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E Is For Estranged Lyrics

Boys run like water from the barrel to the trough.
They'll never stop their running.
Gunning for their brothers.
This house is a hostel.
It is peaceful, but it's always emptying.
Boys all want to be someone.

Haven't you heard? I am a flightless bird.
I am a liar, feeding facts to a false fire.
If pathos is borne, borne out of bullshit,
in formal attire, I'll score you a string ensemble.

I saw my son at seventeen,
The shutters made projections on his naked frame.
And now at twenty-five,
He simply cannot stay away from the ketamine.
With makeup on his sores,
He spends an hour a day composing little eulogies.
Sometimes he sends me letters,
But it's mostly garbled phrases and apologies.

But haven't you heard? I am a flightless bird.
I am a liar, feeding facts to a false fire.
If pathos is borne, borne out of bullshit,
In formal attire, cue the Bulgarian men's choir.
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Cover art for E Is For Estranged lyrics by Owen Pallett

oh man. this song is brutal.

the 2nd verse, about his son. beautifully written. it's a heartbreaking passage. this song is something else entirely. this is the msot personal song on here (to Lewis). this is amazing.

Cover art for E Is For Estranged lyrics by Owen Pallett

I believe Owen Pallett is the music god reincarnated into a human.

Seriously, how can somebody even MAKE a song this beautiful?

There has to be some magic involved.

Owen Pallett is a wizard...

...a wizard at music.

Song Meaning
Cover art for E Is For Estranged lyrics by Owen Pallett

Dark and lovely. Who making music right now can use strings and piano in such a powerful way? His compositions are otherworldly. See the last two minutes to The Great Elsewhere for another example.

Cover art for E Is For Estranged lyrics by Owen Pallett

For a parent, too painful to imagine… sons life basically destroyed, addicted to ketamine, incoherent apologies and ramblings part of ketamine, and the sores… what can the Bulgarian Mens Choir mean here? It’s beautiful eastern style singing, a little hypnotic, but is it just a personal love of the father? Did he listen with the son at one time?

Cover art for E Is For Estranged lyrics by Owen Pallett

yes. this is the song that, for me, makes the album. so effing beautiful.

Cover art for E Is For Estranged lyrics by Owen Pallett

I always thought it sounded like "bald Aryan men's choir" so I imagined it was about skinheads. Evidently I was wrong.

Cover art for E Is For Estranged lyrics by Owen Pallett

This is unbelievably affecting song. It didn't really catch me within the first few weeks of listening to it but I think it's actually my favourite.

Cover art for E Is For Estranged lyrics by Owen Pallett

This song is so intensely beautiful.

Cover art for E Is For Estranged lyrics by Owen Pallett

From what I've read of the song, this is the only song on the album from the perspective of Owen and not Lewis.