Lyrics for Black as interpreted by XeF4

Black Lyrics
I’m coming into your town.
Night is falling to the ground,
but I can still see where you loved yourself
before he tore it all down. April 12th,
with nobody else around; you were outside the house
(where’s your mother)
when he put you in the car,
when he took you down the road.
And I can still see where it was open,
the door he slammed closed.
It was open, the door he slammed closed.
It was open, long ago.
But don’t lose me now, don’t lose me now.
Though I know that I’m not useful anyhow,
just let me stick around while I tell you, like before,
you should say his name the way that he said yours.
But you don't want to say his name anymore.
Oh, Cynda Moore.

Baby daughter on the road,
you’re wrapped up warm in daddy’s coat.
And I can still see the cigarette’s heat.
I can’t believe all that you're telling me,
what is cutting like the smoke through your teeth as you’re telling me “forget it.”
But if I could tear his throat,
and spill his blood between my jaws,
and erase his name out for good, don’t you know that I would?
Don't you realize that I wouldn’t pause,
that I would cut him down with my claws
if I could have somehow never let that happen?
Or I’d call, some black midnight,
fuck up his new life where they don’t know what he did,
tell his brand-new wife and his second kid.
Though I tell you, like before,
that you should wreck his life the way that he wrecked yours,
you want no part of his life anymore.
Oh Cynda Moore.

don’t lose me now, let me help you out.
Though I know that I can’t help anyhow,
when I watch you I’m proud.
When I tell you twice before
that you should wreck his life the way that he wrecked yours,
you want no part of his life anymore.
oh Cyna Moore.

And it’ll never be the way it was before,
but I wish that you would let me through that door.
Let me through that door.

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  • 52 Comments
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pAperworkpAperwork
08-17-2005

Rated 0 
Probably my favourite Okkervil song. I think the meaning is that someone he cares for was sexually molested by her father and he wants to take revenge.

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myxeyesxburn
10-02-2005

Rated 0 
could this song be any more catchy?
ya. i agree with that person. something like, his girlfriend's dad raped her and she's all "oh but just forget it" and hes like "FKJSFHKEUFID KIIILLL"

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neighbourhoodpower
10-02-2005

Rated 0 
I really really like this song, regardless of the meaning of the lyrics it is so frickin catchy and fun to listen to. I agree that the song is about his girlfriend/someone else he cares about was sexually abused by their father and she just tells him to forget it, not to worry about it, but he wants to get the father back and can't let what happened to the girl go.

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MosesConspiracy
10-06-2005

Rated +1 
I think there's even more to it than that. She isn't just saying "no forget it" she saying that she doesn't want to dignify what was done to her by responding to it.
So while he's singing about making him pay for it, he's also proud that she won't let him get revenge.

Or, uh, something like that.

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IAmACliche
12-10-2005

Rated 0 
yes. amazing song...the theme is so so horrible yet the beat is so so upbeat and awesome...i love it.

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jamisonlikewhat
01-01-2006

Rated 0 
I don't think the song is about sexual abuse. I see nothing to imply that. In fact, the fact that he has a new wife and another child and they still won't go get him in trouble speaks against this theory. It would be irresponsible, almost criminally so, to allow a child molester to foster another child.

I just think her dad was a scumbag and left. It's more a song about abandonment, in my mind. I could be off, though.

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Way_AE
01-05-2006

Rated 0 
This song is so awesome. It's angry, but not in a stupid way.

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jamisonlikewhat
01-27-2006

Rated +1 
from jamisonlikewhat.com:

“Black” is a fluff-pop explosion of the most potent kind: theatric, runny-egg organs, bleeding-heart bass via the decade of 1980, pre-chorus build-ups worthy of WHAM!, themselves– one could mistake it for a bastard Cure b-side, were the whole ordeal not held in check by the delicious alt-country yelp of Dr. Will Sheff, Okkervil River’s primary singer/songwriter. The saying goes that all the best cowboys have daddy issues and Sheff does the next best thing in their absence: Finds a girlfriend with a couple, “But if I could tear his throat/ Spill his blood between my jaws/ And erase his name for good/ Don’t you know that I would.” No, you’re not about to download the new Slayer record– in fact, a casual listen doesn’t even disclose Sheff’s lyrical lynchings; such an infectious melody is rarely employed for singing about anything besides sunshine and lollipops. The stark contrast between sound and verse does serve to amplify the grievous wrongs done, though, and besides, for all Sheff’s barking, his gal seems to have put it behind her, “Don’t lose me now/ I’ll help you out/ Though I know I’m not useful anyhow/ Just let me stick around.” I wish I could write about how this song isn’t as morbid as I’m making it sound. I can’t. It’s an up-tempo funeral dirge about feeling useless, inept, and bitter while taking a stroll down Sesame Street– everything has gone to shit, but hey, the weather’s nice.

