impression, like Rich, that those “sad-eyed sisters” were among those “standing in judgement.” Have I been wrong all these years?
Vic
I like MVF’s explanation, too. I can only imagine what the families of people whose jobs expose them to potentially life-threatening situations on a regular basis. Thus, I completely did not see that aspect of it. Now, I’m going to go back and listen to that song again and think of what MVF said. Thanks.
Rich
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