Broken Arrow Analysis

Broken Arrow, off of Buffalo Springfields second album Buffalo

Springfield Again, is chiefly the work of group member Neil Young.
While everyone in the band was an accomplished writer themselves,
Neil clearly sets himself apart from the rest with this song. Young is
known for writing deep and meaningful songs, but while most of his
others fall under the umbrella of folk/rock, this song is truly
experimental and can be analyzed on a number of levels from song
form to lyrical content. Indeed, this is a work of Joycean magnitude for
each part is a perfect compliment to every other part as well as to the
whole itself.
One could simply say that this song is in AB form and leave it at
that, but there is a lot more to the form of this song that Neil Young
was experimenting with. Firstly, the verse switches to timing after
the first line and than goes back to 4/4 during the chorus. Also, the
verse goes straight into the chorus and each pairing of verse and
chorus is separated by an intermission of sorts. Thinking on the large
scale, this is the last song on the album and one of the first things that
we hear is an excerpt of the first song on the album. Harkening back to
the first song is a good way to resolve an album because it makes the
listener feel like theyve come full circle. But we also hear it in the
context of a cheering audience, which begins to paint a whole new
picture for us. We realize that what were hearing isnt necessarily
supposed to be catchy but is supposed to tell us a story. Obviously
were hearing a rock concert, but with an interjection from what sounds
like an organ the scene jumps ahead to after the show when the band
is leaving. However, we now get our narration from the lyrics rather
than some sort of audio collage. As he describes the curtains falling to
cut away the audience from the performer, the song changes rhythm.
If being on stage is some fantastical dream, and going back stage is

going back to rainy reality, the rhythm change helps to highlight that
divide for the listener. The rhythm change going back to 4/4 in the
chorus helps it to stand out on its own and tells the listener that this
may no longer be narration.
The next audio collage consists of and audience booing at a
dissonant sounding rendition of Take Me Out to the Ball Game. While
it may be a stretch, I believe this is representative of how audiences
react poorly when their expectations arent met. The next verse is
more symbolic than narrative. We know that there is a kid who runs
crying to his mother after seeing that his brother has sworn on the
wall and his mother tells him dont mention babies at all. This is
somewhat vague, but if we know its a bad time to bring babies into
the world its probably because of war. And when we reconsider the first
line, we see that the war scenario makes sense and that the brother
probably enlisted. As if to continue this theme the next scene starts of
with a drum role and no audience is heard cheering which makes one
assume it could be some sort of military funeral march. If the last verse
was symbolic, this one is incredibly cryptic. It speaks of a wedding
parade and seems dandy until it gets to the third line where it
mentions a caisson, which is used in military funeral processions. It is
said to protect her king from the sun rays of dawn perhaps implying
that his last sun had set on him.
While the verses and chorus dont add up to one big story, I think
that they each have themes which are meant to be juxtaposed with
each other. For one thing, the first starts with an audience cheering,
the second with an angry audience booing, and the third has a somber
audience in silence. So on one hand we have this progression from
happy to angry to sad, but at the same time we have a progression
from personal, to generational, to everybody. The first being his
experiences on stage, the second being a short sketch of life during
Vietnam, and the third alluding cryptically to the JFK assassination.

The one constant throughout this whole thing has been the chorus. The
chorus makes frequent notice of a Native American who is holding a
broken arrow. Seeing as the broken arrow is a symbol for peace and the
native American holding it is present in every verse, I would say that
its pretty safe to assume that this image of the Indian with the broken
arrow represents the archetype of the silent observer. While in reality
Native Americans could be as brutal as any man, here they play the
role of pacifist, beckoning our chaotic world towards peace, yet as they
say, you take a horse to water, but you cant make it drink.