Till the Water's All Long Gone

Correct lyrics :

They came down from the mountain They strained too long from the fountain And all the while All the while they longed for us

But I won't betray No, I won't betray No, I won't betray Our water No, I won't betray No, I won't betray No, I won't betray Our water Till the water's all long gone

And you, my sweet flower And how you grew more sweet by the hour And loath those eyes Loath was I to lose you My tender rose My limber rose My slender loathing daughter My tender rose My slender rose My limber loathing daughter But my daughter's long, long gone

They came down from the mountain They strained too long from the fountain Oh, my girl Oh my love, I've lost you

But I won't betray No, I won't betray No, I won't betray Our water No, I won't betray No, I won't betray No, I won't betray Our water Till the water's all long gone

To me this song is about someone not having the courage or not wanting to move on literally or figuratively. Wanting to stay home at the "fountain", not betraying his values and beliefs -"our water". But the people around - "they" - moved on. "They came down from the mountain". They simply left or changed too much in relation to him. By staying still he lost his tender rose - his daughter. But he intends to stay true his beliefs until the end. He's made up his mind to not betray them till he dies. The point where Colin sings "Till the water's all long gone", the sudden change of mood and the beautiful solo that follows gives me chills.

This is my favorite song from the album, but that's only my first hearing of the album. Thanks for this beauty Decemberists!

I think it's probably "Loathe was I to lose you."

hmmmmm.... I can't quite place it, but I could swear this was an old fey tale something about faeries, who need to drink the water from the fountain of their home up in the mountains to remain immortal, and without it die and fade to dust? the story goes that some of them long to know the world of mortals far away from their home, intending to return before their time runs out and they die, but one falls in love with a mortal man and bears a child (through some sort of magical means, of course, even a faerie can't survive nine months without taking a drink) does this ring a bell to anybody?? I can't quite remember and it's bothering the hell out of me, and it has been since the album came out....

When dealing with Decemberists songs, it's safe to assume that the lyrics are meant to be literal rather than figurative. This isn't ALWAYS the case 100% of the time, but they ARE a folk band after all. So they tell stories. And yeah, a lot of them are based on older stories.

I could be wrong, but this song SEEMS like it's about a man in a town that was come upon by a group of nomads who were in search of water, which was a limited resource in this man's town. It SEEMS like he had to sacrifice his daughter to the nomads (the ones who came down from the mountain), in lieu of giving away the town's limited water. Kind of a "needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few" kind of situation. Could have something to do with faeries too, not sure about that or what the original source of this story might be if it's not originally by Colin Meloy.