| The Decemberists – Sleepless Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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I agree with WizardlyFriend. I think it's about AIDS because the song was originally written for the 'Dark was the Night' Album which was to raise AIDS and HIV awareness. Sussex, I only see the Hamlet reference in the lyric "And all the while your mother slept beside him." And maybe the part about the water, because Ophelia drowns. But I don't really see it anywhere else. I think it's about AIDS and the mixed complicated sensations a person feels when they find out they are HIV positive. |
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| The Decemberists – Odalisque Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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I think the song does have a connection to the holocaust. This might be a little out there but this is the story I formed in my mind. A girl is taken to a concentration camp ("They've come to find you, Odalisque...Raised on pradies, peanut shells and dirt In a railroad cul-de-sac"). I feel like there might be a connection between pradies and Prady, a place in Poland, but that's probably not connected. The ten baby shoes I think refers to the shoes and clothes the Nazi's took after the Jews were gassed and the kit bag full of marbles and a broken billiard cue could refer to the posessions some Jews brought with them because they were not allowed anything seemingly valuable. "what do we do with ten dirty Jews A thirty-ought full of rock salt and a warm afternoon?" I think clearly refers to how the Nazi's would just line up random prisoners and shoot them down. "Lay your belly under mine Naked under me, under me Such a filthy dimming shine The way you kick and scream, kick and scream" Okay, this line makes me think maybe that the perspective of the song is from a Nazi soldier who has seen this Jewish girl rapes her for enjoyment. Maybe he sees her as an Odalisque because she is his slave, so to speak. Anyway, that's what I feel when I read and hear this song. |
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| The Decemberists – Culling of the Fold Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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Cull-v- to remove something that has been rejected. Fold-n- a group of people who adhere to a common faith and habitually attend church So this as backstory to Shankill Butchers is probable. |
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| The Decemberists – Isn't It a Lovely Night? Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| carolinda583, they can't have all died yet it's only the 7th song on the album so what would be the purpose of the rest of it? They haven't died yet. | |
| The Decemberists – Isn't It a Lovely Night? Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| I agree with Mousesong. "Little Death" is another way to describe an orgasm. The baby hasn't been born yet, I don't think because I think they are singing to it as an unborn child in this song. Also, if it were born, then what happens to it when Margaret is abducted? | |
| The Decemberists – The Island: Come and See; The Landlord's Daughter; You'll Not Feel the Drowning Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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"I produced my pistol, then my saber" Is the reference to a saber what I think it is? Or is my mind just too graphic? |
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| The Decemberists – The Hazards of Love 3 (Revenge!) Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| I think that this song takes place at the moment when William shows up to save Margaret. I agree with what some others have suggested for this album, that William is Isaiah, and I think that when William shows up, The Rake sees Isaiah and suddenly everything comes back to haunt him. William may even be the one singing the last verse but The Rake hears Isaiah. I don't think the Rake is killed. I just think that he remains hidden away wherever he is and is tormented by what he has done. | |
| The Decemberists – The Hazards of Love 4 (The Drowned) Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| I don't think that the Rake was killed. I agree with what some others have posted on other songs from this album. I think that William is the Rake's murdered son, Isaiah, who the queen rescued and protected. I think that "Hazards of love 3 (Revenge!)" takes place the moment William arrives and the Rake sees him as Isaiah and everything comes back to him. But I don't think the Rake is killed because in "The Rake's Song" he says that he has become the narrator. Perhaps he means the narrator of his song, but I think he becomes the narrator of the whole story... | |
| The Decemberists – The Hazards of Love 4 (The Drowned) Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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I like Arrian's idea that Margaret and William's baby is rescued by the Queen and the cycle resarts again. I would like to point out that the album seems, as a whole, to be going for a whole universal feel. As in, everyone who falls in love faces certain Hazards that try to keep them apart, but the message is, that if true love exists, the two will be together regardless, and the generalization of "hazards" implies that the cycle will continue until the end of time. So I think the baby was somehow rescued by the Queen to begin the cycle again. Just listen to the album again and the story begins again. I also heard somewhere that this album came from Meloy's wanting to write a musical but his agents or someone told him it was a bad idea, so he wrote this album as, quite literally, a musical without visuals. That being said, some thing may have been left out of the story, such as their baby being rescued at the end. I know I'm kind of rambling but... |
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| The Decemberists – The Queen's Rebuke/The Crossing Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| I agree with sedition that William is Isaiah brought back by the Queen. I think it's definitely clear in the lyrics of various songs. The age thing you mentioned, is not be a huge descrepincy. One could still describe a young child as a "baby," as the Queen does. It is also clear that The Queen is not William's birth mother, but did find him in the forrest. The Queen obviously has magical powers so, even though Isaiah was burned and "reduced to ash" she was still able to tell that he was a little boy. "Swore to save me from the world of men," well, the Queen knew that William was killed by someone so she was protective over him. I guess, in "The Wanting Comes in Waves/Repaid," William learns of his past. But I'm a little confused bout when the Queen helps the Rake escape with Margaret. Wouldn't she know that he was the one who killed William/Isaiah? Or does she realize this later? | |
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