Sodom, South Georgia

I chose the song “Sodom, South Georgia” by Iron & Wine (Samuel Beam.) I think all of his songs are really poetic and beautiful. Most of the songs tell a complex story rather than writing generic ideas about love or something. The song is from the point of view of a son writing about his father who passed away. There are many ways to interpret the lyrics but I think it is about a town of people who live monotonously. I think it is also about the hollowness of unquestioned religious faith, which the speaker is struggling to maintain when his father dies.

Papa died smiling

Wide as the ring of a bell

Gone all star white

Small as a wish in a well

And Sodom, South Georgia

Woke like a tree full of bees

Buried in Christmas

Bows and a blanket of weeds

Beam utilizes metaphors here comparing the town to “a tree full of bees” and says the town is “Buried in Christmas/ Bows and a blanket of weeds.”

I think the town is sort of startled by the death of a good man, while they are buried in the cheerful holiday. “A blanket of weeds” suggests that the cheeriness of the holiday is somewhat artificial.

Later it says:

Papa died Sunday and I understood

All dead white boys say, "God is good"

White tongues hang out, "God is good"

The “white tongues” symbolize the gravestones and even though they are dead the white boys hold faith in God. I think this reflects the speaker’s criticisms of their relentless faith in God despite all of the terrible things that happen in the world.

The end of the song is:

Papa died while my

Girl Lady Edith was born

Both heads fell like

Eyes on a crack in the door

And Sodom, South Georgia

Slept on an acre of bones

Slept through Christmas

Slept like a bucket of snow

Papa died Sunday and I understood

All dead white boys say, "God is good"

White tongues hang out, "God is good"

This seems to reflect the speaker’s hopelessness in the cycle of life and death. I think his faith in God is sort of nonexistent at this point and he accepts the reality of life. There is a lot of interesting imagery here, especially when it says “Both heads fell like/ Eyes on a crack in the door,” though I don’t really understand what this means. There two more interesting metaphors used at the end. The speaker seems to separate himself from the seemingly hopeless and relentlessly faithful town.