Mykonos

I think the song is about drug addiction and a friendship gone sour: The first verse describes an argument ending with the friend angrily storming out. The second verse suggests that the "snow-tipped pines" (i.e. arguments/rationalizations) of the friend are weak; they are hatched from the "seed" of a "thin mind," meaning one addled by drugs. The third verse says that it doesn't have to be this way. I don't know what the "ancient gate" refers to, but I'm guessing it's some sort of metaphor for forgiveness, possibly a call to go back to the old times when there no problems between them. Fourth verse, not sure, but I think the "took you down" line means the friend had to be forced into treatment. The meadow is probably a metaphor for their friendship, while also noting the time of year all this took place. Fifth verse is pretty self-explanatory, basically saying the singer's friendship shouldn't be rejected just because of whatever happened. I think the lyrics are supposed to be "out walking" or "a-walking", though. "I walking" doesn't really make sense. The first chorus is saying that after all the arguments, interventions, etc., the friend will now go to "Mykonos" - a metaphor for a rehab center, which are often located in quiet, secluded places. The singer is hoping that the "gentle coast" and the "sun" will help get rid of the "shadows." Great imagery, don't think I need to comment too much on the meaning. The second chorus is brilliantly simple - the singer is telling his friend he should accept what is happening and not fight it. In other words, he is going where he needs to be going. The "you go today" is reminiscent of something said during an intervention, where a trip to rehab can be sprung on the addict out of the blue. I think the singer is also saying that he is done with this now; the friend will go "wherever," and the singer can't be bothered cleaning up his messes anymore.

Also, Wikipedia reveals some interesting allusions: Mykonos is a Greek island where the Gigantes rose up against the Olympian gods (Zeus, etc.) and were all slaughtered. In particular, the god Dionysus killed the Giant Eurytos with a weapon topped with a pine cone, referred to in the second verse. Perhaps pine can be a reference to another type of needle as well?

...Shit, didn't expect to write that much when I first started this comment :P Anyway, hope it was helpful!

Good song; now, instead of fellating Fleet Foxes's every word, let us discuss what the song means? Me: I have no freaking idea, that's why I'm here in the first place.

My guess is this song is about his brother again. Reference 'Blue Ridge Mountains and especially 'He Doesn't Know Why'. Read through these lyrics and 'Mykonos' can be read as an account of the Robin's trying to stop his brother from running away from his problems again, literally and figuratively. He gives his brother's name as Sean (older brother) in Blue Ridge etc.

He Doesn't Know Why, (brother reappears from one of his walkabouts?) Penniless & tired with your hair grown long I was looking at you there and your face looked wrong memory is a fickle siren's song I didn't understand

In the gentle light as the morning nears You don't say a single word of the last two years Where you were or when you reached the frontier I didn't understand

See you rugged hands and a silver knife Twenty dollars in your hand that you hold so tight All the evidence of your vagrant life My brother you were gone

And you will try to do what you did before Pull the wool over your eyes for a week or more Let your family take you back to your original mind

Blue Ridge Mountains (partial) My brother where do you intend to go tonight? I heard that you missed your connecting flight, to the blue ridge mountains, over near Tennessee.

You're ever welcome with me any time you like, Let's drive to the country side, leave behind some green-eyed look-a-likes, So no one gets worried, no. So no one gets worried, no.

But Sean don't get callous, I'm sure it'll be fine. I love you, I love you, Old brother of mine.

K, here's my 2 cents:

I think the title 'Mykonos' gives a strong hint to the theme of the song. Why choose this specific Greek island if it wasn't to illustrate a point? Crete would have been more obvious, but perhaps the word 'Mykonos' is just more beautiful when sung.

Mykonos is in fact a gay resort, and I think the whole 'brother'-theme bears a strong reference to homosexuality.

The door slammed... - Someone (perhaps a family member) didn't take the the coming out of the closet too well?

Go to Mykonos, gentle coast... - On Mykonos you can live as a homosexual without being frowned upon.

Sun dissipate, mess you made... - Mykonos is a sunny, friendly place. You can more easily recover from the mess you made back home, when you came out of the closet.

Animals in snow tipped pines, hatching from seed... - No clue, really. Sometimes references in lyrics can be very personal and too private to discern. Perhaps it means that the two 'brothers' were unlikely/lucky to discover each other, because they weren't exactly living in a gay-friendly environment?

No need to turn me away, waiting at ancient gate... - In ancient Greece the love between two men was the only true love. Again a reference to homosexuality as a theme with both 'Mykonos' and 'ancient' as indicators.

You go whereever you go... - You have to make choices in life and live with them.

