Weights & Measures

In the Arthurian legend the Lady of the Lake offers Arthur the Sword and thereby the kingdom. But in the song he realizes she is off with the dark night/knight and not who he thought she was. She is not the lady of the lake buy instead a cold dead star in the night sky. He is prepared to take blame after she chops his tree down and they've lost all their friends. Hence the falling tree makes no sound. Love the fairytale/mythological/religious imagery in this music. Tres cool.

I just 'discovered' this great song and band while in a Barnes & Noble, or rather, it discovered me. Like a siren, that refrain of "I was prepared to love you...and never expect anything of you" just woo'd me in. Now having listened to the song a number of times, here' my personal take:

It makes me picture a scene of a guy and a girl sitting across from each other at a table outdoors in some beer garden on a very slow Tuesday night (where no one else is nearby/within earshot, i.e., "I'll fall in the forest...no-one around to see"). The song is the guys reply to the girl after she has just given him a break-up speech. He intensely loves her and wants to stay together. He has committed his heart to love her, even though he knows she does not love him in the same way or in the same amount/dedication, that is, love him in the same self-sacrificial way that he does: a love from the lover which "never expects anything" of the beloved in return other than that the beloved simply continues to receive this love from the lover. This reflects somewhat the historical, univeral theme of "unrequited love", that is, of not merely returning love for love, but of even being unwilling to receive love and/or appreciate the offering of such self-sacrifical love. (i.e., "the familiar sting of the woodcutter's swing to the tree")

Anyway, having given him the break-up speech, she would prefer that he immediately take it in stride and immediately act like they are, can be, and will be "just friends". But he realizes that this is impossible right now (i.e., "there is no patron saint of silent restraint")...it would be fake, just an act on his part, as his heart can't do that. (i.e., "...don't lie to yourself") Rather, his heart is cut to the core (i.e., the familiar sting of the woodcutter's swing to the tree"), as he faces the painfual reality that she doesn't want him/his love or even appreciate the quality of the love he has for her and offers her, which "expects nothing in return" now or ever. He is forced to confront and see what he has tried to deny and/or what his intense love for her made him naive to: She doesn't have the same 'spirit' within her ("the spirit has left you baby"), no capacity for the same kind of love for him, if not also in his eyes for any other guy (given that it may be that their history together may have been of her being with him for a time before going through a repeated cycle of seeing other guys but then coming back to him over and over again as the reliable "fall-back guy" whom she knows will always give her that self-sacrificial love and devotion which she fails to find in the other, 'more attractive' guys she has seen). So he finally has to admit with the clarity he now has that the object of his love is "cold" (i.e., "you were the coldest star in the sky")...that no matter how intense the heat of his love for her, it will not warm her up to him, for she simply is unable to receive the fire of his love, let alone appreciate it.

So, in conclusion, since he now realizes this, he simply tells her to "get up and leave"....there is nothing nice hear, there is no silver lining (e.g., "Hey, we still can be friends, have friendship!") No, like all break-ups, divorces, it is a death. (i.e., a "funeral wake") There is no "us" there, if there ever was. And now the death is final, for even his love for her has died by her break-up speech.

I love songs that tell the truth. To me the beauty in art in a fallen, imperfect world is just that: To picture/paint/sing about existence not as it should be ("The Paradise to come"), or as it used to be (i.e., "The paradise which was lost"), but as it really is both for the good and the bad.

I think this song is about chivalry, being prepared to love someone and never ask anything of them. The arthurian resonance runs through most of it - the spirit left Camelot and had to be recovered through a great quest for the grail- which lead to a perilous chapel in the forest, the black knight, the sword in the lake. I wonder if the familiar sting of the woodcutter's swing could also related to the story of Gawain and the green knight.

In the end, chivalry is not love, it is its own thing. If you love someone and never ask anything of them, you're living in an idealised world, not a real relationship. I think that is part of what this song is all about.

I love this band so much, can't find this EP on Itunes yet though :/ I saw them in Nottingham this week and they were one of the best bands I've ever seen!!!

I think this song is about being in an on again off again relationship. One where the love you have for the person is open handed - i was prepared to love you and not expect anything of you- The person has left several times -The familiar sting of the woodcutter's swing to the tree

perhaps for other people, or perhaps for one other person in particular It's almost as if their relationship is not the main one, the relationship that the person he's singing about has with the other person is the main relationship. Perhaps their relationship is a thing she keeps seeking out, she can't help herself....but she knows she's wrong for doing it -And there's no patron saint of sudden restraint- <--that could be the moment she decides she wants to go back to her relationship and try to 'be good', she decides to exercise self restraint and he gets hurt as a result

Or perhaps she just has issues with herself that make her an unstable partner -And in comes the black night, Calling your name since you were born- <--- loving her is a rollercoaster of risk because when she goes off into her own brain, it's like she leaves him. she may even find another person to occupy her time or fulfill some need

there's a resignation in this song. someone who's made up their mind that love will hurt them, they've literally weighed the pros and cons, measured and assessed the risk, and decided to go ahead with it

i love this song.

They have finally published the album and it is perfect! Love it love it love it! My favourite song by them.

Stop analysing! It's simply about coming to a realization too late, when there's no-one to see; no, hear... and anyone but anyone who has been genuinely heartbroken knows who the black (k)night is - oh, okay, carry on.

In my mind It is indeed about the Arthurian legend. The singer is Lancelot, "there's no patron saint for silent restraint" - he can't act because of his love and respect for Arthur. The love he is singing about is Guinevere meaning 'white spirit' deriving the term "the spirit has left you baby" meaning she's not herself, she's also Arthurs' wife. When she finds she fancies Lancelot, she decides to have an affair, though upon reflection and confrontation she "ups and leaves" making her decision to become a nun, Lancelot doesn't understand: "it's a question of needs and not rosemary beads, in the end". She always has loved the "black knight" Arthur though, he was always her true love, she needs him, she goes back to him. Lancelot the singer is the white knight, he is devastated, he thought she loved him, now he's "empty as a drum". He was prepared to give up his honour, his friendship to be with her, though he takes this risk, and it all goes sour on him. He's lost it all, he cannot do anything, the sword is not in the lake - meaning Arthur still has it, he is still alive, and whilst he is alive, she will love the black knight over the white knight, always.

Most powerful break up song ever? It has been for me anyway. Lead singer Peter Liddle does like to reference literature and mix his metaphors but so what, it works perfectly. We've got Arthurian legend, the humble woodcutter figure (from Grimm's fairytales?) whose internal life finally gets told, the oxymoron of 'the coldest star in the sky' (I think of Lord Byron's incredible poem 'Darkness' here, please read it!). Yes, we have poetry. But we also have scenes that all us 21st century people are familiar with - putting old records on after the break-up, the dabblling with religion (rosary beads), and of course that killer first line full of both bravado and dejection - 'you've made your decision, now get up and leave.' The only other lyricist to get this balance is Jeff Buckley, and Peter Liddle owes him a big debt but actually outdoes him on this track. I'm sure all Dry the River fans know his stuff, but on the outside chance that you don't then you need his first LP Grace in your life.