One more chain I break To get me closer to you One more chain does the maker make To keep me from bustin' through One more notch I scratch To keep me thinkin' of you One more notch does the maker make Upon my face so blue Get along, little doggies Get along, little doggies One more smile I fake And try my best to be glad One more smile does the maker make Because he knows I'm sad Oh Lord, how I know Oh Lord, how I see That only can the maker make A happy man of me Get along little doggies Get along little doggies Get along
This sounds like the actual track that was used for the release of the song. WOW! Such a humble guy. And always had a sense of humor. I always wished Sia had recorded, or would release some of her video footage of when she sang the actual takes of her most best songs. Just to capture her belting-it-out.
He does awsome covers of Leonard Cohen's music. They seem to have a mutual admiration for each others talent. Hallelujah Chelsie Hotel Suzanne To name just a few. ♡
it makes more sense in context. The song was written for Brokeback Mountain, a book/movie about two ranchers (jack & ennis) in the 60s who fall in love herding sheep on a mountain, but get separated when the job ends early. Jack finds ennis again after 4 years, but by then both have families and live in different states. All they can do is visit the mountain where they met a few days a year as their marriages crumble. Jack's father in law loathes him, so when ennis's wife leaves, he thinks its their chance to be together. Ennis feels obligated to stay in his children's lives and is terrified to live with Jack due to childhood trauma around a suspected gay man killed in his town. He refuses anything more than sporadic visits. Jack copes with his loneliness by having affairs with male prostitutes and ranchers until he's killed in a hate crime a few months before his next trip with Ennis, who lives a miserable life with nothing left to remember him by except a shirt and a postcard and dreams. *One more chain I break to get me closer to you, one more chain does the maker make to keep me from bustin' through* --> the movie is defined by the characters' struggle to be together. each time they overcome one obstacle (breaking chains to get closer) outside forces always prevent it (one more chain does the maker make). they fall in love at work and then lose their jobs and each other. they reconnect but are tied down by their wives and children. their families leave but society makes it unsafe for them move on with each other. they try to spend time together in an place no one can judge them, but jack dies before they can meet. in the end they were never able to be free to be with who they loved (bustin through, as in busting/breaking through the chains aka obstacles keeping them in their lonely lives) *One more notch I scratch to keep me thinkin' of you, one more notch does the maker make upon my face so blue* --> a notch is literally an indentation, usually as a tally, but is used in several metaphors. "A notch in one's bedpost" means a one night stand, or someone you sleep with but don't want to date. Jack wanted to be with Ennis, but rarely saw him, so he hooked up with random people to fill the void. "A notch on one's belt" means an achievement, especially one in a successive string of others. Ennis loved Jack but felt he had to marry a woman and have children because it's what was expected of him, even though it didn't make him happy. They were always unhappy, almost every event in the film made things worse. *Get along little doggies, get along little doggies* This could honestly just be there to fill some space. But they did have dogs with them during their sheep job. You could relate it to dogs or sheep being pack animals, who follow the leader. In this case, Ennis and Jack were just following what society said they should be versus what they were to fit in. *One more smile I fake, and try my best to be glad.* Ennis and Jack try to make the best of what they have, and be content with their lives, with their wives, but it's not enough for either of them. *One more smile does the maker make, because he knows I'm sad.* At the time the movie was set, most of society wouldn't feel any sympathy towards homosexuals. Many interpretations of God portray him as considering gays as abominations, and so God too would take pleasure in their suffering for their sins. *Oh Lord, how I know. Oh Lord, how I see, that only can the maker make a happy man of me.* The only way Ennis and Jack could've been together and happy would be if their society and God didn't condemn them for loving each other. "The maker" in all of these lines is basically and kind of powers that be: God, society, fate, etc that controls our lives.
