Songfacts®:

• This song is about being alone while trying to bring about social change. A Belfry is a church steeple, but it is also slang for "head," implying that the singer is going bat crazy. He's "in the kitchen boiling society" and "in the open catching all the leaves," meaning that he's changing society and taking it in as it falls apart. The lyrics, "Old man river says you can go your own way as long as you just leave him alone" is referring to the average citizen who doesn't mind if things change as long as you just don't make him participate. >>>

  Suggestion credit:
  Dusty - Steamboat Springs, CO