Song Meaning
The lyrics paint a picture of a morning that refuses to fully arrive, despite the crowing of a rooster. The expected awakening, symbolized by a "queen rising," doesn't happen. Instead, the scene is filled with strange, almost surreal imagery: the "hair of my blonde" is "dazzling," juxtaposed with the "spittle of cows threading the wind." This creates a disorienting, unsettling atmosphere, far from a typical pastoral morning.
The core tension seems to lie in this failed awakening. The repeated "ki-ki-ri-ki" of the rooster, meant to signal a vibrant new day, is met with a lack of response, a "no rou-cou, no rou-cou-cou." This absence of expected sound and color – "no rou-cou" – suggests a profound lack of vitality or joy, a morning that is present in form but devoid of spirit.
The most striking craft element is the stark contrast between the natural, albeit odd, imagery and the complete lack of expected response. The "cock crows" and the "hair of my blonde" are described, but the expected outcome – a "queen rises" or "rou-cou" – is explicitly denied. The final image of "no queen comes / In slipper green" reinforces this sense of a missing, perhaps magical, arrival, leaving the scene suspended in a state of unfulfilled anticipation.
This lyrical construction is effective because it builds a palpable sense of anticlimax and quiet despair. The mundane (cow spittle) and the potentially beautiful (dazzling hair) are presented without resolution, mirroring a feeling of being stuck. The absence of the expected "rou-cou" and the "queen" creates a void that the listener can fill with their own sense of unfulfilled potential or lingering melancholy.
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