Lyrics for The Island: Come and See; The Landlord's... as interpreted by Nodima

The Island: Come and See; The Landlord's... Lyrics
Come and See

There's an island hidden in the sound
Lapping currents lay your boat aground
Affix your barb and bayonet
The curlews carve their arabesques
And sorrow fills the silence all around
Come and see

There's a harbor lost within the reeds
A jetty caught in overhanging trees
Among the bones of cormorants
No boot-mark here nor fingerprint
The rivers roll down to a soundless sea
Come and see
Come and see

The tides all come and go
Witnessed by no waking eye
The willows mark the wind
And all we know for sure
Amidst this fading light
We'll not go home again
Come and see
Come and see

In the lowlands, nestled in the heath
A briar-cradle rocks its babe to sleep
Its contents watched by Sycorax
And Patagon in parallax
A foretold rumbling sounds below the deep
Come and see
Come and see

The tides all come and go
Witnessed by no waking eye
The willows mark the wind
And all we know for sure
Amidst this fading light
We'll not go home again
Come and see
Come and see

The Landlord's Daughter

As I was a-ramble
Down by the water
I spied in sable
The landlord's daughter
I produced my pistol, then my saber
Said, "Make no whistle or thou will be murdered!"

She cursed, she shivered
She cried for mercy
"My gold and silver if thou will release me!"

"I'll take no gold, miss, I'll take no silver
But I'll take those sweet lips, and thou will deliver!"

You'll Not Feel the Drowning

I will dress your eyelids
With dimes upon your eyes
Laying close to water
Green your grave will rise
Go to sleep, little ugly
Go to sleep, you little fool
Forty-winking in the belfry
You'll not feel the drowning
You'll not feel the drowning

Forget you once had sweethearts
They've forgotten you
Think you not on parents
They've forgotten too
Go to sleep now, little ugly
Go to sleep now, you little fool
Forty-winking in the belfry
You'll not feel the drowning
You'll not feel the drowning

Go to sleep, little ugly
Go to sleep, little fool
Forty-winking in the belfry
You'll not feel the drowning
You'll not feel the drowning

Hear you now the captain
Heed his sorrowed cry
Weight upon your eyelids
Is dimes laid on your eyes

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groundflower
12-04-2006

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This is one of my favorite Decemberists songs. Wasnt it like "Part 1: Abduction. Part 2: Rape. Part 3: Murder."

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groundflower
12-04-2006

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This is one of my favorite Decemberists songs. Wasnt it like "Part 1: Abduction. Part 2: Rape. Part 3: Murder."

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oncloudfive
12-14-2006

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I would like to bring to your attention that the lyrics are in the cover art of the album, and they are different than those listed here.

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turnejam
12-18-2006

Rated 0 
I do not think you'll find a coherent meaning to fit all three sections of the song. Like several of my comments have said in other decemberists songs (and maybe im just taking the easy way out), I think it's chock full of emotionally suggestive material rather than logical sense-making stuff. There's a definite movement from forboding to menace to a twisted love/regret sorta thing, and i appreciate it as is with that. Decemberists albums really are albums and not some compilation of songs; they always seem to head in a path when you listen through them. The Island takes me alot of places and works really well in conjunction with the rest of the album. That's what I grab from it.

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mdekk
01-03-2007

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Hmmm... I say it is about the bombing of Japan...

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mdekk
01-03-2007

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or the rape of someone.... i think there is some threaded meaning to this album....

i could be wrong.. maybe they just try to say fancy words to match their fancy playing..... ha ha
either way i like it....

i always thought this album had some sort of theme...............

hmmmmmmmmm

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Harvest_the_Day
01-04-2007

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I think the last part isn't about the rape of the girl.

I think their the last part of pt. 2 Landlords Daughter is a struggle between the daughter and the pirate.

"I'll take no gold miss, I'll take no silver
I'll take those sweet lips, and thou will deliver"

he has every intention of rapping her. But their is a struggle and she kills him with one of his own weapons.

"You'll Not Feel the Drowning" feels like a different voice. Plus the mention of the Captain, implying the captain of a ship.

maybe its just me. The vernacular sounds feminine... if that at all makes sense...

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DCFCAlex
01-06-2007

Rated 0 
Does anyone know what Colin is singing when he goes into falsetto? Is it just "la"? It kind of sounds like "love". I don't know, but I love how it sounds. One of my favorite Decemberists song.

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WalkingWithAGhost17
01-09-2007

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Could The Landlord's Daughter be a reference to The Highwayman by Alfred Noyes?

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WalkingWithAGhost17
01-09-2007

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Could The Landlord's Daughter be a reference to The Highwayman by Alfred Noyes?

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suclid003
01-29-2007

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It could very well be. I've never read it by Wiki'd it:

“The Highwayman” is a poem by Alfred Noyes published in 1906. The poem was written when Noyes was a young man, and brought him immediate and lasting success. It tells a tale of a nameless highwayman who is in love with a landlord's daughter, named Bess. Tim, the jealous and possibly insane ostler (stableman), resents the highwayman and contacts the authorities, which paves the way for the brutal death of the lovers."

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Astor
02-23-2007

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One of the best song of the century!!!:)

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aldaphera
02-26-2007

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i was just wondering if anyone picked up the fact that Landlord's Daughter is written in iambic pentameter (ie. 1 line has 10 syllables, stressed, unstressed, stressed, etc).

