| The Decemberists – Calamity Song Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| The line is "we heaved relief". At no point is a sigh mentioned. | |
| The Decemberists – Calamity Song Lyrics | 15 years ago |
|
This song is a premonition of sorts of the fall of an empire. Its about a dream. Its not an alternate reality. "Heaving relief as scores of innocents died" isnt disliking Californians, its saying that people were throwing relief efforts into saving the victims of the Big One mentioned. It doesnt say "heaving A SIGH of relief", which would be negative. The Andalusian Tribes are a reference to the Vandals, a tribe from Andalusia who sacked Rome at the fall of the empire, and where we get the word vandal and its associations from. Its not Petty Green, but Hetty Green, the first woman to make an impact on Wall Street. She was also incredibly stingy, and miserly. She is "The Queen of supply-side bone-drab.", and that verse seems to be about not being tied to the strings of accepted economics. Presumably the idea of the panamanian child and dowager empress is there to suggest this calamity shows people that money cant save you reality - supported by the choice of California with its incredible weath gap between the richest and poorest. |
|
* This information can be up to 15 minutes delayed.