Took you down, winter turned meadow brown... - Of course things got ugly and it wasn't pleasant to witness. Perhaps friends/family gave the person hell, and it was a personal tragedy.

When a-walking, find a friend... - When looking for (gay) love be aware that a partner can be hard to find (so maybe you shouldn't be too picky?).

Well, maybe I overdid it a bit :-) I don't think Fleet Foxes are gay or the singer is. As far as I know the drummer grew up in a very Christian environment, and maybe this song has a reference to something he witnessed?

Really like the music. Can't wait to see them live.

Okay so I have a completely different outlook on this song in a twist of perspective...

Overall i believe the song is showing a spiritual conversation between an honoured fallen loved one in the battle of WW1 in gallipoli (Greece) and his friend who lived on with survivors guilt. All in all the chorus represents the fallen soldier helping his friend through the panic of war suggesting to go back to the literal island of Mykonos untouched by war where most likely the allied armies camped before the assault on the Turks. Suggesting that it should be his happy peaceful place to calm the soldier then the "sun dissipating" suggesting that he must go back to reality.

"mess you made" is a foreshadowing to the events that got his friend killed and that survivor blames himself for not being able to save his friend.

The first part of the song before the musical change in the verses describes the war whilst the second part signifies after the war.

Brother you don't need to turn me away I was waiting down at the ancient gate

This part suggests that time has moved on indicated by the "was". This suggests that his fallen friend has moved on peacefully and is no longer waiting at the gates of heaven knowing the survivor can live on. "Brother you dont need to turn me away" This suggests that the fallen soldier is telling the survivor to move on and just because of the guilt don't shut me out.

You go Wherever you go today You go today

This part is the evidence the fallen soldier saying to the survivor to live his life not in the past but now, don't feel guilty for the things that were out of your hands just be free and go where ever you may go and go now before its too late.

The last bit is the dead soldier saying his goodbye again in the survivors mind in joking loving way saying that you wont ever find a friend like me when in reality you go where ever you go today suggests otherwise when done through adventure...

It is a bitter sweet tale of self forgiveness and coping with loss... :)

wow. best thing so far this year.

I don't know about meaning but after I found this song I had the most unusual thing happen to me.

After this paritcular embarassing night with my old friend Dyonisus where he convinced me to throw my keys in the Zumbro river and and to test the consistency of plaster with my right hand, I found this song.

That day I listened to this song several times, went running to it- great combination of endorphins - sincapations - emotions you know. I went to this rugby game, my roomate Dingo was there I had to get the house key. I don't like him that much anymore too anal. But he loaned me his Volkswagon and key and introduced my to his friend Pete.

Pete looks pretty much like the bearded figures on the sides of Greek pottery or mosaic- and this little seed began to grow- but he is not Greek and he is the biggest liar. He claimed to have been A Golden Gloves champ twice, Dingo said there was no way.

So listening to the Foxes' Sun Giant through the day drinking Bloody Marys I am reaching far back into the primordial experience where I turned myself into a Deamon. Visions and Archetypes of the Ancient purpose I saw hanging by only a thread of consciousness made my heart pump adrenaline and justifying my Ego to believe I was the chosen one. My Pain Body was in dire need of a full stomach that day but I was saved by this song playing on my I-pod shuffle.

It didn't stop there- that night I dreamed I shut this door to a scene much like the album cover. The dust is what I remembered most. The severity of the door slamming closed rose up a cloud of dust. Not rows - rose-

maybe just addiction- maybe the closure.... I don't know Aubrey stopped calling the day before, I lost my only programmable key to my Focus. I had to make friends with my roomate Dingo and his friend Greek Pete

There's nothing I can say is there?

But the dream I had was so real I tell you. The dust filled my lungs and me with the closeness to something more ancient- singular in universal experience. The history of the purpose.

Hm...

Several days ago The Current mentioned Fleet Foxes and I saw this fox run across the road then back again into the corn field. Why?

A week earlier I am taking Naomi (Imoan backwards) home for the first time- shouldn't have been driving. Count em! Five of Victory's Golden Monkeys. And the current plays Mykonos in this incredible rainstorm on our first night. Why?

Still today after another night with my protector. I am in Best Buy and looky there it's Fleet Foxes on sale for $11.99 And I am hear in my family's home listening to He Doesn't Know Why.

Why?

I've listened to the song like 50 times, I've heard all the live version I can find on YouTube.

He clearly says "Pallid animals in the snow tipped pines."

If this song isn't about the part in The Hobbit when they find the secret passage into The Lonely Mountain and Smaug gets killed and the Battle of the Five Armies starts then my whole life is a lie.

