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Statistics
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Artists:
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6,825
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Albums:
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34,379
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Lyrics:
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288,632
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Song Views:
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43,940,701
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Reviews:
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10,300
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Comments:
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155,539
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Total Users:
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20,076
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Online Users:
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120
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Usage Statistics
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Billy Liar
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Submitted By: Big D
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Deriving its title from the English novel Billy Liar, the song also references the "Nogood Boyo" Dylan Thomas' Under Milk Wood, and appears to generally talk about a young man's masturbation fantasies.
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California One / Youth And Beauty Brigade
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Submitted By: Big D
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"California One" is named after "State Route 1" (or "Highway 1"), is a state highway that runs along much of the Pacific coast of the U.S. state of California. It is famous for running by some of the most beautiful coastlines in the world, leading to its designation as an All-American Road.
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Grace Cathedral Hill
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Submitted By: Big D
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Grace Cathedral is an Episcopal cathedral located on Nob Hill in San Francisco, California.
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O Valencia!
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Submitted By: Big D
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It tells a story of two star-crossed lovers, similar to that of Romeo and Juliet (or the modern, urban retelling of Romeo and Juliet, in the famous musical West Side Story). The singer falls in love with a person who belongs to a gang which is opposed to one he is in. At the end of the song, the singer's lover jumps in to defend the singer, who is confronting his lover's brother (the singer's "sworn enemy") and is killed by a stray bullet.
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O Valencia!
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Submitted By: Big D
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The 7" single sold in the UK was mispressed, featuring "Culling of the Fold" as the b-side despite the artwork and record label listing "After the Bombs" as the b-side.
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O Valencia!
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Submitted By: Big D
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For the music video of this song, The Decemberists filmed themselves in front of a green screen and asked fans to complete it by digitally adding in background images or footage. Stephen Colbert of The Colbert Report, having recently asked fans to do the same with a video of him with a light saber in front of a green screen, brought up The Decemberists on his segment "Look Who's Riding on My Coattails Now" and accused the band of stealing the idea. The Decemberists' response was to challenge Stephen Colbert to a guitar solo showdown on December 20, 2006 on The Colbert Report.
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Odalisque
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Submitted By: Big D
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An odalisque was a virgin female slave in an Ottoman seraglio. She was an assistant or apprentice to the concubines and wives, and she might rise in status to become one of them. Most odalisques were part of the harem, that is, the household, of the sultan.
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Of Angels And Angles
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Submitted By: Big D
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Its title is likely an allusion to the phrase Non Angli, sed Angeli. ("Not Angles, but Angels.") In legend, this was a Latin pun allegedly said by Pope Gregory I after a response to his query regarding the identity of a group of fair-haired Anglian children whom he had observed in the marketplace.
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Of Angels And Angles
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Submitted By: Big D
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The song is unique on the album in that it features only vocalist Colin Meloy with acoustic guitar accompaniment.
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Shanty For The Arethusa
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Submitted By: Big D
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Based on "The Saucy Arethusa", a sea shanty which, although usually considered 'traditional', was possibly written by 'Prince Hoare', a comic opera librettist, in around 1832.
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Sixteen Military Wives
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Submitted By: Big D
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Songwriter Colin Meloy has characterized the song as a "protest song" inspired by the Iraq War. However, though it does attack elements of the American foreign policy under George W. Bush (the lines "Because America can/And America can't say no/And America does/If America says it's so/It's so" in the chorus), "16 Military Wives" focuses primarily on the news media and popular response to the war, particularly levying criticism at infotainment and the surface-level involvement of celebrities in public affairs.
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Sixteen Military Wives
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Submitted By: Big D
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The video was directed by Aaron Stewart-Ahn, who also helmed the band's video for "O Valencia!"; and appears to be drawn stylistically from Wes Anderson's films, particularly Rushmore, from which it borrows the prestigious private school setting and similar school uniforms, as well as themes of rivalry between students. Additionally, Rushmore featured a brief segment concerning a model United Nations at the school.
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The Chimbley Sweep
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Submitted By: Big D
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On some editions, the track list printed on the actual disc is missing the song "The Chimbley Sweep", though the song is listed on the back of the CD jacket and in the liner notes.
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The Crane Wife, Pt. 1 And 2
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Submitted By: Big D
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The Crane Wife is an old Japanese tale. While there are many variations of the tale, a common version is that a poor man finds an injured crane on his doorstep (or outside with an arrow in it), takes it in and nurses it back to health. After he releases the crane, a woman appears at his doorstep with whom he falls in love and marries. Because they need money, his wife offers to weave wondrous clothes out of silk that they can sell at the market, but only if he agrees never to watch her making them. They begin to sell them and live a comfortable life, but he soon makes her weave them more and more. Oblivious to his wife's diminishing health, his greed increases. He eventually peeks in to see what she is doing to make the silk she weaves so desirable. He is shocked to discover that at the loom is a crane plucking feathers from her own body and weaving them into the loom. The crane, seeing him, flies away and never returns.
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The Crane Wife, Pt. 3
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Submitted By: Big D
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The Crane Wife is an old Japanese tale. While there are many variations of the tale, a common version is that a poor man finds an injured crane on his doorstep (or outside with an arrow in it), takes it in and nurses it back to health. After he releases the crane, a woman appears at his doorstep with whom he falls in love and marries. Because they need money, his wife offers to weave wondrous clothes out of silk that they can sell at the market, but only if he agrees never to watch her making them. They begin to sell them and live a comfortable life, but he soon makes her weave them more and more. Oblivious to his wife's diminishing health, his greed increases. He eventually peeks in to see what she is doing to make the silk she weaves so desirable. He is shocked to discover that at the loom is a crane plucking feathers from her own body and weaving them into the loom. The crane, seeing him, flies away and never returns.
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The Mariner's Revenge Song
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Submitted By: Big D
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"The Mariner's Revenge Song" has been one of the Decemberists' most popular at live performances. It had been played at virtually every live show as an encore since its release up until the 2006 tour. At this point, the band swore off playing it at nearly all of the shows, saying that they were giving it a break for a while.
When played live, the song utilizes a characteristic variety of instruments, with Chris Funk on mandolin, Nate Query on stand-up bass and bowed bass, Colin Meloy on vocals and guitar, John Moen on floor tom and Jenny Conlee on accordion. The band usually brings out a large paper maché whale jaw to use as a prop, and encourage the audience to "scream like you're being eaten by a whale" during the part of the song when the whale attacks the ship.
On March 21, during their "Twilight in the Fearful Forest Tour 2007" at The Landmark Lowes Theater in Jersey City, New Jersey, the song was "revived" and brought back from retirement as the last song played in the regular set. Colin Meloy said that they were playing it for all the people who never experienced the song live. The band continued to play it throughout the tour.
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The Mariner's Revenge Song
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Submitted By: Big D
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The band has stated that the song was recorded in one take around a single microphone. The various band members stepped towards the mic and back to control the audio level of their instrument. Drummer Rachel Blumberg had to stand much further away because of the relative loudness of the drums.
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The Perfect Crime #2
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Submitted By: Big D
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The song was featured in "Charged", the second episode of the TV series Reaper. It was also played in the background of a scene in "'S Wonderful, 'S Marvelous", a seventh-season episode of Gilmore Girls.
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Valerie Plame
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Submitted By: Big D
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The song is about a former United States CIA Operations Officer, whose covert identity was classified. After working for the CIA for twenty years, she retired in December 2005, as a result of the publication and compromising of her classified cover identity and that of her Agency front company, Brewster Jennings & Associates by an American journalist in the summer of 2003.
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