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The Gymnast, High Above the Ground Lyrics
The gymnast, high above the ground
Limbers up and falls timbers down
Ankles splayed and all tied
The gymnast long has arrived
Lanky, your long sister lays
Waiting out this long light brigade
Prayed for snow a long time
And lazy, it long has arrived
Through the tarlatan holes
You've been slipping, been slipping away
And the weather will hold
It's been ever so, ever so gray
But here as we're coming down
And we're sounding out:
It's a terrible, terrible tide
As it lights upon your eye
But there on the motorway
Reeks of marmalade
It's a chemical, chemical kind
As it lights upon your eye
Lights upon your eye
The bosun calls upon the quay
Compass gone, he long has lost his way
To lighthouse shine, to calm tide
The bosun long has arrived
Through the tarlatan holes
You've been slipping, been slipping away
And the weather will hold
It's been ever so, ever so gray
But here as we're coming down
And we're sounding out:
It's a terrible, terrible tide
As it lights upon your eye
But there on the motorway
Reeks of marmalade
It's a chemical, chemical kind
As it lights upon your eye
Lights upon your eye
April marches on
April marches on
April marches on
April marches on
Limbers up and falls timbers down
Ankles splayed and all tied
The gymnast long has arrived
Waiting out this long light brigade
Prayed for snow a long time
And lazy, it long has arrived
You've been slipping, been slipping away
And the weather will hold
It's been ever so, ever so gray
And we're sounding out:
It's a terrible, terrible tide
As it lights upon your eye
Reeks of marmalade
It's a chemical, chemical kind
As it lights upon your eye
Lights upon your eye
Compass gone, he long has lost his way
To lighthouse shine, to calm tide
The bosun long has arrived
You've been slipping, been slipping away
And the weather will hold
It's been ever so, ever so gray
And we're sounding out:
It's a terrible, terrible tide
As it lights upon your eye
Reeks of marmalade
It's a chemical, chemical kind
As it lights upon your eye
Lights upon your eye
April marches on
April marches on
April marches on
Song Info
Submitted by
sendthestars On Apr 19, 2004
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I think this song is about a love that will never be. The "best friend" who watches the blossoming 18teen year old neighbor go off to college only to return the following summer. He watches her from a distance (maybe through the curtains of his house), but she always seems to come back to her home and to him (her best friend). The Tarlatan holes could be the slightly spread cloth curtains. April may be her name or the last and long month before she returns in May. The gymnast (or the girl) is viewed and admired from a distance and he feels like he is the lighthouse leading her back home, when in fact she has started to forget about him.
The lyrics are printed on the Her Majesty CD jacket. It's "Limbers up and falls timber down" "Lanky, your long sister lays" "But here as we're coming down/ And we're calling out"
At the very end of the song, there's the most beautiful violin bit and Colin repeats "April marches on" four times. That's a clever little pun, and also probably an indication of when the song takes place. It tends to be rainy in the spring.
As to what the song means... "anticipation" is better than anything I've come up with yet. In the verses we've got a gymnast finally falling, a sister finally getting snow and a boatswain finally back home after being lost. So maybe "finally getting what you want"?
The chorus confuses me. It's beautiful, but it doesn't seem in any way related to the rest of the song. Maybe it's about a tanker truck accident that results in a chemical spill? Could it really be that obvious?
@toadtws I agree about that last part, I think it refers to a sort of chemical spill accident. Something to do with the great molasses flood in boston 1919. "Stinks of marmelade"... I think our guy was a sailor caught on the flood, and the motorway comes all the way from the port, spreading the overly sweet smell. The cold gray weather of boston makes is all harder and slower. On the other hand, the begining perhaps is about anticipation and frustration. Hiding pain, and comming to acceptance. Our little gymnast lost someone and has to move on with her life....
@toadtws I agree about that last part, I think it refers to a sort of chemical spill accident. Something to do with the great molasses flood in boston 1919. "Stinks of marmelade"... I think our guy was a sailor caught on the flood, and the motorway comes all the way from the port, spreading the overly sweet smell. The cold gray weather of boston makes is all harder and slower.
On the other hand, the begining perhaps is about anticipation and frustration. Hiding pain, and comming to acceptance. Our little gymnast lost someone and has to move on with her life.
Or could be about fame. And how one loses grasp of wahts truely important (friends/family).
This was the first Decemberists song I ever heard, so it might just be a random early album track to other fans but it will always have a special place for me. It is still among my top 5, I'm sure, if I ever stopped to compile one.
[Edit: First post was a test, kept getting error messages]
@forestlass But I recently found a post on his substack where he is teaching how to play this song, and he gives the briefest backstory. All he said is that he was inspired to write a song about a gymnast after watching the Wim Wenders film Wings of Desire, which has a character who is a trapeze artist who has just been told her circus is closing down. The film is about two angels who move around Berlin listening to the thoughts of mortals
@forestlass But I recently found a post on his substack where he is teaching how to play this song, and he gives the briefest backstory. All he said is that he was inspired to write a song about a gymnast after watching the Wim Wenders film Wings of Desire, which has a character who is a trapeze artist who has just been told her circus is closing down. The film is about two angels who move around Berlin listening to the thoughts of mortals
This is perhaps my favourite decemberists song. I think it's about anticipation. but i could certainly be wrong.
I was just listening to this song, and I think it says "limbers up and falls tender down."
i believe its about a break up after a long relationship, or finally letting go of someone you held onto a long time. my reasoning:
it mentions "'it' long has arrived". and in every time "it" is mentioned, it has some parallell with a relationship and the context it is used in, implies the end of one:
1.) the gymnast: something very delicate that takes alot of work and practice. the gymnast messes up & falls down, or fails. 2.) the snow: also delicate. comes not so often, but usually 'prayed' for. the cold weather goes along with lonliness. 3.) the bosun: well first off a bosun is "a petty officer on a merchant ship having charge of hull maintenance and related work" (Webster). so the fact that the bosun has lost his compass suggests that relationships can be lost if you dont tend to it.
and the chorus obviously: "you've been slipping away" self explanatory. "the weather will hold/it's been ever so ever so grey." suggests that this was predicted (or that the break up was really recent) and this depression will go on for a while. the 2nd part of the chorus... i have no clue. haha. i'm guess that it's going something to do with what toadtws said. and although these terrible things are happening, all he can do is think about the ex-partner's beauty.
also the lethargicness of the song and some words ("lazy", "long time" & "long arrived", "tarlatan holes") suggest that the break up was dragged out.
"april marches on" suggests that the ex-partner is strong through out this, and moves on well.
this song is amazingly beautiful...i have no idea what it means.
only colin can know...
Here are some definitions I thought I should contribute for figuring out Meloy's song.
Splayed means "spread apart" A "Tarlatan" is a garment, so that's where tarlatan holes come in. A "bosun" is a person of moderate command on a ship, and a "quay" is a wharf. Meloy really uses this seafaring imagery later on in his writing, so I am currently wondering how he tried to tie it in here.
Hope that helped.
@kyle171 Tarlatan is actually a type of fabric similar to cheesecloth used in intaglio printing.
@kyle171 Tarlatan is actually a type of fabric similar to cheesecloth used in intaglio printing.