This cocoon, caught in Vesuvius' shadow
Only the ashes remain
And I waited there for you
Why couldn't you?
Here we lie waiting for something to startle
To shake us from gravity's pull
And so the sleeping hours are through
What can we do?

The tainted election, the low dirty war, it happened before you came to
But this is solution, and this is amends
The joke always tends to come true
But there on your windowsill over the unmoving platoon
Written in paperback, the key to the quarterback's room
Under waning moon

This quiet serves only to hide you
Provide you
What I knew: it'd come back to you

Take this palm, follow the lines here are written
And script out the rest of your life
And feel your fingers falling slack and all folding back

The sorry conclusion, the hole in the sky
Command what is tried, what is true
But without solution, with feet on the ground
It won't make a sound 'til you're through
So loosen your shoulder blades
'Tis is your hour to make due
Because there on the timberline
Deep cold November shines through
Soft and absolute


Lyrics submitted by Hunter

Cocoon Lyrics as written by Colin Meloy

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group

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Cocoon song meanings
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    General Comment

    Now, perhaps I am not as well learned as the person who wrote the above article, and maybe they know for a fact that that is what the song's about, but to me this draws some serious parallels to the story of Pompeii. Pompeii was a city directly in Vesuvius' shadow, of which only the ashes remain (it was destroyed by a huge volcanic erruption in AD 79), everything, including the people, were encased in cocoons(woo!) of ashes for hundreds of years. I won't go through a throrough song analysis 'cause I'm lazy, but trust me, if you look up Pompeii, you will see what I mean. Also the characters in this sort of remind me of Pliney the younger/older but don't mark me on that.

    Cellyon October 23, 2006   Link

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