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Here she comes in her palanquin
On the back of an elephant
On a bed made of linen and sequins and silk
All astride on her father's line
With the king and his concubines
And her nurse with her pitchers of liquors and milk
And we'll all come praise the infanta
And we'll all come praise the infanta
Among five score pachyderm
Each canopied and passengered
Sit the duke and the duchess' luscious young girls
Within sight of the baronness
Seething spite for this live largesse
By her side sits the baron
Her barrenness barbs her
And we'll all come praise the infanta
And we'll all come praise the infanta
A phalanx on camelback
Thirty ranks on a forward tack
Followed close, their shiny bright standards a-waving
While behind in their coach, in fours
Ride the wives of the king of Moors
And the veiled young virgin, the prince's betrothed
And we'll all come praise the infanta
And we'll all come praise the infanta
And as she sits upon her place
Her innocence laid on her face
From all atop the parapets blow a multitude of coronets
Melodies rhapsodical and fair
And all our hearts afire
The sky ablaze with cannon fire
We all raise our voices to the air
To the air
And above all this falderal
On a bed made of chaparral
She is laid, a coronal placed on her brow
And the babe, all in slumber dreams
Of a place filled with quiet streams
And the lake where her cradle was pulled from the water
And we'll all come praise the infanta
And we'll all come praise the infanta
On the back of an elephant
On a bed made of linen and sequins and silk
All astride on her father's line
With the king and his concubines
And her nurse with her pitchers of liquors and milk
And we'll all come praise the infanta
And we'll all come praise the infanta
Among five score pachyderm
Each canopied and passengered
Sit the duke and the duchess' luscious young girls
Within sight of the baronness
Seething spite for this live largesse
By her side sits the baron
Her barrenness barbs her
And we'll all come praise the infanta
And we'll all come praise the infanta
A phalanx on camelback
Thirty ranks on a forward tack
Followed close, their shiny bright standards a-waving
While behind in their coach, in fours
Ride the wives of the king of Moors
And the veiled young virgin, the prince's betrothed
And we'll all come praise the infanta
And we'll all come praise the infanta
And as she sits upon her place
Her innocence laid on her face
From all atop the parapets blow a multitude of coronets
Melodies rhapsodical and fair
And all our hearts afire
The sky ablaze with cannon fire
We all raise our voices to the air
To the air
And above all this falderal
On a bed made of chaparral
She is laid, a coronal placed on her brow
And the babe, all in slumber dreams
Of a place filled with quiet streams
And the lake where her cradle was pulled from the water
And we'll all come praise the infanta
And we'll all come praise the infanta
Lyrics submitted by Imposs1ble
Track duration: 05:08
"The Infanta" as written by Colin Meloy
Lyrics © BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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That's what this is about, right? It's a funeral procession. Its a big, elaborate funeral procession because the princess drowned in the lake. Or perhaps was murdered -- if they pulled her cradle from the lake, it would seem that someone must have thrown her in.
They set up the first verses so that it sounds like it should be a wedding or a celebration or something, but the last verse makes it pretty clear that she's dead.
Because it'd match up with what a lot of people said about the contrast between the infanta and the praise surrounding.
Also, it'd stick with Decemberist's tendency to emphasize irony.
The irony, being that there is all of this praise for the infantile (in it's various forms of religion, art, and sex) when the truth of the infantile is it's ignorance of such praise.
I thought this actually because in "Engine Driver" he says "powerlines in our bloodlines" i haven't subjected any of their work to close study but they have a tendency to incorporate many different musical styles into their music (besides the tendency to incorporate eclectic instruments, their song delivery has a consistent tone but not always the same delivery).
If that is all deliberate then they are referencing some pretty deep stuff in their music besides just being weird by putting story in their songs. Because "powerlines in our bloodlines" sounds a lot like Foucault to me.
I also think the camels and elephants (and pachyderm which an animal group elephants belong to) came from the Moor's side, as those are pretty common in that region of the world. Same with the linen and silk. And I think the reference to the nurse with her pitchers of liquors is in reference to how the Spanish people had to stop consuming alcohol when the Moors invade (which is how Sangria was invente..)
As for the baronness, I think that is a play on words. According to the dictionary, barbs means "1: a medieval cloth headdress passing over or under the chin and covering the neck" so maybe that is meaning the kind of clothing Arab women are known for wearing, to cover themselves. And she is simply tired of the pomp and circumstance of being in the higher ranks of people, thusthe "largesse."
The third stanza is about the military part of the procession. A phalanx is a type of military formation, and the ranks with the shiny bright standards are the whole Moorish military carrying their flags to show the (Spanish) people that they now have their land. Not to mention they say the king of Moors' wives and the prince's future wife are riding behind the military people. Women being behind men there is not something that is uncommon..
Then from all atop the parapets, which were constructd and used to fire weapons such as arrows or guns or whatever, and were used to protect soldiers from attacks in the same manner. Coronets, according to Wikipedia so you can decide the truthfulness, were sometimes substitued by helmets or worn only on a helmet. So this could be another play with the word, just switching it around as the group is wearing helmets to protect against possible attacks from atop the parapet. Which is why the sky is ablaze with cannon fire and everyone (the Spanish) are crying out, because they don't want the Moors to invade, so their hearts hurt that their homeland is being taken by someone else. Or it could simply be the crowns the royalty was wearing and music from the procession, and the people were happy because they welcomed the invasion, and assumed the Moors wouldn't be there for too long.
