This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
There is a spring not far from here
The water runs both sweet and clear
Both sweet and clear, and cold
Could crack your bones
With veins of gold
I stood, a-wagging, at the tap
Just a-waiting on the lagging, rising sap
I held the cold tin ladle to my lip
At the Shrine of the Thousand Arms I lowered my eyes to sip
What a beautiful day to catch my drift
Or be caught up in it
You want your love, Love?
Come and get your love
I only took it back
Because I thought you didn't
How my ears did ring
At the municipal pound
From that old hangdog
To which I was bound
Curled 'round the bottom rung
Doesn't anybody want you?
Well, come on, darlin'
I could use someone like you around
I am not like you
I ain't from this place
And I do reserve the right to repeat all my same mistakes
And, in the night, like you
I certainly bite and chew
What I can find
And never seem to lose the taste
What a horrible face
I feel me make
For Pete's sake
What you have told me, I cannot erase
Though I keep on saying and I do believe
It is not too late
All day, you're hassling me with trifles
Black nose of the dog
as cold as a rifle
Indicating, with a nudge
God, no God, God, no God
Sweet, appraising eye of the dog
Blink once if God, twice if no God
My mama may be ashamed of me
With all of my finery
Carrying on
Whooping it up till the early morn'
Lost and lorn among the madding revelry
Sure, I can pass
Honey, I can pass
Particularly when I start to tip my glass
I'll be a sport
And have a go at that old song singing unabashed
'Bout them city girls with their ribbon bows
And their fancy sash'
But, though I get so sad
Could swear the night makes a motion to claim me
Around that second verse
I reckon and I've felt worse
And still held fast
But, later on, when I am alone
Alone at last
Well I take my God to task
I take my doggone God to task
The water runs both sweet and clear
Both sweet and clear, and cold
Could crack your bones
With veins of gold
I stood, a-wagging, at the tap
Just a-waiting on the lagging, rising sap
I held the cold tin ladle to my lip
At the Shrine of the Thousand Arms I lowered my eyes to sip
What a beautiful day to catch my drift
Or be caught up in it
You want your love, Love?
Come and get your love
I only took it back
Because I thought you didn't
How my ears did ring
At the municipal pound
From that old hangdog
To which I was bound
Curled 'round the bottom rung
Doesn't anybody want you?
Well, come on, darlin'
I could use someone like you around
I am not like you
I ain't from this place
And I do reserve the right to repeat all my same mistakes
And, in the night, like you
I certainly bite and chew
What I can find
And never seem to lose the taste
What a horrible face
I feel me make
For Pete's sake
What you have told me, I cannot erase
Though I keep on saying and I do believe
It is not too late
All day, you're hassling me with trifles
Black nose of the dog
as cold as a rifle
Indicating, with a nudge
God, no God, God, no God
Sweet, appraising eye of the dog
Blink once if God, twice if no God
My mama may be ashamed of me
With all of my finery
Carrying on
Whooping it up till the early morn'
Lost and lorn among the madding revelry
Sure, I can pass
Honey, I can pass
Particularly when I start to tip my glass
I'll be a sport
And have a go at that old song singing unabashed
'Bout them city girls with their ribbon bows
And their fancy sash'
But, though I get so sad
Could swear the night makes a motion to claim me
Around that second verse
I reckon and I've felt worse
And still held fast
But, later on, when I am alone
Alone at last
Well I take my God to task
I take my doggone God to task
Lyrics submitted by mutinyinheaven_x
Ribbon Bows Lyrics as written by Joanna Newsom
Lyrics © ROUGH TRADE PUBLISHING
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I believe that “ribbon bows” is pretty straightforward. our narrator is lounging at a spring, thinking about her failed relationship: “you want your love, love? come and get your love. I only took it back because I thought you didn't.” I think that she knows he does not, in fact, want it.
next, we have a scene in which she goes to a municipal pound, or animal shelter. she sees a lowly, unlovable looking dog, and bonds with it right away. I am willing to bet that a good deal of people can relate to looking into their dog's face and wondering what it was thinking. the narrator has been questioning god lately, and his plans for her if he does exist. after all, she's been through a lot. she is looking into that dog's sweet, loving face, and asking it questions about god. she knows that she is unlike her mother, and even a probable source of shame. the old song by karen dalton is referenced here: she goes out, gets drunk, and starts singing it. the song is tragic, and she starts feeling down, but no matter how depressed she gets she “reckon[s she's] felt worse and still held fast.”
when she gets home, she continues questioning god. I believe that “kingfisher” is continuation of this line of questioning.