Talk:Three Wooden Crosses

I'll edit the description of the song. The current description is technically sound, but misses the context of the song. I'll also remove the line " looking for a lost soul." The song itself does not make it clear WHO was looking for the lost soul.Wizlop 04:53, 2 December 2007 (UTC)

Content

The "content" section for this song is based soley on the lyrics of the song. To analyse- I'll quote the song lyrics, followed by the relevant "content" part. This is not unverified or original research, and as such doesn't require references other than the lyrics of the song itself.

" A Farmer and A Preacher , A Hooker and a Teacher, Were riding on a midnight bus, bound for Mexico... The driver never ever saw the stop sign, and 18 wheelers can't stop on a dime.. "

Description in content-" The song describes a fatal late night bus accident, on a bus traveling from the USA to Mexico. The song describes four passengers, a "farmer and a teacher, a hooker and a preacher" as the song puts it. "

" There are three wooden crosses by the right side of the highway ... That farmer left a harvest, a home and 80 acres..That teacher left her wisom in the minds of lots of children "

When the bus crashes, There are memorials to the teacher, the farmer, and the preacher at the roadside- Three Wooden Crosses. The song then recounts how each earned their memorial through their services to the community.

" Why there is not four of the {wooden crosses}, I guess I'll never know "

At this point in the song the singer questions why there isn't a fourth cross, as a memorial to the prostitute,

" And the preacher wispered can't you see them promiced land, As he laid that bloodstained Bible in that hookers hand, "

until it is explained that the preacher, as he was dying, gave his Bible to the prostitute.

" Well thats the story that our preacher told last Sunday, As he held a bloodstained Bible up, for all of us to see, Bless the farmer, bless the teacher and bless the preacher, Who gave this Bible to my mother, who read it to me.. "

The song concludes with the revelation that story was told to the singer by the son of the prostitute involved in the crash, who is now a preacher. She survived the crash and brought her son up as a Christian, reading him the Bible given to her by the preacher killed in the crash.Wizlop (talk) 02:13, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

Odd line

I've never understood the meaning of " One was headed for vacation, one for higher education, and two of them were looking for lost souls." I am unsure if there is any metaphor there, or if it is just lyrics to move the song along. It could be assumed that (taken in the same order as they were mentioned) The farmer was on vacation, the teacher was on higher education, the preacher was looking for lost souls to save, and the hooker was looking for lost souls as her clients. Even so, that is straining this a bit I think.

In such a meaningful song, its hard to tell exactly what the context of this line is.Wizlop 04:54, 2 December 2007 (UTC)

That's the way I've always taken the lyrics. I think that the song itself is somewhat symbolic, and the events in the song have to be taken as symbolic as well. Trvsdrlng (talk) 08:44, 12 February 2008 (UTC)

The point of the lost souls is that the preacher is on a mission looking for lost souls, and the hooker is looking for her lost soul, meaning she's on the bus to "escape" her life and refind her soul. As the preacher is dying, he helps her refind her soul. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.178.111.79 (talk) 05:41, 19 September 2008 (UTC)

The Driver

So is one of the four the driver of the bus, or does nobody really care about him. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.191.180.106 (talk) 08:54, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

The driver's fate is not mentioned in the song. But since the hooker survived the crash, it's plausible that the driver survived the crash as well. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.28.192.222 (talk) 16:31, 11 January 2019 (UTC)

Song fodder: might write me a song about the driver, maybe he is the one who puts up the crosses, prays for the ones who died, and checks in in the one who was left to find her way. And maybe he is the father of the preacher, hmm? I should write a movie script. Qneill (talk) 02:56, 8 January 2023 (UTC)