Hi all,
In my opinion this song is very special. It's not about cricket, although mark has certainly made reference to any given sport-man with bat and ball.
And how he used to thrill the crowd (the subject is Mark himself)
The ready eye with bat and ball
The village fighter, heavy browed
The Englishman who had it all
In this and following verses Mark looks back at his past. The time of his big days with the dire straits. When his long solos would send lots of people to tears, give the big goose bumps to any vip sport man, wealthy or bright and knowledgeble English man who attended his gigs. He looks at what he was with admiration with the view that little is left of the wonderful guitar player he was.
A mighty shoulder to the wheel
To join in battle with the best
The iron arm, the will of steel
And heart of oak to mourn the rest
Mark likes to hide the true meaning of his songs and uses phrases to confuse the listener... However to me there is no doubt as to who this mighty shoulder belongs to. Mark broke his collarbone in the motorbike accident and I have noticed he still carries post trauma effects on his arm and hand.
I don't think there is more to explain as the above text is far too obvious if read under this perspective.
To me the reference to the heart of oak is not fully clear but it seems plausible that he meant to refer to himself as a very strong and confident man, like a warrior, with little attention to the rest of the world who did not have as much talent. Heart of oak could also be a reference to the brave and fearless man he was years ago. He probably has more fears nowadays.
A power harnessed to the game
Once yoked and tempered fades away
The willing arm, the steady aim
The youth and fire that won the day
As twilight shadows dim the field
The ageing fighter stands bereft
With just the will to never yield
And heart of oak to mourn what’s left
The subject of this verse his 'the ageing fighter'. We move from the glorious past to the present days. Mark sees himself now as an old man who has tempered over the years due to the huge effort and will to carry on with heavy duty work (productions, collaborations, thousands of concerts and rehearsals). The tempering of a metal makes it harder but brittler. He refers to himself as the aging fighter. He looks at what it is left of himself with sympathy. He is determined as ever to carry on to give the best he has to produce good songs and keep hold of his strong heart to mourn what's left of his own talent.
Clearly this is not what I think of him but just how he sees himself today. I have gathered this from what he recently says. How much humble he has become. He claims not to be a true musician but simply the songwriter, and he can afford to get away with plenty of mistakes or with forgetting his licks.
This song to me is the core of tracker. With this record MK wanted to go back in time and tell his story to the world. And he really did an amazing job!! Even the decision to use the sultans of swing tune is for a reason. It is the tune that changed his life for good, it identifies the time when everything started for him.
This song is so personal that he frightens me. I think he wrote it with the thought that he may not have another chance to write a further record. It is not by chance he placed this song at at the end of Tracker.
I just don't get the reason why he has relegated it to the deluxe cd!