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lefttheretodrown
03-04-2006

Rated +2 
jamisonlikewhat... what? not about molestation? are you in denial of the reality that fathers molest their children in general or just in this song? it points to molestion on almost every line of the song.
first off, the entire first verse is alluding to one event, ONE EVENT on april 12th, that took place in a car (when NO ONE was around), one in which isn't named because perhaps it is too vulgar and disgusting to be named in the song.
secondly, abandoning fathers are bad yes. it's a saddening and frustrating thing when a father leaves a mother to parent to raise a child, and truly that man IS a scumbag. but would that kind of behavior, do you honestly think, merit thoughts and wishes of a brutal and painful and graphic death?
thirdly, yes it is almost criminal that they should allow this SCUM to foster another child, but it is ultimately the girl's decision over what to do here. and that's what makes this song's theme even more gut-wrenching.

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Evergleam
03-08-2006

Rated 0 
lol, fags.

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XeF4
04-07-2006

Rated 0 
lol, internet wars.

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mongrelcat
06-09-2006

Rated 0 
This song is so wonderful because I can truly hear his anguish as he wails out the lyrics. Not only that, but I can picture him writing this song after his friend/girlfriend told him all about this and he had no idea what to do. Jamisonlikewhat analyzes the song interestingly, but I don't think the catchy melody is meant to be misleading; I think it actually conveys the power, the drive, and the desperation of the song. Oftentimes very catchy, creative tunes come from deep deep anguish, and I think that's what happens here. And this song most definitely IS about molestation. A lyric no one has mentioned yet is "But I can still see the cigarette's heat." What comes to mind is either her father had a cigarette after raping her in the car or he burned her with a cigarette. Probably the latter, in my opinion.

One lyric I'm not sure I get is, "You should say his name the way that he said yours." Maybe that he always refered to her as a whore and a slut and insulted her and she should do the same back to him. "You don't want to say his name anymore" probably means she just wants to push it away and not think about it, just like she wants to push him away.

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1 Reply
getalonggetalong
10-08-2006

Rated 0 
the summer before last i drove around for a few hours with the song on repeat.
will sheff's voice is enough to knock me dead.

i guess it's pretty obvious to me that this song is about molestation.

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rossismad
10-11-2006

Rated 0 
I'm pretty sure there's a mistake in the lyrics. I think it is supposed to be:
'Or I’d call some black men,
I'd fuck up his new life where they don’t know what he did'

They got the best line of the song wrong!

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barbshish
11-30-2006

Rated 0 
I'm pretty sure there's no mistake

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thepostergirl
12-14-2006

Rated 0 
In response to jamisonlike what's initial comment:
"In fact, the fact that he has a new wife and another child and they still won't go get him in trouble speaks against this theory. It would be irresponsible, almost criminally so, to allow a child molester to foster another child."

It says right in the lyrics that the father's new family doesn't know about his past.
"Or I’d call, some black midnight,/fuck up his new life where they don’t know what he did"

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Gita
01-03-2007

Rated 0 
I pretty much signed up so I could say this.

I was talking to a friend (she played this song for me, I had never heard of the band before) and she was telling me about how she (or perhaps a friend of hers) went to see Okkervil River, and they played this song and explained it a little bit. For the sake of making this easy to follow, I've given the following people names. A friend of the band (Mike) and his girlfriend (Christine) were watching the news, and the Christine's ex-longtime boyfriend (Case) was on it, promoting a book or something, and he was talking about how much he loved his wife and new kids and how much they helped him and how he'd never be the guy he was without him, and he never once mentioned Christine. Apparently, at one point, Case broke Christine's heart. She's really upset, and Mike has no idea how to deal with it, because Case was her first love, and she can't really hate him the way he does, she's too busy trying to forget and/or not be heartbroken. Simultaneously, Mike is trying to get her to love him as much as she loved Case, but he knows that isn't possible. He trying to be there for her, but that also hurts him, because by acknowloedging how much she loved Case, it puts a wall (or door!) between them.
Take in mind that a) I heard this through a couple friends and b) I TOTALLY JUST PULLED THOSE NAMES OUT OF MY ASS, I HAVE NO IDEA IF THIS IS TRUE OR NOT.

