Murphy's Song

*Actual lyrics (there are just a couple of mistakes)

I cry at her bowl, dog's dying day A bone in a bowl, a watery grave

See, I am a sailor, but I'm not so great I keep fishin' for road kill, passin' out on the waves

A shimmering sea, stretched end to end Shivering bowl, a flickering friend

See, that's Mr. Murphy, my leathery brave His whimpering taps now, for his plank-walk grave

I've never been a joiner, No, I've quit every team I've been on Now I'm crying in my coffee, That's not sea salt in my eyes Cause me and Murphy, we’ve been through it, And I hate watching him die

(whistling)

So I wait for my wisdom, like I wait for my wife Like I wait for a story, helps me wait out the night

Like when I was an archer, but I couldn't shoot straight I broke all of ma's windows, I poked holes through her drapes

And I laugh to myself, but I can't tell you why The hung-over sun, sneaks back in the sky

But Murphy went peaceful, he went decent and right At least better than I will, when it's my turn to die

And I wear his collar on my wrist And I bury him down at the beach No crying, no coughing, Just a body and a hole No praying, no singing, No saving any souls The only thing I'm saving, yeah Is a bone inside a bowl

*He's whimpering taps now, for his plank-walk parade

thanks :). and its not whimpering, "He is whimpering taps now" doesn't really make sense, its the whimperings that's tapping, not tapping in a whimpering way (simple verb/adverb mix-up)

"No crying, no coughing, just a body and a hole." that should be coffin there. it makes alot more sense and it sounds like coffin anyway. amazing song

actually, "whimpering taps" makes sense. it's referring to Taps, the bugle tribute they play at army funerals.

the first two lines confuse me cos he changes the subject throughout the song from "she" to "he" (murphy). i'd imagine the song is about murphy but the first two lines throw it off. ideas?

kevin probably didn't mean this when he wrote the "tapping" part but it reminds me of when dogs get older and their teeth chatter. my dog died last month and the weeks up to his death his jowls always seemd to be going non stop and his teeth would chatter whenever he'd move.

i think the he/she thing may be talking about the dog (male, as obvious by the name 'murphy') as well as a girl

i can really relate to being a dog lover.

i like how he says "i've never been a joiner, no i've quit every team i've been on," because when you have a dog, there is a level of loyalty that dogs possess that you can't always find with people, and so kd, as a dog lover, will never give up on his dog. so cute :)

i think this song is great; i'm sure the majority of you have read his explanation of it from the daytrotter session...

"Around that same time, my friend, drummer, and sometimes producer Mike Skinner mentioned that he felt I could be too precious with my songs sometimes, that I let a lot of good stuff fall by the wayside because I feel this need to fine-tooth comb everything and if I feel like that’s not bearing results quickly enough, I get impatient and feel overmatched and kind of move on. I also have a tendency to shy away from writing stuff sometimes if I feel like it might sound ridiculous coming from me stylistically, and he was kinda gently chiding me about that too, to open it up a bit. He was encouraging me in the sense that it’s kind of remarkable how much I get done in spite of those instincts. So, I was walking around in my neighborhood one day in July and the start of this popped in my head, this weird sea story about this kind of half-assed loner rolling around on the sea with his dog, this mangy, affectionate stray he used as a stand in for all his failed connections in the world, and what would happen when the dog died. This drifter appealed to me – the first lyric I sang was, “I was an archer/but I couldn’t shoot straight/I broke all of Ma’s windows/Poked holes through her drapes.” That came in a shot and it gave me a pretty immediate and involved character sketch; I went home and wrote it in 20 minutes. That melody and Hawaiian sort of shuffle reminded me a little bit of certain Kinks things, or of Belle & Sebastian; I overrode my instinct to throttle it and decided to embrace it. My friend Jaymay says it reminds her of Chet Baker. I dunno."

I think they actually say something like "A quieter bowl..." Perhaps it's "bow" or "boat..." not sure. But it doesn't sound to me like "I cry at her bowl." But alas, my lyric book is in my car and I'm too lazy to go get it to check.