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Total ratings: 1602
Length: 2:59
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So high you can't see over
And while your head is spinning
Hold tight, it's just beginning
You come from parents wanton
A childhood rough and rotten
I come from wealth and beauty
Untouched by work or duty
And oh, my love, my love
And oh, my love, my love
We both go down together
I found you, a tattooed tramp
A dirty daughter from the labor camps
I laid you down on the grass of a clearing
You wept but your soul was willing
And oh, my love, my love
And oh, my love, my love
We both go down together
And my parents will never consent to this love
But I hold your hand
Meet me on my vast veranda
My sweet untouched Miranda
And while the seagulls are crying
We fall but our souls are flying
And oh, my love, my love
And oh, my love, my love
And oh, my love, oh my love
And oh, my love, my love
We both go down together
People here seem to be missing the complex roots of the lyrics. It’s about suicide, and the choice of Dover, where the cliffs of Beachy Head are a popular suicide spot, is unusual for a US group. Perhaps they’re alluding to some of Edgar Allen Poe’s works Ironic given the source of their name. Anyway, I enjoyed it.
People here seem to be missing the complex roots of the lyrics. It’s about suicide, and the choice of Dover, where the cliffs of Beachy Head are a popular suicide spot, is unusual for a US group. Perhaps they’re alluding to some of Edgar Allen Poe’s works Ironic given the source of their name. Anyway, I enjoyed it.
Today I belatedly realized that the "vast veranda" is the cliffs of Dover. Mind blown.
Find you a partner who loves you as much as Bill loves The Decemberists.
That sounds like a terrible idea! There are clearly other bands that Bill loves even more and he spreads his love widely all around the world. (for which we love him)
A dirty daughter from the labor camps
I laid you down on the grass of a clearing
You wept but your soul was willing"
Well, gee, how lucky for her that a rich man found her and knew that while her body seemed to be saying, "no, get off of me you creep," her soul was saying, "yes, and please keep calling me names while you do it cos that's hot, too."
I don't think you're supposed to sympathize with this odious aristocrat any more than, say, Patrick Bateman from American Psycho or the investment banker in Richard Shindell's Confession (though I'd hope the one in Confession might get a smidge of sympathy). In Decembrists' other work, you can maybe sympathize with the mariner in the Mariner's Revenge Song or the singer in O Valencia! and still not think they're folks you'd want to be chums with. It's an exploration of an interesting character, a story in song. I love that about them, especially after I've listened to a lot of enjoyable but opaque or semi-nonsense lyrics (which I also sometimes enjoy!)
Cheers!
It's the hipster take on Tuvan throat singing - Mournful nasal wailing.
And still: Quick what's a word that rhymes with Miranda!?!?!
"Crazy Miranda, Lives on propaganda"
(Jefferson Airplane, Bark Album)
I was thinking the same thing! Yikes, how horrible this guy is.
Agree, my advice would be let him jump first...
(One of) most under-rated groups out there.
Every opinion counts one.
But "We both goes down together" - 10, exciting.
I was thinking the same thing! Yikes, how horrible this guy is.
Do you think the same of Dire Straits: Romeo and Juliet “when we made love you used to cry”?
I was thinking the same thing! Yikes, how horrible this guy is.
Critical to distinguish writer from persona. Big, BIG difference.
It's the hipster take on Tuvan throat singing - Mournful nasal wailing.
And still: Quick what's a word that rhymes with Miranda!?!?!
Veranda!!!
I didn’t set out to write a prequel — it happened that the characters in “We Both Go Down Together,” as they floated into view, were taking on peculiar similarities to the peripheral (and dead) figures that the titular Leslie spends four minutes cursing. A wealthy cad, a ruined naif, and a bit about a non-consensual tryst. So I had it in my head that the impregnated mother of Leslie, standing there over the cliffs as her sweetheart/rapist attempts to convince her to commit suicide with him, politely declines, pushes him over the edge and heads off into the sunset, or at least into her fate of giving birth in a ditch and dying.
Recycled it is, but wondering is this song vegan?
It's the hipster take on Tuvan throat singing - Mournful nasal wailing.
And still: Quick what's a word that rhymes with Miranda!?!?!
This song is apparently part of a larger narrative that Meloy was working on. There's a short interview/description at this site. If it makes it any better, ultimately the female character pushes the male character off the cliff.
I was thinking the same thing! Yikes, how horrible this guy is.
