Where To Now St. Peter?

Album: Tumbleweed Connection (1970)
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  • I took myself a blue canoe
    And I floated like a leaf
    Dazzling, dancing
    Half enchanted
    In my Merlin sleep

    Crazy was the feeling
    Restless were my eyes
    Insane they took the paddles
    My arms they paralysed

    So where to now St. Peter
    If it's true I'm in your hands
    I may not be a Christian
    But I've done all one man can
    I understand I'm on the road
    Where all that was is gone
    So where to now St. Peter
    Show me which road I'm on

    Which road I'm on
    It took a sweet young foreign gun
    This lazy life is short
    Something for nothing always ending
    With a bad report

    Dirty was the daybreak
    Sudden was the change
    In such a silent place as this
    Beyond the rifle range

    So where to now St. Peter
    If it's true I'm in your hands
    I may not be a Christian
    But I've done all one man can
    I understand I'm on the road
    Where all that was is gone
    So where to now St. Peter
    Show me which road I'm on
    Which road I'm on

    I took myself a blue canoe Writer/s: Bernie Taupin, Elton John
    Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 12

  • Frank From Savannah from Savannah GaI’ve thought of the possibility that this song is about an alien abduction. “Insane, they took the paddles, my arms paralyzed” And “sudden was the change, in such a silent place as this” Also someone mentioned “the backwards guitar” - it’s actually a wah-wah pedal. Very Cool Song. It’s been my favorite from when I was a young teenager.
  • Tradermom from Dallas TexasI think the song is about treatment in a mental institution. The paddles and the paralyzed arms are an aspect of electroshock therapy. Much of the song reminds me of a drug trip and he is asking what comes next for him after treatment.
  • Gregor Mendel from TexasThe "bad report" is a gunshot, Rob from Alberta. The sound of a gunshot is also called a "report." It was a "bad" report because the bullet hit him.
  • Rob from AlbertaA "blue canoe" is a type of sleeping pill. Sounds more like his arms lay paralyzed, not "they paralyzed". "Bad report" makes no sense either. Sounds like "the Barrymores", possibly a reference to the wild west?
  • AnonymousMy favourite Elton track brings back memories of hallucinatory influence.
  • Mike B from South CarolinaOld guy you are Blue Canoe is what the Confederate Soldiers called a Bullet
  • Somebody from Usto Kevin in Ca., have you heard fear inoculum by Tool? Or anything by cowboy junkies.
  • Old Guy from UsI agree it is about passing on,
    however not a soldier from the Civil War.
    I think the blue canoe is just a blue car he took to buy drugs.
    Got the drugs and was tripping.
    Was shot. Hit by a random bullet
    Referring to a “foreign gun.”
    You never see death coming when you are young.
    “ this lazy life is short”

    He was shot and unconscious.
    As he started to come around, everything was hazy and he was unclear as to what happened “dirty was the daybreak” it was then his eyes rolled back “restless were my eyes”
    His heart stopped and they tried to shock it to restart it.
    “Crazy were the paddles, my arms paralyzed “
    It was then he realized he has died but his heart is being forced to pump. He knows he is
    “On the road where all that was is gone”

    At this point he is asking St.Peter
    Death or life?
  • Kevin from Torrance, CaIt's too bad that the only songs that mean much of anything are 40 something years old, at a time when as Robert Plant put it, "the music industry had a conscience". There are still a few gems around that show up once in a while, but the pickings are extremely slim. Unless someone can steer me in the direction of anything new going on with much substance?

    Please?

    Anybody?
  • Angela from San Diego, CaNooo! Gotta add the best words, from verse two: Dirty was the day break/ Sudden was the change / in such a silent place as this / beyond the rifle range !!! It's the Merlin reference that caused Lyron to latch onto this song for me to learn for Integr8d Soul Rocket, Man.
  • Angela from San Diego, CaThe bootlegs of the Elton John band playing this around '82 are well worth hearing; Davey Johnstone fires up some blistering guitar licks in a mostly-instrumental reprise of verse two. Caleb Quaye's still Elton's guitarist on Tumbleweed, though. Definitely one of my favorites!
  • Kevin from Reading , PaThe song has a really cool backward guitar sound on it. One of several standout album tracks on "Tumbleweed."
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