ROCKY RACCOON DECODED
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1. Black Mountain Hills of Dakota: America’s Bible Belt...... i.e. south and midwest.
2. Young boy named Rocky Racoon: Adult Christian parents.
3. His woman: Teenage Christian kids.
4. Ran off with another guy: Became Beatle fans.
5. Hit young Rocky in the eye: John Lennon’s infamous quote angers Christians.
6. Rocky didn’t like that, said I’m gonna get that boy: Christians protest, burn records, veiled threats.
7. Then one day he walked into town: Beatles came to U.S. for 1966 concert tour and faced the protesting Christians (he).
8. And booked himself a room in the local saloon: Protesting Christians appearing at every concert site (saloon).
9. Rocky Raccoon checked into his room only to find Gideon’s Bible: Television newscasts at the time said that the Gideon’s Bible group may have added to the protests by placing numerous additional Bibles in the Beatle’s hotel rooms.
10. Rocky had come equipped with a gun: Protestors marched, carried protest signs, and burned Beatle records.
11. To shoot off the legs of his rival: To bring down the Beatles (rival)
12. His rival it seems had broken his dreams: His (adult Christians) Rival (Beatles) broken his dreams (stolen the hearts of Christian teenagers)
13. By stealing the girl of his fancy: Stealing (made fans of) the girl (Christian teenagers)
14. Her name was Magill, and she called herself Lil but everyone knew her as Nancy: Her (Christian teenagers) name (any number of terms used to describe music/Beatle fans
15. Now she and her man who called himself Dan: She (Christian teenagers) and her man and Dan (Beatles).
16. Were in the next room at the hoedown: Fans and Beatles were at various Beatle concert sites.
17. Rocky came in and grinning a grin: Rocky (protestors) grinning a grin (making threats).
18. He said Danny boy this is a showdown: He (protestors) Danny (also the Beatles) showdown (protest confrontations).
19. But Daniel was hot: Daniel (Beatles) hot (at the top of their popularity).
20. He drew first and shot: He (Beatles) continued concert tour and held interviews downplaying significance of Lennon’s quote.
21. And Rocky collapsed in the corner: Impact of Lennon’s statement was limited to the Christian right, and so began to fade with time.
22. The doctor came in stinking of gin: Doctor (Beatles manager, Brian Epstein) stinking of gin (suffering from a severe drug habit).
23. Proceeded to lie on the table: Began issuing press statements to soften the public relations damage.
24. He said Rocky you met your match: Private opinion of the time indicated the Christian protests couldn’t compete with the Beatle’s popularity.
25. And Rocky said doc it’s only a scratch, I’ll be better, I’ll be better doc as soon as I am able: More sober minded Christians of the time felt that the impact of Lennon’s statement, and the Beatle’s current influence, would eventually fade away while Christianity would remain.
26. Rocky Raccoon fell back in his room only to find Gideon’s Bible: The fact of McCartney referring to Gideon’s Bible twice in this song may be indicative
of 2 points;
a. A subtle hint at a significance in the double usage.
b. Yet another hint at the rumors concerning attempts to put Bibles on every seat of the Beatle’s plane taking them home to England.
27. Gideon checked out, and he left it no doubt to help with good Rockies’ revival: With the failure of their attempts to swamp the Beatles with Bibles it would seem that the Gideon’s will have returned to their original mission of getting their Bibles into public places.
At one point or another all the Beatles would issue press statements downplaying the significance of John’s statement.
While many had the impression that this was John’s band, it was usually Paul who tended to act as the point man in The Beatles activities. It was also Paul who seemed to be the most concerned with the Beatle’s public image. In this light it seems natural that Paul would harbor serious concerns over John’s quote, and the impact it would have on then current, and future, Beatle popularity.
It appears that hidden in "Rocky Raccoon" was a statement by Paul to the effect of, "hey everyone, John didn’t mean what you all think he meant, and if we’ll all just relax a bit, all of this will blow over in time with no harm done". Paul doesn’t seem to have mentioned any of this in any interviews, so it seems logical that he might simply want all the memories of public outrage, protest, and personal stress relegated to the steamy mists of time.
©Written by: Lonnie R. Dawson. You can email Lonnie with any comments about this story.
© Beatlesnumber9
Rocky Raccoon Lyrics
Now somewhere in the black mountain hills of dakota
There lived a young boy named rocky raccoon
And one day his woman ran off with another guy
Hit young rocky in the eye, rocky didnt like that
He said Im gonna get that boy
So one day he walked into town
Booked himself a room in the local saloon
Rocky raccoon checked into his room
Only to find gideons bible
Rocky had come equipped with a gun
To shoot off the legs of his rival
His rival it seems had broken his dreams
By stealing the girl of his fancy
Her name was magil and she called herself lil
But everyone knew her as nancy
Now she and her man who called himself dan
Were in the next room at the hoe down
Rocky burst in and grinning a grin
He said danny boy this is a showdown
But daniel was hot - he drew first and shot
And rocky collapsed in the corner
Now the doctor came in stinking of gin
And proceeded to lie on the table
He said rocky you met your match
And rocky said, doc its only a scratch
And Ill be better, Ill be better doc as soon as I am able
Now rocky raccoon he fell back in his room
Only to find gideons bible
Gideon checked out and he left it no doubt
To help with good rockys revival
(The views expressed are not necessarily the views of Beatlesnumber9. The original title was Rocky Sassoon. Sometimes an artist is a channel of messages he or she may not even be aware of. Many lyrics can be pulled from the subconscious mind of any writer. "There is a purpose for everything" ~ #9)
