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Posted August 28th, 2007 by christineknauer
As we discussed in class, the diction of the song does not seem to be as important as the sound and rhythm of it. The use of the lower case "i" used several times throughout gives a sense of a speaker with low self esteem and the sad, mellow sound of the song amplifies that idea. These combined factors lead to the last three lines of the song "the sight of you makes me wonder how far is Denver from here?" which is the most emotional section of the lyrics. To me, the speaker seems ready to drop everything to follow a stranger to Denver. I'm not sure if there is some other significance behind the location of Denver. Any ideas?
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Denver Dos
In a way I think this poem sums up the general idea of "love at first sight." The writer sees a woman from across the bar and can't help but take everything about her in, and then when he finally gets the courage to go up to her he doesn't remember much about their conversation. Yet, at the same time, was so carried away that he was willing to go to Denver with her. I also agree with the idea of the lower case "i" being used to show low self-esteem, as mention before, I think that the first stanza is the reader working up the courage to approach the woman before he actually goes over. I think the phrase "sidled up to the bar" is an over-exaggerated one to show how much it took him to go over to the girl. I also think that the element of song is important here because it gives voice to the speaker and conveys how they feel with the tone of their voice as well as what is written on the page.
Denver Tres
I agree with what's been written so far concerning this song. I, as well, noticed the lowercase "i" instead of the uppercase one, and in examining this fact my eyes fell on the only capitalized words in the poem: Annie Oakley, and Denver. Now, I myself can't think of any significant reason to capitalize Annie Oakley, except maybe the fact that it is used to describe the girl he's talking about, and she's the important one in his eyes. But the fact that Denver is capitalized, and the resulting contrast with the uncapitalized i's, creates a sense that the singer/narrator is so focused entirely on this girl and where he'd have to follow her that he has lost his sense of self.
I found it interesting that the sight of the girl "was something true," but later he states that it was something that made him "wonder / how far is Denver from here?" Either his feelings grow from the first stanza to the second, as the sight of the girl goes from being something that is merely true to something that makes him wonder how far away Denver is, or the sight of the girl makes him doubt a little more after he begins to talk to her. If he's wondering how far away Denver is at that point, has he lost focus on the girl, or is he even more committed to following her?