The Hazards of Love 4 (The Drowned) Lyrics

Lyric discussion by PieSniper 

Cover art for The Hazards of Love 4 (The Drowned) lyrics by Decemberists, The

This song is breathtaking. I agree with the above interpretation, but I am confused on a couple points -- first of all, who does the chorus come from? Maragaret, William, or both of them? I assume the latter, because she comes in at that point in the song, but does anybody else see it another way?

Second, can anybody see a particular reason he switches to third person for the last line of the fourth verse? I noticed that he makes a similar change in The Abduction of Maragaret.

In this case at least, it might be that since the original narrator is dying, he's lost some degree of consciousness and a new narrator needs to take over.

Yeah, I agree. I mean, its the last line of the song (except for the repeated chorus). It's the very end of the story.

Colin sings both William and the narrator, so it could be that he's singing as the narrator in that last line.