An odd and obscure song by The Showmen, an early 60s R&B/pop group led by General Norman Johnson, who later co-founded the 70s R&B/ pop group Chairmen of the Board (was he in the military or was that his real first name?).
This particular song involves a guy having an adulterous interchange with some woman and then having the misfortune of getting caught red-handed by her husband, who tries to chase him down----but, somehow, our main character manages to escape him
...then, in a panic, packs his belongings and catches the next train back to his home town (I've never understood these songs where the person "packs their clothes and walks out the door" when the relationship goes awry. Wouldn't most people also own electronics and appliances or books or records and such? Do they just leave the "extras" behind?)
But when rushing home he observes the wild animals, pets in people's yards, and livestock and imagines them "speaking to him" as if to be in the act of telepathically surveilling him----especially an owl who seems to be at the forefront of it all (Why an owl? My guess is that, according to a lot of folklore, owls are presumed to be "bastions of wisdom" as well as metaphysical "harbingers").
This experience repeats itself while on his way to the train station, then again during the trip itself back to his hometown, as he observes the farms and livestock along the way
...and this owl who seems to be "following him" all the way home.
A bit of an Orwellian imagination on the part of our main character, if you ask me
...and being from the early 60s no less, when surveillance involved mostly phone tapping and stake-outs.
This particular song involves a guy having an adulterous interchange with some woman and then having the misfortune of getting caught red-handed by her husband, who tries to chase him down----but, somehow, our main character manages to escape him
...then, in a panic, packs his belongings and catches the next train back to his home town (I've never understood these songs where the person "packs their clothes and walks out the door" when the relationship goes awry. Wouldn't most people also own electronics and appliances or books or records and such? Do they just leave the "extras" behind?)
But when rushing home he observes the wild animals, pets in people's yards, and livestock and imagines them "speaking to him" as if to be in the act of telepathically surveilling him----especially an owl who seems to be at the forefront of it all (Why an owl? My guess is that, according to a lot of folklore, owls are presumed to be "bastions of wisdom" as well as metaphysical "harbingers").
This experience repeats itself while on his way to the train station, then again during the trip itself back to his hometown, as he observes the farms and livestock along the way
...and this owl who seems to be "following him" all the way home.
A bit of an Orwellian imagination on the part of our main character, if you ask me
...and being from the early 60s no less, when surveillance involved mostly phone tapping and stake-outs.
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