6 replies to this topic

[gkunit20]

Let me know what you think.



I guess I should start from the beginning. It was a warm October night, and I stopped by the town water hole for a drink. She was sitting there at the bar, red hair, perfect figure, and I couldn’t see a ring from the angle I was at. So, I walked up and took the seat next to her, and ordered a beer. I thought about saying something to her, but I’ve been getting tired of saying “Do you come here often?” So I just sat there, stealing an occasional glance. I think she caught me looking once, but didn’t say anything. An hour and 6 beers later, the bar was beginning to empty. I walked outside and shuddered at how cold the night had gotten. I had walked, and was really dreading the walk home. I thought about calling for a taxi, when I heard a voice from behind me. “I can give you a ride, if you need it.” I turned around. She was standing there, keys in her hand, waiting for my response. “Why not?” I said.
“My name’s Erica. Come on. It’s cold out here,” she said
“Robert. Um, thanks I guess,” I said. So, we got into her car, and before I could tell her where I lived, she just started driving. That startled. “Whoa,” I said. “Don’t you need to know where I live?”
“Nah. Let’s just see where this road takes us.” I sat back and dropped it. I was too tired and a little too drunk to respond.
She finally pulled over about 4 hours later. I had no idea where we were. It seemed we were in some town, probably the next one over. “Why’d we stop?” I asked.
“Out of gas,” she said. I looked at my watch. 3 AM.
“Where are we?” I asked.
“Some town,” She said.
“Well, duh,” I said. She shrugged. “You asked.”
“Look, thanks for the fun trip, but I really have to get home.” I said. I started walking away when I heard her say, “We’ll meet again. Don’t worry about that.”

So, a few years went past, and I hadn’t seen her since, but I kept thinking about her, even though I had seen a lot of women since then. See, I’d been traveling a lot. I started up in Wisconsin working as a short order cook, and somehow found my way down to New Orleans where I got a job as a fisherman. Actually, not really a fisherman, a fisherman’s helper. Either way, I was able to pay for food and rent. I was staying in the basement of this coffee house. Not really fancy and it was a little crammed between me and my roommate and his wife, but they had bands come in at night, and I didn’t really spend to much time at home anyway, so it worked out.
Anyway, back to our story. One night I was feeling a bit thirsty, so I stopped into this cheep bar. Actually, it wasn’t even a bar. It was just this little shop that some guy put tables in and sold beer. But I felt like drinking, and didn’t have much money on me, so it worked. So, I stopped in there one night, and there she was waiting tables. I kept watching her as she walked by, trying to fool my mind into thinking she was someone else. Needless to say, it didn’t work.
The crowd started thinning out later on, and I was just about to leave when I saw her standing behind my chair. She said, “We’ve met before, haven’t we?”
I said, “Uh, yeah. Few years ago. You drove me about 400 miles away from my home.”
“Ha. I remember that,” she said. “Sorry if I caused you any trouble. Let me make it up to you. Come back to my place for a drink.” The rest was almost history.
So, three months later, I moved in with her. We had a romantic relationship during this time, and for a few months after I moved in. It ended after her brother came to stay with her. At first, I thought he was a really nice person. He was very kindhearted, and had a warm personality. It wasn’t until later I found out why he had to move in with her. He was apparently a drug addict, and their parents wouldn’t support him anymore, so he started to feed off of her kindness. She ended up having to sell everything they owned, and just froze up inside. They started fighting a lot, and were both really unpleasant to be around. When the bottom finally fell out, I became withdrawn and left. I walked out one night while they were having another argument, hailed a cab, and told the driver “anywhere”. When we got there, I hopped on a bus and took that to the end of the line. I wasn’t really sure where I was (If I had to guess, it’d be somewhere in Texas). Anyway, that’s not really important. I managed to get a job as a busboy for a steakhouse, and found an apartment to sleep in at night.
But while I was there, I couldn’t stop thinking about her. Years passed, and I had built up a life for myself. I was now the manager at that restaurant, and lived in a much nicer condominium. But it never felt right. So, now I’m going back to New Orleans. Somehow I’ll track her down. Who knows? Maybe I’ll stop in for a drink somewhere on the way, and she’ll be there waiting for me.

[7upncider]

well played young lad. enjoyable.

