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Location: Las Vegas, Nevada, United States

Monday, March 28, 2005

The Tin Man

Does anyone remember the old 70's song "The Tin Man" by "America"?
I was listening to that song yesterday for the first time since I stopped having to listen to my parents' radio station, probably back in 1979 or '80. When listening I finally heard the correct words to the song, which say "But Oz never did give nothing to the Tin Man, that he didn't already have." This was apparently suggesting that the Tin Man already had a heart, as evidenced by his actions in helping Dorothy in her cause.
Now that is somewhat different from my understanding of what the song meant when I was a child. I had always thought the song said "I never did give nothing to the Tin Man, that he didn't already have." Very similar - only one word different, Oz for I, but it gave me a very different idea of the song. I had always imagined a rather sadistic guy who would always give gifts to some unfortunate guy in town called the Tin Man, but every time he would give a gift, he would make sure that it was something the Tin man already had, just to torment him. He would always give it with the greatest sincerity, and always things that most people wouldnt know he already had, just to see the Tin man excited about getting a gift, wondering what it was, and then the inevitable disappointment that it was something he already had, then watching the Tin man struggle to be polite and pretend he really wanted it. And each time a little more, the Tin Man would wonder if the giver did this intentionally, but would immediately feel guilty for having such a thought and banish it from his mind; that is, until it happened again. So apparently that wasn't what it was about. Maybe I should write a song about that then.

2 Comments:

Blogger Chris said...

Rob, It's a good thing that you have started writing. From this we see that, even as a child, you had a dark, twisted imagination. And so it should be shared.

10:04 AM  
Blogger Badpatty said...

Jesus, man! I can't wait to find out how your brain used to deal with Blinded By the Light or Bad Moon Rising.

10:48 AM  

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