Dearly Departed

This song takes me to an imaginary situation with two emotions: there is overwhelming sadness and a sense of loss because the world is ending, but I feel safe because i am with my lover

Another beautiful song by DeVotchKa. It has similar musical qualities to both 'How it Ends' and 'Queen of the Surface Streets'. I wonder if they are all apart of telling a larger story? Of course 'Queen of the Surface Streets' could perhaps be about a prostitute whom the singer's fallen in love with so only so much comparison can be drawn. Any band whilch emplys a tuba, tuba violin, and theremin combined with such precision percussion makes me giddy. And sometimes makes me want to wail in sorrow.

an absoutely beautiful song; and sorrowful as well. it really means a lot to me. it shows the desperate longing that someone has to be with their lover again. a truly heavy-hearted, painful feeling.

I can relate to the feeling intertwined in the lyrics of this song...and the melody is simply wonderful.

You will be forever missed, that's the gist of it.

Is it a family member or his lover though? the 'flesh of my flesh' makes me think family, but the 'heart beating next to mine' is confusing

I TINK THIS IS ABOUT A WOMEN LOOSING IS BABY IN HER TOMMY

I think the song is about losing a lover rather than a family member because of the like "when darling you were mine, all mine."

it's a heartbreakingly sad song but so beautiful.

I've always felt this song could be about being pregnant with and giving birth to a child.

'How I miss your heart beating next to mine' seems a reference to the unborn baby and mother whose hearts are beating in close proximity to one another.

I think the part about the right words being hard to find could point to the inevitable growing apart between a mother and her child in some ways, or might be indicative of times when they two might not understand each other. The idea of the unborn baby 'belonging' to the mother can be seen in the line 'when darling you were mine, all mine' as in a sense, the only time a child truly 'belongs' to his or her mother is while in the womb. Once they're born they're for the most part a free individual.

The not having a choice part could be interpreted two ways. One being that a woman giving birth is not a choice; her body will eventually do what it was intended to do and get the baby out. Also there's the idea of a person not having a choice in being born. We don't ask to be born.

'Flesh of my flesh' and 'soul of my soul' make sense, both physically and spiritually, in the context of pregnancy and the transition into motherhood.

'All this darkness, cannot hurt us cause they made you from the light here on birthplace, don't be nervous you will make it through, this night'

This stanza reminds me of the darkness of the womb, the 'lightness' of children and it alludes to a location, like a hospital or home where a baby would be born. The birthing process is scary for both mother and baby, but it's as if it's saying the baby shouldn't be worried and that making it out of the darkness will end (being born). Also, a lot of women labor through the nighttime hours and give birth in the morning.

I don't really know what to say about 'your voice, singing right with mine' and I come back home.'

Anyhow, those are my thoughts.

grief at losing the one person you loved above everything,the person who became part of your being.

My thoughts on this song, one of my favorites, are the following.

I think it is a parent-child relation, or a family relation. It could be a grown child and their parent, but the 'flesh of my flesh' refers to a familial relation.

This is the scenario I picture. A mother is singing to her grown son working abroad. 'I miss your heart beating next to mine' could refer to the time when she last hugged him. 'I know you had no choice' would refer to him moving away for work. 'The right words were always hard to find when all our time was fine, when darling you were mine, all mine' is about how she felt she never spoke about how much she loved him while they were together.

The next part is about how the son is going through difficulties, and she tells him words of encouragement ('All this darkness, cannot hurt us, Cause they made you from the light'). It may be that he has to come back home to his 'birthplace', which would be a terrible defeat given that he had made it abroad, but he 'will make it through, this night'.

The lines that really throw me off are the 'I come back home'. If they said 'come back home', it would be the plea of a mother, to her son in trouble, to return to her care.

I have felt this too, missing my siblings that live abroad. Which doesn't make much sense, since I live abroad too. I do miss their voices singing right with mine.