Concerning "Watchman," I feel that this is primarily a road song in the style of Woody Guthrie or "King of the Road." (Borderstone is another such song by Gord.) The life on the road is marked by the journey, not the destination -- one lives "to follow the golden sun." As in a Woody Guthrie song (e.g., the singer who "roams and rambles and follows [his own] footsteps" in This Land is Your Land), the penniless hobo in Watchman has complete freedom whereas the office-bound corporate minion has none. "On the town," as opposed to the road, he must deal with the inherent "b***s***, which drives him to "wash [it] down" with alcohol as a means of coping. The singer realizes that he is freer and healthier on the road than "on the town." There may be some Kristofferson influence here also ("Freedom's just another word for nothin' left to lose.") In that sense, "Watchman" is an uncannily accurate description of the hobo life on the road, where the only thing that can interrupt the unbridled freedom is the Watchman (the enforcer of society's rules" who kicks the bums about, but only temporarily, because the veteran of the road can in his sleep "climb aboard unseen." The wandering hobo has a lot in common with the sailor of the past ("son of the sea") in that one's life is given extensively to wandering, the outdoors, and contemplation. Even death is not the end of this type of life but a mere continuation of the freedom of the road. The singer is almost indifferent to death --"If you find me feeding daisies, please turn my face up towards the sky, and leave me be ..." Compare this image to that of the sailors in Triangle, "with their faces turned up to the stars." "You must answer again to the sea so ye may not complain."
There is also an interesting tie between "Watchman" and Early Morning Rain, because the subject of EMR "can't jump a jet plane like you can a freight train." That image, in part, is a lament for the simpler times of the road, times which have been left behind by the "improvements" of modern life which do not "improve" us so much as package and limit us.
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Turning to the original part of this thread, I think many of Gord's songs are clappable, especially Alberta Bound. That doesn't mean I want to hear the audience clapping and interfering with the music. Unless the performer invites it, I think it is somewhat presumptious to clap along during a song. It's not as bad as singing along (usually), but I didn't pay to hear the guy or gal behind me clap or sing.
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"And the laughter came too easy for life to pass me by."
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