I love the progression in this song, how what SEEMS to be the same verse and chorus repeated multiple times actually has minute changes each time that push the song along. We start by hearing:
"Past the Dire Wolf's lair
on a Newfoundland's paws
close to nowhere
and halfway across"
Which, in the second iteration, becomes:
"At the Dire Wolf's crest
the Newfoundland paused
desolate's best
was gotten across"
And finally, in the third verse, it becomes:
"At the Dire Wolf's best
the Newfoundland paused
so desperate as
to be a lost cause"
I don't know what it is, but this progression literally sends chills down my spine every time I hear it. I love the pun when "paws" becomes "pause", but more specifically, we are first told that the Newfoundlander is "halfway across". By the second verse, we are told that it had "gotten across". However, in the tragedy of the third verse, we then realize that any chance of the Newfoundlander surviving is "so desperate as to be a lost cause". It goes to show how quickly victory changes to tragedy, and how bittersweet the rescue of the unfortunate sailors actually is.
I love the progression in this song, how what SEEMS to be the same verse and chorus repeated multiple times actually has minute changes each time that push the song along. We start by hearing:
"Past the Dire Wolf's lair on a Newfoundland's paws close to nowhere and halfway across"
Which, in the second iteration, becomes:
"At the Dire Wolf's crest the Newfoundland paused desolate's best was gotten across"
And finally, in the third verse, it becomes:
"At the Dire Wolf's best the Newfoundland paused so desperate as to be a lost cause"
I don't know what it is, but this progression literally sends chills down my spine every time I hear it. I love the pun when "paws" becomes "pause", but more specifically, we are first told that the Newfoundlander is "halfway across". By the second verse, we are told that it had "gotten across". However, in the tragedy of the third verse, we then realize that any chance of the Newfoundlander surviving is "so desperate as to be a lost cause". It goes to show how quickly victory changes to tragedy, and how bittersweet the rescue of the unfortunate sailors actually is.