Ironbound/ Fancy Poultry

This song uses what is called a "motif," an image that recurs several times. The motif is the idea of things, people, and places being "ironbound."

There is an overhead structure, probably the trestle from an elevated commuter train: "Beams and bridges... the rails run 'round." Its beams-- along with the random wires overhead in any city-- don't so much block the sunlight as bisect into "little triangles."

The trestle is supported by iron beams, regularly spaced. This colonnade makes the "section" beneath it feel "ironbound." Other areas shown to be bounded by iron fencing are the "schoolyard" and the "market." The iron is old, with much visible "rust." This has been going on a long, long time.

And, ultimately, the "border" between the residents and any other possible life is, likewise, "ironbound." This area's many fenced in subsections are revealed as the characters move through them.

The only action is of a woman dropping her child off at school, then going to the market. By watching her, we learn something about her life and circumstances.

She lives near a marketplace where live chickens are displayed and butchered onsite for sale. We see "the blood and feathers near her feet," and later hear the cries of the chicken sellers.

The woman is of indistinct ethnicity-- we are told that her skin is of a "light and sweet coffee color"-- but perhaps she is Portuguese like others in her neighborhood.

We "watch" her walk her son up to the gate of the school. Both are "bound up in iron and wire and fate." The iron beams and metal wires that surround them serve as a metaphor for a prison of a sort, a place and situation that cannot be escaped.

She has some hope for the children, however. Aside from the chickens and the people, the only living thing there is some scraggly, hardy vegetation. She knows the children "will grow like weeds on a fence... they come up through the cracks." She tells us that they "try to make sense" of their situation.
But she stops short of saying they will be able to do anything about it.

"She touches him goodbye," but does not embrace or kiss her son. Perhaps he is too old to be comfortable with such displays in front of his classmates. Or perhaps the very coldness and restrictiveness of their environment has chilled such usual parental warmth.

Leaving the schoolyard, "she stops at the stall," presumably the one selling chickens. She "fingers the ring," probably a wedding ring. Where is her husband, the boy's father? Did he leave for work earlier? Is he home, unemployed? Did he divorce her, simply fly, or even die?

She "feels a longing," but, it seems, not for him. She longs to be, simply, "away from the ironbound border." What seems to trigger the longing, after all, is not the ring. It's the opening of her purse. Why would the routine act of finding money for groceries in her wallet call forth this emotional reaction? Does she miss the man less than the financial stability he provided?

Does she struggle with the idea of selling or pawning the ring, as if doing so would be an admission of the finality of the man's departure? That he left or died and is never coming back? If it's all she has left of him, we can well imagine her dilemma.

The song closes with the cry of the chicken vendor. But it is clear that this sub-song (it has its own title) is also meant to symbolize the treatment of women. It even calls to mind the specter of female trafficking and prostitution.

What is being sold? "Breasts and thighs," the visible parts of a woman most often sexualized. Also, "hearts" are for sale-- emotional commitment can be had for a price. "Backs," the part associate with work (as in "back-breaking labor") are cheap; for not much, you can have a woman cook and clean for you. She could be a maid, a wife, does it matter?

And "wings"? They are "nearly fee." Chicken wings do not have much meat, and so would be sold cheaply. But metaphorically, a woman's "wings"-- her senses of independence and freedom-- are only "nearly" free. Not free... enough. Still, ultimately, ironbound.


Next Song: In the Eye

Neighborhood Girls

This song seems to be linked to the earlier song, "Straight Lines." It also seems to imply that the woman who committed suicide in that song was, or might have been, a prostitute.

Here, we have two people talking about "neighborhood girls." One says that her neighborhood had one, but now, "she's gone."

Then, without having described her beyond her usual place of... business, someone replies (and this reply is the bulk of the song) that they think they "know" that woman.

This person says, in response, that he saw her in the morning and had "eyes of ice," which can mean both a shade called "ice blue," but also that her eyes were cold and devoid of emotion.

He (since the subject is a "girl," I am saying that the response is provided by a man for simplicity's sake) also claims to have spoken to her at a party. She says something enigmatic, which he chalked up to her being inebriated. She said, he recalls, "There's a backbone gone and I've got to get it back before going on." While arch, this comment seems perfectly understandable-- she wants to get her backbone, her resolve and confidence, back... and then move on, probably to another line of work.

The party-goer can be somewhat poetic himself, noting that this woman was "looking out at people from the back of her mind." Usually, the expression, "the back of my mind," means "in the part of my past I don't need to recall much." Here, it seems to mean "in an aloof and detached manner."

She also said she was looking for a "razor's edge" that she had "lost," and would, along with the backbone (to use it?), she would like to regain.

Why? She feels that her life lacks clarity. "I am just walking through the smoke," she says, and "things are going gray."

In what way are a backbone and a razor alike? They form straight lines. And that, above all, is what she is looking for: "I'd like to hear a straight line to help me find my way."

And this phrase is the signal to the listener that this is likely the same woman who is the subject of "Straight Lines." Now we can add this clue to the others. In that song, the woman "cut down on her lovers," because, as a sex worker, she had felt she was seeing too many; here, the party-goer says "She seems to have resigned." We have the "razor's edge" being sought here, and "cold metal" first "touching skin" and then "too close to the bone" there.

(It's also possible that this is the same woman as in "Cracking." There, the woman walks to the park in the "afternoon," and finds the sun blinding; here, the party-goer sees the woman he is speaking of "walking in the sun," albeit in "the morning." Also, that woman "walks a hairline," and so is interested in lines. There is a lot of imagery of cold in "Cracking," and this woman has "eyes of ice,"

Further, the woman in "Undertow" says she wants "to learn all the secrets from the edge of a knife," and could also be the same person.)

The last clue we have is the party-goer's throwaway line, "She had long, black hair." And this is where the connection possibly breaks down.

The first person to speak now speaks again: "Must be a different neighborhood girl/ 'Cause ours had blonde hair." As did the woman in "Straight Lines." The title agrees, since the song is called "Neighborhood Girls," plural. There are at least two.

Except... that woman also had "gone and cut her hair again." Women often change their hair color, as well as its length. Or, given her profession, she may have worn a wig when not working so as to be less recognizable.

Would a detective or judge be able to say with certainty that this was the same person as the suicide? Or that the blonde neighborhood girl the first speaker means is the same person as either of those others? Probably not.

But we know it must be. Otherwise, why bother mentioning it?

Next Song: Left of Center