A Sea Chanty of Sorts

i guess this is totally about margot tenenbaum [richie's pov]. every single line. explaining some of them that might not seem too obvious:

"and if you love, well, that should be enough instead, it turns your joy into sorrow" -> he's loved her since they were kids and something happens in the movie because loving her is just not enough to richie. he needs to touch her. "and i can't breath with the dust of retreat i'm choking on the fumes of my wayward back" -> this might be related to coming back to archer avenue.

"my woman lied she was a witch in disguise and she dressed her wounds in sackcloth and ashes" -> margot's secrets. "the children weep at their dead mother's feet her husband's drunk a wolf in a sheepskin coat" -> might refer to the three tenenbaum children while their parents got divorced, probably because of royal's infidelities, like he said, or even to 22 years later.

"she smiles at me as she is falling asleep says 'we've gotta live the best we know how to.'" -> margot lives the best she knows how to, and it explains her behavior.

if you don't understand and you love margot and the nuclear so & so's, you should definitely watch the royal tenenbaums ;)

EXCELLENT.

exellent. he sounds so vulnerable. the ending is beautiful

I've grown a great love for this song, it's so perfect.

I randomly read about MATNS&S (haha um just trying out an abbreviation, my friend prefers "Margot and the Nukes") over the summer and I'm so happy I did...this was my first song by them. The first and last stanzas make me think of two people who care a lot for one another, but one of them isn't ready to make a commitment or doesn't want to. But it's really hard on the other person.

I think i read that the whole album are stories that interlinked and that got me thinking that maybe being the first track it llinked with the second track skeleton key. I think sea chanty is about a couple, the guy thinking he found the love of his life but always seemed to have a sadness about her because she never told him she was married and is having an affair (plus she is a habitual cheater living "the best she knows how" but more on that later). Later he goes to her funeral to discover she had a family and suspects she was killed by her husband who is a "wolf in sheeps clothing".

Skeleton key i think takes the perspective of the husband who has an unfaithful lover who "left her man and attended to me" probably because she cheated on her current boyfriend at the time with her soon to be husband from sea chanty whom she marries. The husband finds out about the affair she had with the guy in sea chanty and realizes she doesn't really love him and "did a horrible thing to that girl", meaning killed her. Also another thing was the line "she cooked for me" you know kind of like a wifely duty for her husband which i guess is more evidence the couple in this song are probably married.

I could be wrong but it seemed to make sense after listening to the two songs consectutively.

my favourite.

This song is beautiful. I've been listening to it on repeat for the past two days haha. & I agree with chinofish about the meaning.

It sounds to me as though he's trying to talk to her reasonably. He's so tired of what they've become (which is exemplified in the second stanza). Their relationship has hurt them and their children. And the last stanza seems as though he's remembering at the beginning of their relationship, how they were so hopeful and excited about their future.

breaks my heart every time. it's so beautiful, and so...painful.