Was I riffing with that last post on theme? Yes I was.
It’s not always easy to identify the theme, defined in Wikipedia as “central topic, subject, or concept the author is trying to point out”
The theme of ‘Rambling Man‘ by Hank Williams is compulsion to travel based on one’s God-given nature. You can argue the wording of this definition, but you get the drift: if you add the elements and listen to the narrative voice you get a fair picture.
It’s no wonder there has been confusion over theme and subject. Let’s take a look at another country artist’s song: ‘It’s Been a Good Year for the Roses’ by George Jones. Because the title is a counterpoint to the theme, subject and theme are separated in their meaning to some degree. The subject is an awkward meeting of lovers in the act of separation with the first person narrator recounting seeming domestic drudge distractions: ‘the lawn could stand another mowing’ ‘it’s been a good year for the roses’ but acutely aware of the real feeling in the room “the half-filled cup of coffee you poured and didn’t drink”
This is too much information for the theme. The theme would be divorce or strained relationship; the end of domestic bliss. Themes encapsulate rather than articulate.
What of the topic? The topic may be the same as the subject. There may even be an argument for the explanation proffered two paragraphs ago to be the topic, rather than subject. But consider the setting of an essay for exam conditions. This isn’t how you (necessarily) write a song but it gets across what a topic is in the scheme of things.
The topic is a rambling man. Because you’ve only got the half hour or the certain word count to do this in, the person assigning the topic has to keep it simple but potent enough with intent to allow you to come up with a good example and gain extra points. You don’t need to know what makes a man ramble to write an assignment on it; just use your imagination. The topic of a man whose urge to ramble is brought on by the sound of a train is not reliant on knowing anything else about him. Other rambling men may yet hitch rides into future song narratives and be quite different from the fellow in Hank’s song.
The topic in George Jones’ song is how the narrator is lead, through the hurt and ennui of the situation, to remark on the state of the garden.