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There are angels in your angles
There's a low moon caught in your tangles
There's a ticking at the sill
There's a purr of a pigeon to break the still of day
As on we go drowning
Down we go away
And darling, we go a-drowning
Down we go away
Away
There's a tough word on your crossword
There's a bed bug nipping a finger
There's a swallow, there's a calm
Here's a hand to lay on your open palm today
As on we go drowning
Down we go away
And darling, we go a-drowning
Down we go away
Away
There are angels in your angles
There's a low moon caught in your tangles
There's a low moon caught in your tangles
There's a ticking at the sill
There's a purr of a pigeon to break the still of day
As on we go drowning
Down we go away
And darling, we go a-drowning
Down we go away
Away
There's a tough word on your crossword
There's a bed bug nipping a finger
There's a swallow, there's a calm
Here's a hand to lay on your open palm today
As on we go drowning
Down we go away
And darling, we go a-drowning
Down we go away
Away
There are angels in your angles
There's a low moon caught in your tangles
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This was just my interpretation, though; it's different for everyone.
As a lover I have often thought that there is certain holiness to the female form.
"There's a purr of a pigeon to break the still of day"
"There's a tough word on your crossword"
All implications of a morning. The "as we go drowning" part is metaphorical. I think it means just to escape from reality for a little bit, and just live in the moment and see whats happening around you. The we bit is you and the person you care about.
The "theres a swallow, theres a calm" part is tricky, but I think the swallow is the bird swallow, and the calm is just showing how serene everything is.
"There are angels in your angles
There's a low moon caught in your tangles"
Another tricky part, but I think its going back to the love part, saying that you're the most beautiful when you are in your natural state, in the morning when you're just getting up and haven't "added beauty" to yourself.
I don't care if you think its right or wrong, this is just my personal interpretation. There is no right or wrong meaning to a Decembrists song. Thats one of the things that makes them so great.
This is what I see >
Angels in your angles- is the beauty in her figure,
There is a low moon caught in your tangel- how beautiful the things are, that people see as "tangles" or imprefections, to him.
There is a tough word in your crossword- is saying that there is one thing i can't figure out about you, or put a word on it to describe you, but i love it...
And all caught up and "drowning" in love
That's probably the single most beautiful thing I've ever heard. And combined with the acoustic guitar... This almost brought me to tears.
I love it.
As for the lines: "There are angels in your angles / There's a low moon caught in your tangles", the image reminds me of the appearance of a person who is back lit, in this case by moon light. The 'angles' of the person seem to glow ethereally (like angels) and the moon shines most through their hair, especially if they've been sleeping and it's a mess. I can see that being described as the moon being "caught in [their] tangles."
Just my interpretation.
"There are angels in your angles
There's a low moon caught in your tangles"
It feels to me like he was speaking of a friend (male or female) doing some form of artwork and this is his compliment. There are angels in the way they construct their picture and there is the simplistic beauty of the moon in the conflicts the artist has presented.
"There's a ticking at the sill
There's a purr of a pigeon to break the still of day"
It felt, to me, like he was talking about his life as an "artist" (musician) and the different way things are noticed as an artist.
"As on we go drowning
Down we go away
And darling, we go a-drowning
Down we go away
Away"
Have you ever heard of Stendhal syndrome? It's a literal physical emotion where you see something so beautiful that you can literally experience heart palpatations, fainting; such extreme ectasy that you feel as though youa re dying.
"There's a tough word on your crossword
There's a bed bug nipping a finger
There's a swallor, there's a calm
Here's a hand to lay on your open palm today"
He seems to be saying here that even though the small frustrations of life add up, there's the smaller and more important benefits of being an artist and of being alive to recognize. He seems to equate being an artist to breathing.
Also, you can take all of this and believe that it is about sex. Not screwing to screw, but "making love." If you look at it from the point of view as though it is about sex, it actually makes a lot of sense.
i always pictured a matured couple, in their forties, one of whom is dying.
i've always taken this song to be about the comfortable nothings passing by, things are so simple they could be pleasant but at the same time they are drowning; they know that death is looming nearby but even in her weakened state she is beautiful, and by the tremble in the narrators voice we know he is sorry he'll have to say goodbye.