Oliver James Lyrics

Lyric discussion by guest33 

Cover art for Oliver James lyrics by Fleet Foxes

this song is about a couple who have never had a baby before who find a baby in the river. the husband is watching the wife while she cleans the babies face so beautifully. then they go for a walk on the beach to find peace about the situation. they go back to her brothers house emptier (without their worries) and feeling calmer.

oliver james is the name of the baby.

I agree with guest33, but I think there's another layer here. Rather than the couple simply being childless, I think that they have lost a baby, that the woman either had a miscarriage or a stillbirth.

The second verse is the most evocative for me. I picture the woman cleaning mud from the river from the baby's face, and she and her husband recalling when she cleaned the face of her stillborn baby in the same way (rehearsed the actions). She is anxious because she carries the memories of the tragic ending of her pregnancy, and she is innocent in...