The Weaver's Answer - Lyrics

Lyrics

"The Weaver's Answer" is one of Family's more straightforward songs; it's about an old man asking for the "weaver of life" to show him "the patterns of my life gone by upon your tapestry". As the song gets underway, the old man recounts his childhood, his first love, and the day he took a wife; he wonders aloud how it looks on the fabric from the weaver's loom. He goes on to ruminate about his sons and how they grew into adulthood to take wives of their own.

After an instrumental break (see below), the old man grows more sorrowful, remembering the day his wife died and being unable to see his grandchildren after age has robbed him of his sight. Suddenly, he regains his sight to see the weaver's loom drawing closer. Realizing that he's about to see his life as a tapestry, the old man understands the reason why - because he's about to die.

Some Family fans have suggested that the "weaver" is the Lord, but to state that the "weaver" is the Christian God is unlikely. The weaver is thus an unspecified poetic device; the weaver's answer is, in fact, death itself. "The Weaver's Answer" portended a trend toward songs about mortality such as "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" by Blue Öyster Cult.

Commenting on the meaning in his own web guestbook, Roger Chapman said "The 'Weaver' in question comes from mythology, folklore and a bit of acid! Include any Marvel hero, Aesop's Fables, anything simply written with a moral and a story I could understand and make sense of. All the stuff I was interested in as a kid, read about and later included in my story telling."

The mythological origins of the 'weaver' can be found in the story of Arachne and Athena: http://www.greek-gods.info/greek-gods/athena/stories/athena-arachne

This story also features in the song 'The Goddess and the Weaver' recorded by Australian pagan folk rock band 'Spiral Dance. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VQvW3cLNXg&playnext_from=TL&videos=bNtd1wmTeV0)

As with Family's 'The Weaver's Answer, the Spiral Dance lyrics also suggest that the "weaver" is connected with processes of life and death, where Athena comes to earth to view the "sins and the secrets of the gods" on the tapestry that Arachne has woven depicting their lives.

In the context of pagan symbolism, the mortal 'weaver of live' Arachne, and the goddess Athena who controls the loom, could be interpreted as representing the 'bright goddess' of fertility and physical life, and the 'dark goddess' of the realm beyond the physical world out of which all is born and ultimately returns to in death, in a continuous cycle of regeneration and renewal. (Source: 'Reincarnation and the Dark Goddess' by Rae Beth, http://libraries.wiltshire.gov.uk/02_Catalogue/02_005_TitleInformation.aspx?searchTerm=Beth%2C+Rae&searchTerm2=&searchTerm3=&searchTerm4=&searchType=0&Page=1&media=&branch=&authority=&language=&junior=&rcn=0709054041&fr=tl)

Musically, there is also some similarity between underlying rhythm and chord structure in the Spiral Dance 'weaver' song and Family's 'the Weaver's Answer. In a podcast interview the singer and composer, Adrienne Piggot, mentions having been influenced by British bands such as Jethro Tull and Fleetwood Mac, so it's possible that Family may also have been an influence. (Podcast of interview available at: http://www.spiraldance.com.au/)