Maybe The People Would Be The Times Or Between Clark And Hilldale

Jonesy is always wondering what this song is about when he plays it.  He has asked so many times I have decided to investigate it for myself:
Before we begin, we already know from the title that maybe the people would be the times-- probably the times that are being lived in, and not chronological or clock times--and therefore that the people themselves would be the times. That the singer could define the times by the people if the people would agree. Moreover, those people appear to be found, at least during the writing of this song, between Clark and Hilldale. And I surmise from MC5 on JJB that it must be the stretch of Sunset between those two streets, which I now imagine as some sort of Haight/Ashbury. 


But it occurs to me that the writer came to this song in more ordinary encounters with fans who expressed appreciation for his music when they chanced to see him on the street. Or perhaps from bumping into his musical cronies or acquaintances on the street, maybe after he had been away touring, or in the studio or recording, or something else that would have taken him away from the shared "times." Or maybe it was just a really tiresome Love record release party, that he didn't want to seem ungrateful for, but frankly, had no desire to attend.
Verse 1:What is happening and how have you been
Gotta go but i'll see you again
And oh, the music is so loud
And then i fade into the...

A meeting, and greeting. He must be off, but another meeting is assured. The music is so loud. The music around him? The music inside of him? And where is the singer going? To die? Back into dreams? Back to oblivion? Back home? Back on the road?A surplus of meaning. Wherever he is going, the music is so loud that he will fade, fade into the...???

Verse 2:Crowds of people standing everywhere
'cross the street i'm at this laugh affair
And here they always play my songs
And me, i wonder if it's...

AH, he's fading into a crowd of people!! And as we read on we see that it's something that leaves one laughing? Are they laughing at him? Is it laughable? Well, they always play his songs, so it's probably shared laughter. Or is it one of those horrible record company get togethers? A release party or something where all of his contemporaries are there, and some are just old news, and tired and obsolete? It's very crowded, that's for sure. And he's wondering.... What is he wondering???

Verse 3:Wrong or right they come here just the same
Telling everyone about their games
And if you think it obsolete
Then you go back across the street
Yeah, street, hey hey

He's wondering about right and wrong, and the nature of right and wrong. And whether the collective motive to coming to this undefined "here"-- this here of laughter, where the singer's songs are played-- is right or wrong, and further, that hidden motives are being revealed. Everything is being questioned. Or perhaps that is game itself? How droll, how sophisticated, how cynical they are, telling everyone about their games. How rich, how bored, how boring.

However, if you have transcended this revelation of the games, and feel it is obsolete, this judgement (right vs wrong), then simply go back across the street. Which we might divine, given the name of the song, is a real street. But at any rate, there is another crossing, another transition. Perhaps back to ones roots, or back into the music, or back to the beginning, or back to simplicity.

Verse 4:When i leave now don't you weep for me
I'll be back, just save a seat for me
But if you just can't make the room
Look up and see me on the...

But something has changed. The singer has changed and the relationship to his environment has changed. Some unknown love and bonding has entered this scenario, for weeping is presumed to follow the departure. It must be consoled and assured that a return can be expected. The atmosphere and the gathering, despite the anticipated weeping, is very casual. And if you can't save the seat, if it is filled in my absence, look up and see me... Where will you see me? Shmoozing with someone else and promising to return? What? Where? When will you see me?
Verse 5:Moon's a common scene around my town
Yeah where everyone is painted brown
And if we do get stuck away
Let's go paint everybody gray
Yeah, gray, yeah

AH, of course! You do remember don't you? All musicians are really sorcerors. Witches and shamans and medicine men. Speaking to us in the language of our hearts. Making music of our feelings. Singing to us the sounds of moonlight on a clear night. The moon is common scene around the singer's town. And common among night people, which musicians surely are as well. And common among the hippies and the partiers and Sunset night life that lives on still. Or perhaps this is the end of the money, the label's belief in you, the end of touring and these parties and back into being unknown, almost.

Back to being as far away from all of this as being on the moon.

But everyone is painted brown. There is no colour distinction, no race, or perhaps it is the dulling of ones bright and true colours. The lifeless masks we don for one another, to "fit in." But if we get stuck while we are away, we can paint everyone grey... Perhaps this is the shade uncertainity, or the mixing of all the peoples of the world, or perhaps, a rhyming word, chosen under the auspices not only of the Lady herself, the moon, but her favourite Love Child consort, LSD. Or perhaps we can make everything the same again, and start all over again, revealing, as artists do, those bright colours beneath the mask...

There are many meanings to this song. That is what I see.