Yes, and I think Meloy likes writing songs from the perspective of horrible or vindictive people (I think it's a bit of a folk tradition). Check out The Rakes Song from The Hazards of Love (about a man who killed his children after his wife died in childbirth just to rid himself of them).
I know they can be a pain in the ass but FIND A REAL SINGER!!
I was thinking the same thing! Yikes, how horrible this guy is.
POUND ME TOO
A dirty daughter from the labor camps
I laid you down on the grass of a clearing
You wept but your soul was willing"
Well, gee, how lucky for her that a rich man found her and knew that while her body seemed to be saying, "no, get off of me you creep," her soul was saying, "yes, and please keep calling me names while you do it cos that's hot, too."
I was thinking the same thing! Yikes, how horrible this guy is.
C ya
(One of) most under-rated groups out there.
Ha, good call. Except it sounds like in this version, Michael Stipe has been castrated and someone is pinching his nose shut. I've heard far, far worse Decemberists tracks, though.
Bingo on his sound! yeah, this song is low anyway : (
I thought the same thing when I first heard the Decemberists. The instruments were fine, the lyrics were interesting, but I couldn't stand his voice.
Then a few of their songs got stuck in my head. Over time I sought out their music again, slightly wincing even as I did. But my views began to soften, as if I had some musical version of Stockholm Syndrome.
Now I like them. It's the most extreme flip-flop I've ever experienced about a band. I even saw them play an excellent live show in Chicago with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, that was fantastic.
I normally hate a voice that is affected but for some reason I like these guys. Especially the earlier stuff.
Their lyrics are very dark and odd. They have this happy sound with a very disturbing message. Rake in particular is hard to listen to for that reason. I think they are named after the 1917 Bolsheviks. Not sure if that applies though....
Take that, haters.
A to the men and there are a lot of challengers.
And as Dylan says it takes a lot to make a seagull laugh, but a train to make them cry or something like that.
It is a peculiar way of pronouncing words, he sometimes sounds like a minstrel from a Renaissance fair or putting on a fake British accent. I'm not sure how (or why) a fellow from Oregon would deploy such an accent. It's particularly irksome in this song. However, I believe that M&S suffer from a different spectrum of afflictions. Not a bad tune though, apart from that almost-yodeling.
Then a few of their songs got stuck in my head. Over time I sought out their music again, slightly wincing even as I did. But my views began to soften, as if I had some musical version of Stockholm Syndrome.
Now I like them. It's the most extreme flip-flop I've ever experienced about a band. I even saw them play an excellent live show in Chicago with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, that was fantastic.
I went the other way. I initially liked Bus Mall several years ago. But then through repeated listenings and RP's tendency to overplay them, now I cannot listen at all.... ever.
He always sounds flat to me and thus I cannot tolerate the Decemberists any longer.
(But I like Thom Yorke.)
A dirty daughter from the labor camps
I laid you down on the grass of a clearing
You wept but your soul was willing"
Well, gee, how lucky for her that a rich man found her and knew that while her body seemed to be saying, "no, get off of me you creep," her soul was saying, "yes, and please keep calling me names while you do it cos that's hot, too."
That's me in the spotlight
Losing my religion"
oh wait!
Ha, good call. Except it sounds like in this version, Michael Stipe has been castrated and someone is pinching his nose shut. I've heard far, far worse Decemberists tracks, though.
That's me in the spotlight
Losing my religion"
oh wait!
Bumped.
That's me in the spotlight
Losing my religion"
oh wait!
1 for ripping off the riff.
Neil
It's what they do.
Yessuuurr!! Or I should say maam!
That's me in the spotlight
Losing my religion"
oh wait!
I too once posted the same thing. But upon further listening it's about a pretty messed up relationship that end up in a double suicide...
I thought the same thing when I first heard the Decemberists. The instruments were fine, the lyrics were interesting, but I couldn't stand his voice.
Then a few of their songs got stuck in my head. Over time I sought out their music again, slightly wincing even as I did. But my views began to soften, as if I had some musical version of Stockholm Syndrome.
Now I like them. It's the most extreme flip-flop I've ever experienced about a band. I even saw them play an excellent live show in Chicago with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, that was fantastic.
Neil
But seriously. The vast veranda is a bit silly. Fun catchy tune.
-3-
Agreed that line never stops being funny.
Me too. Any song. Any album.
I'll happily take all the miranda-verandas and lovehas they've got!
Me too!
nope! I think this is a great song in the vein of new folk/ songs with a story. I like it
So, is the shorthand song title for this one "69"?