The meaning of "blue canoe" in the lyrics of "Where to Now, St. Peter" sung by Elton John

Question

In his song Where to Now, St. Peter, Sir Elton John sings:

I took myself a blue canoe,
And I floated like a leaf
Dazzling, dancing half enchanted
In my Merlin sleep.

Crazy was the feeling
Restless were my eyes
Insane they took the paddles
My arms they paralysed.

(Lyric written by Bernie Taupin. Available on the album Tubleweed Connection. See the whole lyric.)

I found myself translating Elton's songs into Czech and I am curious about the meaning of "blue canoe". Here is what I have:

According to my friend, "blue canoe" had been used by the soldiers of Confederation during the civil war in the USA meaning a "bullet". Now this would make some sense:

I took myself a blue canoe [I shot myself to death],
And I floated like a leaf [towards the afterlife]
Dazzling, dancing half enchanted [I shot myself badly / the wrong way, dying hours in horrible pain]
In my Merlin sleep [in a sleep there is no waking from].

Crazy was the feeling
Restles were my eyes [this follows the scheme above]
Insane they took the paddles [my hands took the "paddles of the canoe" = gun],
My arms they paralysed ["my paralysed hands", my hands fell down after the gunshot].

I am a little skeptic about this interpretation. First of all, I find it improbable that Taupin would describe "dying hours in horrible pain" this way; it is neither touching nor fun. There are hands falling down after the gunshot, as well as "dancing in pain". The music Elton John composed to this lyric is far beyond psychedelic, further deepening my doubts. And, one more thing that does not match at all:

It took a sweet young foreign gun
This lazy life is short
Something for nothing always ending
With a bad report.

Why would a gun be "sweet" or "young"? Now this could be allegorical expression of a "young soldier", but at the very beginning of the song, he claims himself to be the executor of whatever causes him to die.

I have come with a different idea: "blue canoe" could be some elusive drug / poisonous substance, contained (for example) in the seeds or blossoms of a (tropical) flower that is blue in color. This would make sense to me:

I took myself a blue canoe [I have eaten a poisonous flower blue in color],
And I floated like a leaf [I have been disoriented]
Dazzling, dancing half enchanted [I could not control my body]
In my Merlin sleep [in a sleep there is no waking from]

Crazy was the feeling
Restless were my eyes [kaleidoscopic vision or other vision distortion]
Insane they took the paddles [my insane hands took the drug]
My arms they paralysed [my hands, now paralysed].

This goes with the verse "It took a sweet young foreign gun" meaning fruits, seeds or blossoms of a flower that are blue in color and sweet in taste, that come from a foreign land he finds himself (fighting) and that are "young" meaning unripe, thus poisonous as it is typical for some flowers.

Also, it goes well together with the Merlin; the association between Merlin and shooting myself to death is in my opinion much weaker than the association between Merlin and a poisonous substance, a "spell" that causes "my Merlin sleep".

I have been looking "blue canoe" up in the Merriam-Webster On-line Dictionary without success, I failed to find it in my books, too.

If anyone knows the meaning of "blue canoe", please do let me know. If you see any imperfection in the way I come to understand this, please do the same. I will be grateful for everyone's opinion on these two interpretations of the song.

Answer 1

I think your friend's interpretation of 'blue canoe' (ACW Confederate soldiers' slang for bullet) may be correct, although I've not been able to find any confirmation of that. However, I don't think that 'I took myself..." means 'I shot myself', rather it's the sense of 'I took a bullet' (i.e. was shot). For the rhythm of the song, it scans better to say 'I took myself a blue canoe' rather than 'I took me a blue canoe' ('I [xxx] me a common Southern idiom, e.g. 'I drank me a beer'.) So, 'I took myself a blue canoe' = I got shot.

'Sweet young foreign gun' would then be the soldier who shot him, 'gun' in this context being a someone who uses a gun. Taupin uses the same term elsewhere on the album: 'Ballad of a Well-Known Gun', i.e. a gunslinger.

