Volbeat: Lonesome Rider Meaning

Lonesome Rider Lyrics

Rita, where have you gone
I've been missing you for far too long
I feel so blue, haven't you heard
I am the lonesome rider, hear the lonesome rider's call home

Reaper, where have you gone
See the lonesome rider carry on
His pain's so...

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   #1 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

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   Nov 28th 2019 !⃝

   I believe it's quite the opposite of what most people tell.
   
   The actual story goes like this:
   
   Cowboy was in a war and comes back home, just to find his wife Rita dead and buried ("Rita where have you gone" and "I'm here all alone I've been bleeding too").
   
   She already has seen and thus knows the Reaper ("Reaper where have you gone") and sees her Cowboy from beyond, traveling alone and longing.
   So she asks the Reaper to also bring him into death.
   So the Reaper brings the Cowboy into death ("The dark reaper led the cowboy ahead into his final sunset"), only THEN the cowboy dies.
   
   The lines
   "The dark reaper led the cowboy ahead into his final sunset /
   The dawn soon to come a cold wind will blow /
   He's on his way home"
   are narrative, and then the cowboy sings again:
   "My love never will be apart" and ends with "Farewell so long", saying HIS goodbye to the world.
   
   Now that he is in death, he is no longer alone ("Rita I'm not alone"), and he can finally come to where Rita has been for a while ("I can see you waiting in the doorway of our little cabin home").
   
   He now also feels that he has been changed, singing "I feel so new haven't you heard".
   
   But in the end, they can finally reunite ("I was the lonesome rider and the lonesome rider is home").
2. anonymous

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   Mar 10th 2017 !⃝

   It's about a man who lost his love. The war is the pain he feels over his loss. His return from it is his resolve to join her in death. She's asking for the reaper's help in showing him the way so they can reunite. In the end he can see his love waiting for him.
3. anonymous

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   Aug 3rd 2016 !⃝

   It's a song about a couple during the war. He longs for her in his journey of battle. He dies in war, but is looking for her even after death. She asks the grim reaper to show him his final fate, but she also longs to be with him. The reaper offers her the option to be with him in death, which she takes her life to be with him. They are finally reunited in death. It's actually a dedication song.

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