Muddy Hymnal

Here's my storyline:

1. Man loses his wife sometime fairly recently. (The kids aren't grown up yet, but the wife has been buried already, so I don't think it's a murder).

2. He gets angry one night and wants to drown himself. He drops the kids off at the tavern, and has them tell everyone that he's drowned.

3. He heads off to the river, where he tries to drown himself, but something happens after he's in the water. Maybe he panics, or realizes the value of life, or his wife's angel stops him.

4. In frustration, he tromps off to the church in his muddy boots, where he creates a huge mess, kicking hymnals around, and leaving mud prints everywhere.

5. For some reason he wants to vandalize the church, but wants everyone to know it was him. He grabs the only thing nearby (a table fork) and carves his name above the door. Maybe he feels forgotten in his misery, and is crying out for attention.

6. -- The rest is pretty much what everyone else has said, except for the murder bit.

I think the overall story is pretty much all there; it's the tiny nuances I love. For instance, all through the song I get a sense of it taking place at least a century ago - everything seems so archaic, the times of taverns and wooden buttons and captains and preachers. The mention of 'telephone' jars me, bringing me back to the present.

We found you sleeping by your lover's stone A ream of paper and a telephone -- A ream of paper is useless without a typewriter. A telephone is useless without a cord, which it likely doesn't have out in the middle of a cemetery.

A broken bow across a long lost violin -- A broken bow isn't going to make any music on a violin that isn't even there.

Written word, spoken word, and music are all forms of communication. Sam has so poignantly expressed a complete inability to communicate here, despite the subject's desperate desire to bridge the gap between the living and the dead to be closer with his lost love.

I see this song as a story, and I personally don't care if the lover was the captain's wife, the captain's fiancee, or the subject's wife. It's beautiful. This song is simple yet cryptic and incredibly beautiful. One of the songs that drew me in to Iron & Wine.

i think it's about a man that's lost his wife and loses his faith in god. he leaves his kids at the pub and goes to vandalise the church. the policeman finds him asleep at his wife's grave. his wife, now an angel, tells the policeman that "it never ends the way we had it planned." but she's still watching over him.

i think it's about a man that's lost his wife and loses his faith in god. he leaves his kids at the pub and goes to vandalise the church. the policeman finds him asleep at his wife's grave. his wife, now an angel, tells the policeman that "it never ends the way we had it planned." but she's still watching over him.

also, i love the line "a broken bow across a long lost violin"

it's like, violin is sort of a symbol of despair and grief. like how if you're feeling sorry for yourself, people will joke and pretend to play a violin to score your tragedy.

it's like he hasn't used his violin in such a long time, now he's come to play it he finds his bow broken. it's been so long since he's let his emotions out, he can't do it properly any more. the sound isn't beautiful and natural, but harsh and violent.

That's a really great observation. I didn't get that at all but it makes sense. This is probably my favorite Iron & Wine song. I'm surprised nobody else has posted. Good job though.

I love this song, it's not as great lyrically as some of the others but its got a great melody and tells an intresting story. My favorite part is "found your children by the tavern door/ with wooden buttons & an apple core/ playing house/ and telling everyone you'd drowned"

Amazing.

I really like your connection with the violin but maybe instead of him going back and playing it only to find the bow is broken, he might have broken it while he was playing in his despair. or even the violin is like his heart because its still there and beating but cant be used because the bow is broken and won't be able to be repaired easily.

A broken bow Across a long lost violin

To me, the man is the broken bow, and the long-lost (dead) violin. Together, at one time, they combined to form something beautiful, and when she died, he was left without a crucial element of his life. In his despair, he became broken.