| The Decemberists – The Island: Come and See; The Landlord's Daughter; You'll Not Feel the Drowning Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| @[callmestonewall8:1332] Colin Meloy did not teach english at Harvard, His sister got her bachelors from there, but thats the only connection he has to the school. | |
| The Decemberists – 12/17/12 Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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In response to DontEmailMe, I think your sentiment is spot on, however I think the over all message of the song is not a question of "why is there so much bad when the world is supposed to be good?" rather, it is like you said, a statement. I think what this song is remarking on is that what makes this world so incredible is that it can be both beautiful and terrible. When he says "what a world you have made here," it is not "what is world that you made?" it is "Wow, what a world." I think this song is part of Meloy's attempt to wrap his mind around the profundity of birth and death, like he did in 2006 with the birth of his first son Henry. The song he wrote about that occasion too (Like a Lion) is not so much one joy, but of contemplation. I do not mean to degrade the terrible effects of Sandy Hook, I only mean to suggest that the song is not so pessimistic, as it is, incredulous. I see the comparisons that between the events, but I am curious where, or how, you came across this conclusion: wether it is speculation or if you heard it somewhere. |
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| The Decemberists – The Day I Knew You'd Not Come Back Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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This song ventures far from where the Decemberists usually go with their songs, which might be part of why it was removed from The Crain Wife. The beautiful slow jam is about the realization of loss and it's represented through the metaphor of the castle made of glass or sand. The castle is like the sense of denial, and how refusing the truth is a way of protecting yourself. The glass castle shows the distortion of reality from inside the castle. the real world outside the castle, as seen through the window, looks the same as world seen through the glass walls. In this way the glass castle, the rejection of the loss, becomes the same as the reality. his second image is the sand castle in the waves. The castle is the belief that someone might come back which becomes shattered over and over again be a greater inevitable force. The image of the fingers in the sand soaking in the waves is so clear, but also forms a metaphor. This song, although originally recorded separately from The Perfect Crime #1, and if you look at it on the Decemberists website you can see they are listed as different tracks, however when it was released through the Starbucks Bonus Tracks, it was grouped together with The Perfect Crime #1, which makes me think that they were not intended to be thought of as two halves of a whole. However, when put together, this song really makes the Perfect Crime #1 look much more sad. It seems more like it's a juvenile attempt at rejecting this same idea of loss. As if it's about stealing "you" back, and then The Day I knew You Would Not Come Back is the realization that it's impossible. |
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| The Decemberists – Like a Lion Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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The only Youtube video that has a full version of this song in it, mentions in the description, that "like a Lion" was written about Colin Meloy's son. I couldn't find where the poster found that tidbit, but the more I think about it the better an interpretation that is. Written in 2006, right after his son henry was born, this song seems to have all the shock and incredulity and beauty that comes from becoming a father. Meloy's son, Henry, has high functioning autism, which is where "like a lion" comes in. I think the song has two parts. The first being the birth, you hear the machine noises and hospital beeps and boops. then comes the triumph and the lines "How it delighted us"/"And it all stands still/ Somehow you thought it never would." The second part is the realizing the gravity of his son's condition, where he is compared to a lion. Who sits and watches the world go round. He was born black and cold, which is a comment on the way someone with autism might seem emotionally cold. In this way his unresponsiveness and dis-intrest makes him stoic, "like a lion." |
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