what is gord referring to when he says "your father's pride was his means to provide and he's servin 3 years for that reason?"

He means that the child's father would be ashamed od\f himself if he couldn't feed,clothe or be able to provide for his family. Possibly,the father in the song either does not make enough money or has no job at all. So he might have done something like armed robbery to get money and got caught. If I'm right,three years is not very long to serve for that kind of thing,but then again,this was 30 years ago. Hope that helps. It's been me and I'll catch ya on the flipside of Sundown! http://www.corfid.com/ubb/cool.gif

That's what I always thought it meant, too. The father broke the law and is serving time.

Gord is echoing a common theme -- how the law is more harsh to the poor than to the rich. The theme occurs repeatedly in Les Miserables, and in the famous quotation by Anatole France:

"The Law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich, as well as the poor, to sleep under the bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread."

Any father wants (and is expected) to provide the necessities of life -- food, shelter, clothing -- to his children. When that becomes impossible by "honest" means, it becomes necessary by any means available.

The significance of this line to "Circle of Steel" is that the pattern of poverty is repeated in successive generations -- a viscious circle of want and neglect.




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"And the laughter came too easy for life to pass me by."

Yep, 2much2lose that is the way the song sounded to me from the very first time I heard it.
GSS

WHAT DO THE LYRICS MEAN FOR THIS SONG??? I think it's about a child being born but the parents are to poor to care for him. I think theres more to it than that and if I'm wrong please correct me and if I'm right please tell me I'm right. I know this topic was brung up some time ago but I cain't seem to find it.

DMD3:

Have you ever heard Elvis's song "In the Ghetto" on an oldies station? Basically, it is the same theme: a child born in that situation has little chance of success, or perhaps even survival, even if "the child is strong." He's been dealt the wrong cards in the game of life--or, in Gord's image, the wrong number came up for him on the roulette wheel of life.

The "circle of steel" has been conjectured to be any number of things--clearly Gord meant it to imply the roulette wheel ("place your bets"); perhaps also the "great mandala" of Indian philosophy (the circle of life--there's a Peter, Paul, and Mary song about this); and also perhaps huge 1960s-era urban slum "project" buildings clustered around a central area. He might have meant "circle of steel" to mean all these things, or some, or more. A good writer often uses double--or triple, or more--meanings.

Example: In Shakespeare's play, Hamlet tells Ophelia to "Get thee to a nunnery." Elizabethan audiences would have known that whorehouses were also known as "nunneries."