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Silver Dagger Lyrics
Don't sing love songs; you'll wake my mother
She's sleeping here, right by my side
And in her right hand, a silver dagger
She says that I can't be your bride.
All men are false, says my mother
They'll tell you wicked, lovin' lies
The very next evening, they'll court another
Leave you alone to pine and sigh.
My daddy is a handsome devil
He's got a chain five miles long
And on every link a heart does dangle
Of another maid he's loved and wronged.
Go court another tender maiden
And hope that she will be your wife
For I've been warned and I've decided
To sleep alone all of my life.
She's sleeping here, right by my side
And in her right hand, a silver dagger
She says that I can't be your bride.
They'll tell you wicked, lovin' lies
The very next evening, they'll court another
Leave you alone to pine and sigh.
He's got a chain five miles long
And on every link a heart does dangle
Of another maid he's loved and wronged.
And hope that she will be your wife
For I've been warned and I've decided
To sleep alone all of my life.
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While Pecknold's version is my favorite of this song, this is not in fact a song by either Pecknold (White Antelope) or Fleet Foxes. It's actually a traditional American folk ballad. Just wanted to make sure that was put out there since it is listed in FF's catalog of songs.
With all that said, here's my interpretation of this song. It's very straight forward. It's about a young girl who's forbidden to marry the man she loves because her mother is afraid she'll wronged just as she was by the young girl's father. She heeds her mother's advice and instead of simply living her own life and taking that risk on love she chooses to sleep alone.
With all that said, here's my interpretation of this song. It's very straight forward. It's about a young girl who's forbidden to marry the man she loves because her mother is afraid she'll wronged just as she was by the young girl's father. She heeds her mother's advice and instead of simply living her own life and taking that risk on love she chooses to sleep alone.
This is a really beautiful song. Like some other FF songs, it just has this yearning within in it that I can't place; it sounds like it belongs in an America of long ago that may never have in fact existed... Robin Pecknold said in one interview that he wouldn't consider releasing his White Antelope songs commercially, which I think is a shame, since there of the same quality as FF music.