Rags and Old Iron

The speaker addresses a rag-and-iron collector who travels through the neighborhood buying unwanted scraps. She asks whether he will take her broken heart and the remains of a love that has ended. The repeated call of “rags old iron” gives the song a steady, almost playful rhythm, but beneath it is sadness and a wish to be rid of painful feelings.

The broken heart is treated like discarded material, something that might be carried away with the junk. The “burnt out” love light suggests that affection has faded, while “second hand dreams” makes the speaker’s hopes sound used and diminished. She also wants the collector to haul away empty promises and unhappy memories, as if emotional pain were ordinary rubbish.

The collector’s refusal leaves the speaker’s grief unresolved: unlike old iron, heartbreak cannot simply be sold or removed. The song may be comic in its unusual comparison, but its humor does not erase the hurt. The question of what lost love is worth suggests that it once mattered greatly, even if it now brings pain.