This song is inspired in a story by Charles Bukowski called The Most Beautiful Woman In Town. You might want to read the story (it’s really short) before proceeding.
Five sisters and she’s the one
More beauty than the setting sun
Cass was the youngest and most beautiful of the five sisters. Her father died of alcoholism and her mother ran off, leaving the girls alone. The five girls were sent to a convent by a relative.
But she was much more than she showed
Something her form could not hold
Cass, although beautiful, was a bit crazy. She enjoyed inserting pins in her nose, eyes and she cut her throat twice. She also had marks on her left arm from picking up fights and a scar along her left cheek.
She’d dance and flirt with all the boys
But all her beauty she would sooner destroy
She’d flirt with all the boys but only a couple of times she’d get into bed with any of them. When it came the time to have sex she’d somehow escape.
The anchor of a soul cut loose to drift
The anchor of a soul cut loose to drift
The difference what was and what is
I ain’t exactly sure
Think how young our fathers were
The first two lines are still talking about Cass (the anchor of a soul cut loose to drift) but I’m not sure what the last three are talking about, maybe it’s a reference to how this happened in the past, in the time of our fathers?
Indian and Irish blood
Long dark hair and an angels touch
Cass was, in Bukowski’s words:” 1/2 Indian with a supple and strange body, a snake-like and fiery body with eyes to go with it. Cass was fluid moving fire“.
A beauty no man could control
And something her form could not hold
Cass was too crazy for any man, including the author. She ended up committing suicide.
Think how young our fathers were
And that same night sky
Offers no answers why
Think how young our fathers were
The story ends with the author in the night he learned about Cass’ suicide. The last phrase reads “The night kept coming and there was nothing I could do.”
A bit of nerdish trivia: The name of the album (Rebels, Rogues & Sworn Brothers) comes from an appendix in the third book of the A Song of Ice and Fire saga (the series where A Game of Thrones is the first book).