When I heard this song, I never heard molestation in it at all, and while that's a valid interpretation, I saw it as more along the lines of like, you love somebody so much you'd kill someone that fucked their life up and broke their heart, even if they don't want it. I guess that applies to the molestation interpretation as well, but that meaning seems really specific to me. Like, I can see how everyone got that, but I don't feel it was explicitely written in the song. Or maybe I always just take the more general meaning of the song rather than the super specific one. Who knows!

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YouANdMe
04-01-2007

Rated 0 
Gita, that is not true. This song is obviously about a father who molested his daughter.

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okriver27
04-05-2007

Rated 0 
I hate the fact that people are so resistant to the literal meanings of a song. Molestation is so obvious and so many points in the song support that is is about molestation. The line "where's your mother?" refers to the fact that the mother should have been there when the father took the girl where nobody was around. The most important line "I'll call some black midnight...tell his brand new wife and his second kid" tells of how the man disappeared after the molestation, left the girl's mother and started a new life with a new wife and a new child. Jamisonlikewhat, this can't be a song about abandonment because it wouldn't make sense for the father to drop by the house, put his daughter in the car and drop her off in some remote place in order to abandon her; he wouldn't go back to the house he would just hightail it when his wife wasn't around and the daughter was outside the house by herself.

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castlesforrobots
04-27-2007

Rated 0 
this so is soo good it gives me shivers, makes me happy for how good it is, but makes me want to cry because it is just so SAD!!! i can relate to this situation (not personally).
i do definatley think that's is about some sort of molestation or rape. (if not i think it's about hearbreak in general.. but not likely..) its just so blatetly OBVIOUS that it's about a rape. about a father raping a girl, a long time ago.
This girl then grew up.. and she told her current boyfriend about what happened to her on 'April 12'.
it's so sad because the boyfriend wants to help her so badly.. and he can see how she must have been so happy before it happend:
'but I can still see where you loved yourself
before he tore it all down.'
and then the father came and violated her an ruined any happiness that she had.
The boyfriend is just so angry because of how powerless he feels in this situation and 'useless'.. he wants the girl to get back at her father.. wants her to take revenge.. he thinks that the situation might be better if she humiliated him.
'you should wreck his life the way that he wrecked yours'
I think the boyfriend wants so badly for his girlfriend to feel like she has dignity, but the girls wants to 'forget it'.. she doesn't want to lose her dignity in facing her father.. shes afraid.. she doesnt want anymore to do with it.
i know a girl who got raped.. she didnt want to tell anyone.. it's so frustrating, like this song, because you want so badly to help.. to get revenge on the stupid fuckhead who did it, but she just wants to forget it.. wants to put the situation behind her. now she just takes drugs all the time to forget it.
its so awful how someone can completely ruin somebody else's life forever.. just from one single event.. can stip away somebodies dignity, pride, love, everything. and then just leave all this hurt behind and get away with it!!!
however this song is interpreted, its brilliant.
this is just my meaning..
great song.

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XeF4
06-01-2007

Rated 0 
Gita's interpretation is valid.

The lyrics are vague in the sense that nobody know what happened to Cyna Moore that affected her.

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sund
06-17-2007

Rated 0 
Sure, it's valid, but a more valid interpretation might be what everyone else is saying about this song :)

It sounds like Gita's story might be a little more applicable as a starting point for "Song About A Star".

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samsam!
06-19-2007

Rated 0 
the song may have some strong reference to molestation or rape, but i dont really see how the father comes into play. i think it could be simply be a boyfriend that did something like that to her, and he moved on and now has a family..

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duhnuhnuhnuhBATMAN
07-21-2007

Rated 0 
Because of the line "the door was open, but it is now closed", the song is about a girl who's boyfriend or something who knocked her up and abandoned her and the child leaving her life fucked up.

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sifellt neytandi
09-27-2007

Rated 0 
You're wrong, blahblahblahBatman. Your rationale really doesn't make sense, either. Couldn't that line just as easily support the most likely theory (molestation)? The "door" is symbolic of trust, etc. It was open; now it's closed. Her naivety and innocence is gone.

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