There is also a pun in the last line of the last verse: 'Something for nothing always ending with a bad report', 'report' also having the meaning of an explosive noise, e.g. the report of a rifle (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/report), as well as the line '...in such a silent place as this, beyond the rifle range'.

I always thought the line 'Insane they took the paddles, my arms they paralysed' was a reference to medics trying to get the wounded man to safety, but, as mawsco so rightly said, songwriters put song lyrics together for the way they sound as well as meaning (if any).

At the time he wrote the lyrics to Tumbleweed Connection, Bernie Taupin was fascinated by the history and culture of the American South and the [American] Civil War era in particular; this theme is carried through much, if not all, of the album. 'Where to Now, St. Peter' is a hauntingly beautiful song about a young Confederate soldier who has been shot, is dying, and is contemplating what happens next. It's also a song about that soldier's faith - 'I may not be a Christian, but I've done all one man can'.

Sorry for the long answer, but this has been one of my all-time favorite songs for decades.

Answer 2

Well, I guess you have to be a child of the sixties to really understand this. I ran into blue canoes at Woodstock. On the way in I had a sack full of oranges and kept giving them out to people — it was a hot day and it was about a five mile walk to Yasgur's Farm. And nearly every time I gave someone an orange they gave me back either some smoke of some downers or some acid or several other things I knew not what they were. When I got to the site, there was a wooded area at the back (the site was like a natural amphitheatre with the stage at the lowest point) near where the Hog Farm set up and served granola and a strange sort of think gruel and other stuff. A little further to the side Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters parked their psychedelic schoolbus and administered electric koolaid acid tests.

Well, the wooded area had two paths that crossed in the middle, and that is where all the drug dealers set up shop, usually displaying their wares on upturned cardboard boxes. So on arriving I walked back to the pharmacopeia and got the experts to identify several of my until-then unidentified acquisitions. I had been given two rather large blue pills in a capsule not unlike the cylindrical ones with rounded ends that many over the counter drugs come in. The experts identified these as "Blue Canoes" = mescaline. I had done mescaline before and rather enjoyed it, so I retained those (though I traded most of my downers and assorted others for purple microdot or orange sunshine whenever possible — the exchange rate was a bit high, but well worth it).

So the answer is, "I took myself a blue canoe, and I floated like a leaf" means "I dropped some mescaline and tripped". Evidently Sir Elton's trip was a mixture of good and bad — paralysed arms, but also "dazzling, dancing, half-enchanted".

By the way, the reference to Merlin reinforces this. If you check it out, Geoffrey of Monmouth, who first described Merlin in the 12th century, called him Merlin Ambrosius, from ambrosia which is from the Greek and Latin meaning "elixir of life".

It got me through the rainstorm on Sunday, and if the truth be known for a time there I was dazzling, dancing, half enchanted.

Answer 3

they took my paddles my arms they paralyzed. He is dying and facing st peter, who decides heaven or hell -which road I'm on; so, no paddles no arms he is helpless to his fate and perhaps was helpless in determining the course of his life. C

Answer 4

I've always been fascinated by this song, and I think the lyric is a very clever 'double-meaning' one which fits two different interpretations. The Civil War/dying soldier interpretation is one than never occurred to me, but makes sense - it is also in-keeping with the general lyrical theme of the album. But, ever since I first heard this song as a teenager, I've assumed the opening verse was about a psychedelic drug, and the above comment about mescaline and 'blue canoes' is fascinating. Perhaps it is just a coincidence, but mescaline can be obtained from the San Pedro cactus... so there's a link between mescaline and St. Peter for you!

Incidentally, I recently obtained this album on vinyl for the first time and the stereo/phasing effects were a real surprise, since they are completely lost on CD/mp3 and cassette versions, all of which I have purchased at some point. My mate gave me an original vinyl copy as a housewarming present last year :)

Answer 5

The soldier is a sniper using a specialized foreign made rifle and insanely took the paddles meaning he paddled like crazy to get away. I interpreted the entire mission from feelings of anticipation and trepidation, stealth.......until the deed is done, "beyond the rifle range". St Peter will I be allowed in to Heaven? As a soldier doing his duty questioning which road I'm on? It makes sense along with the themes of all the other songs on the album.