Chaparral is found in the Mediterranean region, such as Spain. Where the Goths were known to engage in fratricide, so the infanta could possibly be someone from the newly occupied land who is being killed because she is seen as a threat.
But this is just what I think..
Or am I way off here?
I'm afraid that some of the commenters may be confused by the word "infanta". If any are, it refers to a princess of a Spanish or Portuguese monarchy, not a baby. An infanta can be any age, I think we are invited to envision a priviledged princess of a remote and wealthy court, and then suddenly confronted with the burial of a dead girl.
First Stanza:
The narrator alerts that the infant is coming and then it sets the scene. Here the inf ant comes surrounded by wealth and beauty all far beyond and above (a loose- but accurate- interpretation of the word astride) what her true lineage ("her father's line") could have ever offered.
Second Stanza:
This stanza goes into even greater details about the procession. There are five score (20) elephants all carrying royalty on their back in palanquin. The narrator points out "Look, there's the duke's daughters!" And there, right by them on the back of another elephant, is the Baron and Baroness." The Baroness, who cannot bear children herself, is rather angry that the king is putting on this massive grandiose parade for this infant. And perhaps, she's even a bit upset that this child wasn't given to her... (When you are done reading my interpretation, see the post script about the Baroness. It'll only make sense when you've read through the other stanzas first though.)
Third Stanza:
After the elephants come 30 ranks of soldiers, all marching in the parade with their banners gleaming in the sunlight. Behind them is a carriage carrying the Moorish King's wives and the Prince's (the Kings soon.) future virginal wife.
Fourth Stanza:
The infant looks innocent upon the back of the elephant while, all around her, trumpets are trumpeting and cannons are firing salutes and the crowds are cheering for her.
Fifth Stanza:
THIS is the stanza which acts as a key to unlocking the entire song so pay attention!
So here we are: the narrator has described this MASSIVE extravagant parade for this child.
The narrator says that this entire procession is foolish nonsense because the narrator knows the truth:
That infant is no princess or goddess come to earth. She was a commoner's child placed in a basket made from the branches of trees ("a bed made of chaparral") and had a circlet (or possibly even a garland made of flowers or vines) placed upon her head and then set afloat down the river. The basket ended up in a lake where she was pulled out and was then adopted by the royal family...
Sound familiar? The trope of setting an unwanted baby (or forbidden baby) down a river has been repeated in mythology over and over: Moses, Karna, Sargon, Telephus and so forth.
In most mythologies, the child is ordered to be killed by the king because he believes that, one day, that child will bring him harm or overthrow him. The parents, or sometimes the people sent to murder the infant, not wanting to kill the child instead set it afloat in the river so that its fate is out of their hands. Of course, the child has a great destiny so fate makes it to where the child is rescued. Of course, this then allows for the prophecy to come true. (In this sense, you can look beyond the "baby floating down the river" and draw even more parallels with other children that survived-despite-the-king's-orders such as Oedipus and Jesus!)
At this point, you can now interpret the song in one of two ways:
The narrator is related to the child and knows about the hoodwink that was pulled. This is supported by the first stanza: "All astride on her father's line." The narrator knows hat she is being treated well beyond her actual pedigree. The narrator, and possibly even the crowds, are cheering in joy that the plan worked and the child was not only saved but given a better life.
Or, you can interpret the narrator as not being involved. He's just an observer describing everything and we, the listener, have pieced it all together.
-----------------------------------
This song is about the beginning of a new legend: this child was, probably for some grave reason, set afloat and has been rescued by the royal family. Now she is assured a life of privilege... In fact, she may have even been mistaken as being the child of or the reincarnation of a god! Does it get any better than that?
In time, this child may even grow up to save all those commoners that are standing out there and cheering for her... hence why they've all come to praise her. :)
(P.S. About the seething Baroness: she is possibly upset that this kid was not given to her despite the fact she is barren. Or, she could also suspect that this child is not a god's child so she feels this parade is stupid. Or even both... For example: she might be thinking along the lines of "Hey, that infant isn't special and, if you knew it, you'd have left her there to die... but I'd have loved her regardless since I can't bear any kids of my own. But oooh no.... here you go getting all carried away and throwing this f***ing parade... bah humbug.")
Maybe this could've taken place in the middle-ages in the arab territory but I find it difficult because in the arab hierarchy there were no barons or dukes and there is no way a catholic prince would marry a moor princess or Infanta.
I don't think this Infanta has ever lived or that this coronation/celebration/whatever it is has really happened. Such a celebration in such a rough period would've been more important ant I have never heard of it.
All that being said, I just think the song is a recreation of an stylistic fictional coronation that has nothing to do with Spain, albeit Collin himself had said so. In a way, to me, it even looks to me as if they were talking about a coronation à la indiènne, very clichéd, with the elephants and all the coronation paraphernalia.