Summerside of Life has a slightly controversial air to it in my opinion. "If you saw him now, you'd wonder why he would cry the whole day long"--Lightfoot himself said this song was about boys going off to fight in Vietnam. To me, the above line paints a perfect picture of the despair and despondency of PTSD that vets feel. It's a heartbreaking song and it did come out in 1971 as the Vietnam war still went on.
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