There’s a little bit more to the story behind this. Lucinda was working on learning this song a day or two before we recorded it and at one point I went dow to see how it was going and I noticed that she was crying and when I asked her what was wrong she said “Do you know how strange this is?” and I said “What?”, and she said “My mother’s name was Lucy and my step-mother’s name is Jordan”. I hadn’t even thought of that and was just completely stunned.
I’ll never forget that moment.
Given the subject matter, her mother’s troubled life and Lucinda’s interpretation of the meaning of the end of the song– to her there is no doubt at all what it is about, it all hit very very close to home for her.
The ending of the song has long been debated and Shel Silverstein, who is no longer with us, never said for sure, as far as I know.