Mykonos is an island in Greece, it's well known for its nightlife and for being a gay hotspot. So it's entirely possible that the song is about that but I don't think so.

It's a common ploy in songwriting to name by reference rather than explicitly. So the song could be referring to a "generic" Mediterranean island, it could even be referring to a specific one but, in order to protect the privacy of those involved, changes the name. The demo version of this song with full band fascinates me because clearly there are two parts of the song which were welded together. The full band version only plays the "A" part - possibly that is the "original" song?

To the song itself.

The door slammed loud and rose up a cloud of dust on us Footsteps follow, down through the hollow sound, torn up

I love how the Fleet Foxes use such evocative language - there's been a row, someone has stormed off, down the corridor...

And you will go to Mykonos With a vision of a gentle coast And a sun to maybe dissipate Shadows of the mess you made

Here we catch a glimpse of what is going on. I remember when I first read this, my first thought was "someone's gone to rehab". A lot of Mediterranean islands have rehab clinics on them - they're cheaper to run in Southern Europe and if you're trying to get someone away from their old lifestyle, having a hot sunny environment emphasises the positives of the new clean lifestyle. But this song is sung from the perspective of those left behind, those whose lives were turned upside-down by the chaos that inevitably surrounds anyone who becomes addicted to anything - the behaviour of whoever has gone to off Mykonos. It's almost bitter "a sun to maybe dissipate shadows of the mess you made" - it may not be the first time the subject has gone off to "Mykonos" - "And you will go to Mykonos" implies that this is the sort of thing the subject has done more than once and there's a hint of jealousy that the subject of the song can just waltz off to Mykonos and gain their redemption (whatever they perceive that to be)...

How did any holes in the snow tipped pines, I find Hatching from the seed of your thin mind, all night?

Not sure about the first line, not even sure if that's the lyric or what it means, but the second line refers to the somewhat skewed logic of whoever it is that has gone to Mykonos. More hints of substance use / abuse, someone rambling on and on and on all night or in the early throes of recovery where they become incredibly needy and want to talk about themselves all night - draining either way.

And you will go to Mykonos With a vision of a gentle coast And a sun to maybe dissipate Shadows of the mess you made

And off you go to Mykonos for your treatment and recovery, leaving all this mess behind you, well done :)

The second part of the song - Billboard magazine said that "the second half of 'Mykonos' is salvation for the ears." - is very CSNY - think Suite Judy Blue Eyes, think Carry On. And for me the second part of the song really shows the heartbreak that addiction can cause, from the perspective of those who have tried to "rescue" the addict. I'm seeing addiction (or mental illness, perhaps depression?) and the turmoil it can cause in friends and familes of those it touches, writ large across this song.

Brother you don't need to turn me away

OWWWW!!! Been there done that. Brother can mean friend - it's a lyric, it's not literal guys. Once people go into recovery (from addiction or from mental illness, similar processes) they will often reject former friends / allies / family. Often they do it because they don't want to be tempted back into their old ways, or because they feel guilty about who they were, or because they feel they have moved on. When you are the one rejected, it hurts.

I was waiting down at the ancient gate

Well it is about Greece so a classical allusion fits.

You go wherever you go today You go today

Off to Mykonos, presumably. Or off on some flight of fancy - some deranged ideal or whim, who knows. Those left behind often give up on trying to know what their friend / relative is up to - you'll go wherever it is you're going to go...

I remember how they took you down As the winter turned the meadow brown

Can mean so many things. Literally when they "took you down" to clinic. Figuratively when they took you down a peg - shot down your dreams. The winter turning the meadow brown contrasts with the sunny Mykonos beaches - this is back in reality, perhaps before, when you needed rescuing, when I came in and helped you out and now you've forgotten about all this and turned your back on me. It's the fate of the rescuer to always be spurned by those he or she rescues.

When I'm walking brother don't you forget, it ain't often you'll ever find a friend

Whether I am the kind of friend you want, or need is another question. I acted as a friend to you and you have used and discarded me - at least that's how I feel. But the subject's feelings are not addressed - maybe the old friend reminds them of how they fell and how vulnerable they were, maybe the subject finds the old friend embarrassing because the old friend knew him when he was at his nadir, at his lowest ebb. The song is from the perspective of "those left behind" so it doesn't need to address why people have been left behind, merely that they are.

Overall Mykonos is lyrically intriguing and offers a picture into some fascinating behaviours and experiences in life. In my opinion the lyrics in Mykonos complement the stellar vocal performance - in all it is a fabulous piece of music.