I love this song sooo much. Okkervil River's long, slow songs are just incredible. A number of them, like this one; Blackest Coat; For the Enemy; So Come Back, I Am Waiting; etc. really build in intensity, and I love that. I just had Mermaid playing in the kitchen, and I didn't realize how loud it grew until I was reminded that someone was sleeping, because I was so into it.
Anyway, the real reason that I'm posting is that I transcribed the lyrics to the first release of the song from the In Search of a Midnight Kiss soundtrack (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ybn0FIXVIwE). Unfortunately, that version doesn't get so intense, but it's also pretty amazing. The lyrics are different enough to be significant, I think, though the story and sense are essentially the same. It was the lyrics from that version that actually made me understand the story, how the mermaid escaped, so maybe they're more clear. Or maybe I was just focusing on them more because I was transcribing them. Anyway, this is what I heard:
So, I said, "Men, pull her out of the water, and then, lay on hands, and we'll bind back her flippers and tail, and we'll sail into trade waters, and then, we'll feel what's human inside of her."
And she's chilly and slick on her hips, where the scales meet with skin. With a sickening flick of her tail, circling, her glazed gills fill with cold, salty water, and she thrashes and twirls, freezing fins lightly fluttering.
And she's pretty, I think, with her hair dark as ink and her belly bone-white, and her lips of a slight sea-shell pink lightly part as she's tonguing the tub's rusty rim. The water, the saltwater, it flows out and in.
So we seize her and sail, and she'll please us from head down to tail. Then, one night, when our boat coasts right into a gale, and some wild, shrill wind lights up, starts to wail, and the lighting, it flares and ignites our small sail, and our maps blow away, and our compasses fail, then our boat takes on too much water to bail. The tub overflows. I see her float out, so thin and so pale. I see her rise out; she's so fast and so fair. My mouth fills with more panic than prayer, and my head fills with more color than care, and the waves, they weave cold seaweed through my hair, and my hands lose their grip, and my eyes lose their stare. And she's surging at me, and she's breathing the water like air.
This is great; I hadn't heard this version before, and it's cool to see the evolution of these lyrics into the version released earlier this year.
This is great; I hadn't heard this version before, and it's cool to see the evolution of these lyrics into the version released earlier this year.
The released version is definitely more epic and, by the end, you're left standing, mouth open, like the narrator of the story, but I'd agree that the first version explains some of the things that you're left simply to assume in the released version.
The released version is definitely more epic and, by the end, you're left standing, mouth open, like the narrator of the story, but I'd agree that the first version explains some of the things that you're left simply to assume in the released version.
I love this song sooo much. Okkervil River's long, slow songs are just incredible. A number of them, like this one; Blackest Coat; For the Enemy; So Come Back, I Am Waiting; etc. really build in intensity, and I love that. I just had Mermaid playing in the kitchen, and I didn't realize how loud it grew until I was reminded that someone was sleeping, because I was so into it.
Anyway, the real reason that I'm posting is that I transcribed the lyrics to the first release of the song from the In Search of a Midnight Kiss soundtrack (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ybn0FIXVIwE). Unfortunately, that version doesn't get so intense, but it's also pretty amazing. The lyrics are different enough to be significant, I think, though the story and sense are essentially the same. It was the lyrics from that version that actually made me understand the story, how the mermaid escaped, so maybe they're more clear. Or maybe I was just focusing on them more because I was transcribing them. Anyway, this is what I heard:
So, I said, "Men, pull her out of the water, and then, lay on hands, and we'll bind back her flippers and tail, and we'll sail into trade waters, and then, we'll feel what's human inside of her."
And she's chilly and slick on her hips, where the scales meet with skin. With a sickening flick of her tail, circling, her glazed gills fill with cold, salty water, and she thrashes and twirls, freezing fins lightly fluttering.
And she's pretty, I think, with her hair dark as ink and her belly bone-white, and her lips of a slight sea-shell pink lightly part as she's tonguing the tub's rusty rim. The water, the saltwater, it flows out and in.
So we seize her and sail, and she'll please us from head down to tail. Then, one night, when our boat coasts right into a gale, and some wild, shrill wind lights up, starts to wail, and the lighting, it flares and ignites our small sail, and our maps blow away, and our compasses fail, then our boat takes on too much water to bail. The tub overflows. I see her float out, so thin and so pale. I see her rise out; she's so fast and so fair. My mouth fills with more panic than prayer, and my head fills with more color than care, and the waves, they weave cold seaweed through my hair, and my hands lose their grip, and my eyes lose their stare. And she's surging at me, and she's breathing the water like air.
This is great; I hadn't heard this version before, and it's cool to see the evolution of these lyrics into the version released earlier this year.
This is great; I hadn't heard this version before, and it's cool to see the evolution of these lyrics into the version released earlier this year.
The released version is definitely more epic and, by the end, you're left standing, mouth open, like the narrator of the story, but I'd agree that the first version explains some of the things that you're left simply to assume in the released version.
The released version is definitely more epic and, by the end, you're left standing, mouth open, like the narrator of the story, but I'd agree that the first version explains some of the things that you're left simply to assume in the released version.