Another Decemberists track. This time from their latest album. The songwriting and lyrics have grown so much over their career, I’m sure I’ll be posting more of them in the future. Just listen to her voice, it is absolutely amazing…
Colin:
Mother I can hear your foot-fall now
Soft disturbance in the dead-fall how
It proceeds you like a black smoke pall
Still the wanting comes in waves
And you delivered me from danger then
Pulled my cradle from the reedy glen
Swore to save me from the world of menStill the wanting comes in waves
In waves
And waves
And the wanting comes in waves
And the wanting comes in wavesAnd I want this night
And I want this night
OhShara:
How I made you
I wrought you, I pulled you
From war I labored you
From cancer I cradled you
And nowThis is how I am repaid
This is how I am repaidRemember when I found you
The miseries that hounded you
And I gave you motion
Anointed with lotions
And nowThis is how I am repaid
This is how I am repaidColin:
Mother hear this proposition right
Grant me freedom to enjoy this night
And I’ll return to you at break of light
For the wanting comes in waves
And waves
And waves
Still the wanting comes in waves
Still the wanting comes in waves
Still the wanting comes in waves
And you owe me life
And you owe me lifeShara:
And if I grant you this favor to hand you
Your life for the evening
I will retake by morning
And so
Consider it your debt repaid
Consider it your debt repaid
Repaid
Repaid
Nothing like a good sea shanty to ring in spring.
We are two mariners
Our ship’s sole survivors
In this belly of a whale
It’s ribs are ceiling beams
It’s guts are carpeting
I guess we have some time to killYou may not remember me
I was a child of three
And you, a lad of eighteen
But, I remember you
And I will relate to you
How our histories interweave
At the time you were
A rake and a roustabout
Spending all your money
On the whores and hounds
(oh, oh)You had a charming air
All cheap and debonair
My widowed mother found so sweet
And so she took you in
Her sheets still warm with him
Now filled with filth and foul disease
As time wore on you proved
A debt-ridden drunken mess
Leaving my mother
A poor consumptive wretch
(oh, oh)And then you disappeared
Your gambling arrears
The only thing you left behind
And then the magistrate
Reclaimed our small estate
And my poor mother lost her mind
Then, one day in spring
My dear sweet mother died
But, before she did
I took her hand as she, dying, cried:
(oh, oh)“Find him, Bind him
Tie him to a pole and break
His fingers to splinters
Drag him to a hole until he
Wakes up naked
Clawing at the ceiling
Of his grave”It took me fifteen years
To swallow all my tears
Among the urchins in the street
Until a priory
Took pity and hired me
To keep their vestry nice and neat
But, never once in the employ
Of these holy men
Did I ever, once turn my mind
From the thought of revenge
(oh, oh)One night I overheard
The prior exchanging words
With a penitent whaler from the sea
The captain of his ship
Who matched you toe to tip
Was known for wanton cruelty
The following day
I shipped to sea
With a privateer
And in the whistle
Of the wind
I could almost hear
(oh, oh)“Find him, Bind him
Tie him to a pole and break
His fingers to splinters
Drag him to a hole until he
Wakes up naked
Clawing at the ceiling
Of his graveThere is one thing I must say to you
As you sail across the sea
Always, your mother will watch over you
As you avenge this wicked deed”And then, that fateful night
We had you in our sight
After twenty months at sea
Your starboard flank abeam
I was getting my muskets clean
When came this rumbling from beneath
The ocean shook
The sky went black
And the captain quailed
And before us grew
The angry jaws
Of a giant whale(oh..)
Don’t know how I survived
The crew all was chewed alive
I must have slipped between his teeth
But, oh, what providence
What divine intelligence
That you should survive
As well as me
It gives my heart great joy
To see your eyes fill with fear
So lean in close
And I will whisper
The last words you’ll hear
(oh, oh)
Time to bring it down a little. This man can write some serious lyrics, and I’m a sucker for amphibrachs. Just sit back, with a nice cup of tea and wash your ears in this:
It’s four in the morning, the end of December
I’m writing you now just to see if you’re better
New York is cold, but I like where I’m living
There’s music on Clinton Street all through the evening.I hear that you’re building your little house deep in the desert
You’re living for nothing now, I hope you’re keeping some kind of record.Yes, and Jane came by with a lock of your hair
She said that you gave it to her
That night that you planned to go clear
Did you ever go clear?Ah, the last time we saw you you looked so much older
Your famous blue raincoat was torn at the shoulder
You’d been to the station to meet every train
And you came home without Lili MarleneAnd you treated my woman to a flake of your life
And when she came back she was nobody’s wife.Well I see you there with the rose in your teeth
One more thin gypsy thief
Well I see Jane’s awake —She sends her regards.
And what can I tell you my brother, my killer
What can I possibly say?
I guess that I miss you, I guess I forgive you
I’m glad you stood in my way.If you ever come by here, for Jane or for me
Your enemy is sleeping, and his woman is free.Yes, and thanks, for the trouble you took from her eyes
I thought it was there for good so I never tried.And Jane came by with a lock of your hair
She said that you gave it to her
That night that you planned to go clear– Sincerely, L. Cohen
Saul Williams “Convict Colony”
A little change of pace and style here. Saul Williams is one of my favourite poets, and I love his speaking voice, both really get the energy up. I purchased his first album after hearing a track on the NiN pre-show music, and loved every minute of it. The second album is angrier, more direct in it’s message and is all the better for it. The book “The Dead Emcee Scrolls” is highly recommended as a point of entry into his writing. It does include a lot of the original poems that became the songs on the “Niggy Tardust” album , but it’s completely different in a poetry situation. Make sure you check out his site as well to get even more from this fantastic artist.
The legion is on fire!
The legion is on fire!
The legion is on fire!I was born in a convict colony
And I was torn from the land that mothered me
Mother, may I? She said, “Yes, you may”
Well, today I… (Declare)
I said, right here, today!
You’re a Convict Colony… if you’re running from the sun!
You’re a Convict Colony! A Convict Colony! And you don’t really want it…
You don’t really want it…Convict! [x11]
I was birthed from the Earth
Fought my way to this day
Now, I’m grown… Truth be told
I’ll be here, ’til you’re gone
You’re a Convict Colony! If you’re running from the sun!
You’re a Convict Colony! If you’re reaching for your gun!
You’re a Convict Colony! If you’re running from the sun!
You’re a Convict Colony! A Convict Colony! And you don’t really want it…
You don’t really want it! [x11]
You don’t really want!