[yergan]

So, three months later, I moved in with her. We had a romantic relationship during this time, and for a few months after I moved in. It ended after her dad came to stay with her. At first, I thought he was a really nice person. He was very kindhearted, and had a warm personality. It wasn’t until later I found out why he had to move in with her. He was apparently a drug addict, and their parents wouldn’t support him anymore, so he started to feed off of her kindness. She ended up having to sell everything they owned, and just froze up inside. They started fighting a lot, and were both really unpleasant to be around. When the bottom finally fell out, I became withdrawn and left. I walked out one night while they were having another argument, hailed a cab, and told the driver “anywhere”. When we got there, I hopped on a bus and took that to the end of the line. I wasn’t really sure where I was (If I had to guess, it’d be somewhere in Texas). Anyway, that’s not really important. I managed to get a job as a busboy for a steakhouse, and found an apartment to sleep in at night.

A few inconsistencies highlighted above but I liked it.

[gkunit20]

A few inconsistencies highlighted above but I liked it.

Woah, thought I edited that. It was supposed to be her brother. And the second we is regarding the main character and the cab driver. The whole, "when we got to anywhere" part was my meager attempt at being comical.

[pockets]

I think we have wildly different interpretations of the song.

The way I see it, it's all about how he sees a bunch of different women the same way. Like, there's the first girl with the red hair and he's with her for a while, but she kicks him out. Then there's the next girl, who he helps out of a jam but with a little too much force, so that pretty much makes me think he beats the shit out of her husband and the cops are coming after him, so they ditch the car and split ways. Then he's in New Orleans and dwelling on how lonely he is, about how he wishes he had his girl.

After that, he meets a new girl in a strip club. When she says "Don't I know your name?" she's flirting, not saying that they know each other. Then he goes back to her apartment, and then lives with her and someone else (maybe her brother, but maybe not) who gets into pimping (not in the cool way-but that's a much more clear interpretation of "dealing with slaves") and she can't deal with it.

Later, on the road, he's reflecting on how everyone he used to know is an illusion, how all the women blend together and eventually they're pretty much the same person, in terms of their effect on him, in terms of how they changed his life and how he feels now and how he wishes he had one of those women.

If you listen to the version on The Bootleg Series Volume 2, which tells a similar story but in a different way, I think it's more clear. The song is third person for the first three verses (so it's like, "He was standing on the side of the road/rain falling on his shoes/heading out for the old east coast/lord knows he's paid some dues getting through/tangled up in blue"), so when it hits the first person in verse 4 ("She was working in a topless place when I stopped in for a beer") it feels like the guy who "lived with them on Montague Street" wasn't her boyfriend or lover or anything. That's why she froze up inside when the other dude got into pimping, because it was the end of their thing.

This is very long.

But I liked the story.

[timwakefield]

I liked it. If I didn't know the song it would probably be pretty confusing/weird, but as a story based on a song I like it.

[gkunit20]

I think we have wildly different interpretations of the song.

The way I see it, it's all about how he sees a bunch of different women the same way. Like, there's the first girl with the red hair and he's with her for a while, but she kicks him out. Then there's the next girl, who he helps out of a jam but with a little too much force, so that pretty much makes me think he beats the shit out of her husband and the cops are coming after him, so they ditch the car and split ways. Then he's in New Orleans and dwelling on how lonely he is, about how he wishes he had his girl.

After that, he meets a new girl in a strip club. When she says "Don't I know your name?" she's flirting, not saying that they know each other. Then he goes back to her apartment, and then lives with her and someone else (maybe her brother, but maybe not) who gets into pimping (not in the cool way-but that's a much more clear interpretation of "dealing with slaves") and she can't deal with it.

Later, on the road, he's reflecting on how everyone he used to know is an illusion, how all the women blend together and eventually they're pretty much the same person, in terms of their effect on him, in terms of how they changed his life and how he feels now and how he wishes he had one of those women.

If you listen to the version on The Bootleg Series Volume 2, which tells a similar story but in a different way, I think it's more clear. The song is third person for the first three verses (so it's like, "He was standing on the side of the road/rain falling on his shoes/heading out for the old east coast/lord knows he's paid some dues getting through/tangled up in blue"), so when it hits the first person in verse 4 ("She was working in a topless place when I stopped in for a beer") it feels like the guy who "lived with them on Montague Street" wasn't her boyfriend or lover or anything. That's why she froze up inside when the other dude got into pimping, because it was the end of their thing.

This is very long.

But I liked the story.

Makes sense. There are endless ways to view it. The whole third person thing I got from the Rolling Thunder Revue one. I get what you're saying though. I like your interpretation with the multiple people, but I also like the whole "fate brings people together" thing. Either way makes sense.

As long as you liked it.