| Okkervil River – Down Down the Deep River Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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@[clarkma5:1518] As for the suicide take...the search party "it's the worst thing they've seen, they're standing around that tree, and I'm so sorry that I can't stop crying". This boy the narrator loves ran away from home and hung himself from a tree on a cold fall night. "I felt like a solid ghost, I ran and then I could not slow"...the narrator sees the boy he loves hanging dead from a tree and feels so terrible, and runs and runs until his father finds him. And it sounds like his father knows what's up, and gives him a heart-to-heart "oh son, this is so terrible that you've gone through this when you're so young and tender and just tossed into the viper pit of life and love and reassures him "I'll be your fighter and you'll be my mirror. And you'll be all right because I'll be right here. Oh kid, now I'm not going anywhere. I swear I'll try to not be going anywhere." It's a beautiful song. |
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| Okkervil River – Down Down the Deep River Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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I take this song as the story of a young boy around 13-14 in a small town who is in love with his male best friend, wants to be close to him, but is not out of the closet, never gets a chance to connect with him intimately...I'm a little fuzzy on whether the other boy ends of either just going deep into the closet and closing all doors, or leaves to a camp or boarding school, or commits suicide. "We lie awake at night in a tent and I say, Tell me about your uncle and his friend because they seem like very bad men. Well we oughtta keep away from them." They're boys having a sleepover and the narrator wants to get closer, and wants to talk about taboos..."your uncle and his friend" implies "your uncle and his boyfriend/partner", the "they seem like very bad men" is a way to cover up the curiosity. "Tell me I'm always gonna be your best friend. Now you said it one time, why don't you say it again? All the way down the line to where the telephone ends come on and shout it on down the wire." The hurt you feel by having someone say "yes, I care" and then backing away...please, please, say it again. Let me know you love me. Shout it to me, I want to hear it. "Though it's not all right. It is so far from all right. We'll make it into a choice somehow. I don't know, but you'll have a choice somehow." The choice is about sexual orientation...something you can't choose, but desperately want to when you're young and afraid and closeted. It's telling that it says "you'll have a choice" as opposed to "I'll" or "we'll"...the narrator is going forward with their orientation, the other boy is fighting it...this is giving comfort to the boy the narrator is in love with, telling him what he wants to hear. "Maybe they told you 'bout the summer sky, maybe they said there's a great gold spirit in the summer sky or all your friends (all your best, best friends) are gonna gather around your bed at night. Well that'll make it all right because it is still so far from all right." Talking about why the other boy is afraid to be gay or come out of the closet; his family and friends are going to be in heaven around him when he dies if he lives a good, straight life, and he'll be in hell if he's gay. It's still far from alright now because they can't have their love. This is also potentially the place where he's talking about the boy he loves having killed himself, I hope you're in heaven because you didn't get involved with me, maybe that makes it alright, but I don't feel alright (not as sure about that). |
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| Porcelain Raft – Backwords Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| I think it's about an adult child who's talking to or about his parents...he didn't have a good childhood and just wants them out of his life, but there they are, offering their apologies and it just isn't good enough. It's a restrained and distant reply but it still stings badly. The emotion is incredible on the recording and this song gives me chills everytime. | |
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