"Me and Bobby McGee" is one of the unforgettable hits of the Seventies, and one of the songs I almost know by heart. The most famous line of that song is of course "Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose, nothing ain't worth nothing but it's free". You can't discuss that. There is, however, a line in that song I never quite understood. I mean "I pulled my Harpoon from my dirty red bandana". What? The two lovers hitchhiked across America carrying a harpoon? I was naive enough to accept it as a songwriter's fantasy. Someone told me "Harpoon" was a slang word for harmonica. Not very probable. By now I'm convinced that the correct interpretation is to consider Kristofferson's "Harpoon" a hypodermic needle, since a bandana was often used to tie off the arm before an addict shot up.Monday, March 3, 2014
Kris Kristofferson's Harpoon
"Me and Bobby McGee" is one of the unforgettable hits of the Seventies, and one of the songs I almost know by heart. The most famous line of that song is of course "Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose, nothing ain't worth nothing but it's free". You can't discuss that. There is, however, a line in that song I never quite understood. I mean "I pulled my Harpoon from my dirty red bandana". What? The two lovers hitchhiked across America carrying a harpoon? I was naive enough to accept it as a songwriter's fantasy. Someone told me "Harpoon" was a slang word for harmonica. Not very probable. By now I'm convinced that the correct interpretation is to consider Kristofferson's "Harpoon" a hypodermic needle, since a bandana was often used to tie off the arm before an addict shot up.
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Right after that though the song goes on with " and was playin' soft" while Bobby sang. I think that trucker would have given him the booth if the harpoon had been a needle, and it wouldn't have made much music.
ReplyDeleteThe actual lyric is “was blowing sad while Bobby sang the blues”. Those are the lyrics of the song as released on his eponymously named first album. That gives further credence to harpoon being slang for mouth harp, i.e. the harmonica.
DeleteIt's seems logical that "harp" (as in mouth harp or harmonica) could be morphed into "harpoon," but I've never heard it used that way. I figured a harpoon (as used in Me and Bobby McGee) was the stick that a hobo stuck through his folded bandana containing all of his possessions, including, perhaps, a harmonica. But in the song, there is no link from harpoon to harmonica. My absolkute favorite synonym for harmonica is "Mississippi Saxophone."
ReplyDeleteGuys, a harpoon is slang for harmonica. It is also slang for needle and playing soft can be both actual playing music OR a reference to the soft high feeling of heroine. This double meaning was on purpose.
ReplyDeleteChris might not want to say it but I know him personally and it wasn't his personal drug use look who recorded the song and look how they came to their death
ReplyDelete