Answer 6

Blue Canoe is an aircraft as well. — From 1958-1971 the "Blue Canoes" were operated by the MATS and MAC as light transport aircraft.

Answer 7

I've read the explanations and did a little further research. Here's my take: tripping out on mescaline fits with the Tumblewood Connection theme, since mescaline is a drug derived from a cactus plant. If Bernie Taupin was, in fact, a civil war or WWII buff, then it makes sense that a dying soldier would be on his mind while he's on mescaline. The drug can make a person experience things in his imagination almost as if they are real. I suggest this song is about a particular mescaline experience where he's describing what it's like to die on the battlefield. Who knows, the entire album may have been written on a "mescaline expedition." If that's the case, well no matter, it's one of my favorites of all time. On a side note, he says he's not a Christian but must have been raised Catholic if he is asking St. Peter and not Jesus to determine his fate.

Answer 8

The blue canoe: the canoe is the "mini ball" and blue refers to the enemy side it came from; the yankees with their blue uniforms.

Answer 9

What a trip this discussion is. The song rings in my head....the head of a 60 something yr old psychologist...as I sit and sing it to my dog who sleeps.

Tripping and guns: pure Americana 40 yrs post the song.

And I look at Carravaggio's painting of St. Peter jumping up, astonished at Christ's resurrection....his palms revealing the imbedding of nails...where to now St Peter?

I found the Woodstock explanation the most feasible. It cold have been repeated at Stonehenge. Gloustenberry.

What I am fascinated by is John's and Taupin's relationship.

Here is the Carravaggio's painting. By the way he was killed in a dueling accident 500 years ago: http://www.icsrizzoli.it/caravaggio/contenuti/07-12-2012/cena-di-emmaus-due-versioni-confronto-lettura-dell%E2%80%99opera

Answer 10

U-3A "Blue Canoe"

The U-3A began life as the Cessna model 310A (which had gained fame as the "Songbird" flown by Skyler "Sky" King of radio and TV fame) in January of 1953. The Cessna 310 gained wide acceptance for its good looks and excellent performance. Built as a four or five passenger fast executive transport, 546 U-3As were accepted by the United States Air Force.

With a pilot eye‑to‑ground height almost identical to the U‑2, the U‑3 allowed the chase/instructor pilots to train pre-solo U‑2 pilots by managing the throttles to match the U‑2 glide and "float” characteristics. The distinctive white-over-dark-blue paint scheme of USAF U-3s led to the unofficial, but widely recognized, nickname of "Blue Canoe.” Despite differing paint schemes on Army and Navy aircraft, the U‑3 never lost its nickname of "Blue Canoe.”

Songbird.. floated like a leaf.. probably not relevant but I thought I would throw it up on the board. I do love the song.

Answer 11

Blue canoe is a peaceful canoe. it is a color not commonly used by civil war so it probably is a good color to not provoke either side. So I guess if he knew he was going to die then he wanted to drift peacefully.

Answer 12

Took the blue canoe - taking valium 10s are blue. It could also mean suicide by valium overdose. This phrase is also found in the Michael Connelly novel- The Last Coyote pg.477.

Answer 13

What a trip this discussion is. The song rings in my head....the head of a 60 something yr old psychologist...as I sit and sing it to my dog who sleeps.

Tripping and guns: pure Americana 40 yrs post the song.

And I look at Carravaggio's painting of St. Peter jumping up, astonished at Christ's resurrection....his palms revealing the imbedding of nails...where to now St Peter?

I found the Woodstock explanation the most feasible. It cold have been repeated at Stonehenge. Gloustenberry.

What I am fascinated by is John's and Taupin's relationship.

Answer 14

The last thoughts of a dying soldier is clearly the best fit for this one. It works on several levels as has been mentioned.. The Woodstock mescaline stuff is obviously a much bigger leap, and nonsense if you ask me. I wish more pop rock writers these days chose historical subjects, and did it so eloquently. This tune has long been a favorite of mine too, and thanks to all now for the insight to understand it. .