If the entire song is based on Shakespeare's Tempest, it makes sense that he would use iambic pentameter, since Shakespeare used it a lot. I guess it could also be fitting if this part of the song refers to "The Highwayman" though i have no idea about how often Noyes used the technique.

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Delta 27
02-28-2007

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Is it possible that "you'll not feel the drowning" is a sort of
"20 years later"? I think that it is perhaps the pirate when he's older, always on the run and mourning what he did. Because he can't stop for fear of the Landlord, and his parents and sweethearts would have forgotten him. I also read in an earlier post that falling asleep would dull the pain of drowning.

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prettygirl0253
04-23-2007

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So the first two parts of this song definitely refer to the tempest which I think is pretty cool.

You'll not feel the drowning is about the saddest song I've ever heard.
When someone dies, it is a custom to put dimes on their eyes to keep them closed. Also, when you sleep, you usually don't wake up if you are being drowned. I'm not positive what the little ugly part is about, but It seems like a ship is going down and their telling someone to go to sleep so they don't feel the drowning. They are definitely going to die so dimes are already layed on their eyes. "Green your grave will rise" is the water that he will be drowned in. Also they are saying to not worry about their loved ones and how sad they will be without him because they have forgotten him. He should go into a peaceful sleep.

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mchugh
05-15-2007

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I completely agree with the belief of Come And See and The Landlord's Daughter being a paralell to The Tempest as well as The Highwayman. For me, Come And See is the story of a bellowing storm leading to the uncharted island "watched by Sycorax". It describes its undisturbed beauty and the curlews carving their arabesques (which is a brilliant line. Incase you didn't know, a curlew is a shorebird and an arabesque seems to be here used as the design that they carve into their tree trunks) The sailors are deserted on this island and where humans go, there tends to be imperfections and tragic flaws. I see this section as a sort of corruption of a garden of eden. Though I may be wrong, I see The Landlord's Daughter in a completely different setting, though it may be on the island that it happened. Anyway, the protagonist here sees his landlord's daughter and wants revenge on his landlord. So, even though she offers him money, he just wants to kill her by means of rape it seems. After he has killed her, I think You'll Not Feel The Drowning comes in. I think he is laying her body to rest in the water to ditch the evidence of his crime. But, at the same time, he is ashamed of his acts. I think the line "forget you once had sweethearts, they've forgotten you" is the sailor telling himself that nobody will even remember her in order to feel less guilty. Please add or correct, this is just how I see it.
Also, has anyone heard the phrase forty winking in the belfry before? I'm very interested in its meaning.

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stellatedmercury
06-13-2007

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i think that the "dimes laid in your eyes" bit might be in reference to tradition of placing coins on the dead's eyes to pay the Charon the passage to take their souls across the river Styx. The souls of those buried / cremated without coins to pay the ride, wander along the river lost for a 100 years.

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stellatedmercury
06-13-2007

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About the forty winking..i know that the forty winks is a phrase meaning a small nap. so i'm guessing forty winking in the belfry alludes to taking a short rest....

and as you all know, belfry is a bell tower, and i found this interesting, if you search up the word's history the origins of the word add up to symbolize a peaceful place of safety.

"Belfry goes back to a compound formed in prehistoric Common Germanic. It is generally agreed that the second part of this compound is the element *frij-, meaning "peace, safety." The first element is either *bergan, "to protect," which would yield a compound meaning "a defensive place of shelter," or *berg-, "a high place," which would yield a compound meaning "a high place of safety, tower."


So adding all that up, I'm guessing that the phrase "forty winking in the belfry" is written to mean.....close your eyes and take a rest, find comfort in a peaceful safe place...


this song gives me the chills every time i hear it...
its a sort of sweet lullaby, singing you to peace and comforting you so you can slip into death comfortably

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stellatedmercury
06-13-2007

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also, the whole..notion of sailors falling asleep when facing a storm (and certain death) to die comfortably..i think comes from a story in the bible Jonah 1:1-16 (i think)..in which during a storm, Jonah goes to the lower deck and falls asleep, hoping that if death was to come upon them, it would be more comfortable if he was asleep.

And from there, it became a common sailor / pirate notion

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Mr.Me
06-23-2007

Rated 0 
best song on the album, IMHO.
not much to add, other than confirmation that this is from the tempest. Also, i'd like to disagree with one of the earliest statements: The Decemberists are twee as fuck. Come on. you all know it.
Other than that, i'd like say that i love Decemberist fans! Such a literate lot we are...

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claybugg
07-03-2007

Rated 0 
This song is so good. The keyboard in The Landlords Daughter is AMAZING.

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Lothos
07-05-2007

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"Incase you didn't know, a curlew is a shorebird and an arabesque seems to be here used as the design that they carve into their tree trunks."

Or perhaps it's referring to the french meaning of arabesque, which is a pose in ballet. The dancer stands on one leg, straight or bent, with the other leg raised behind, fully extended. The arms are held in a harmonious position to give the longest possible line from fingertips to toes.

So perhaps it is describing the curlews "carving" through the air, gracefully gliding and turning while they spread their wings wide, imitating a ballet dancer performing an arabesque.

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LadyBaird
07-11-2007

Rated 0 
mchugh: Yay! I'm not the only person who thinks that way about this song! XD

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mlmccord
07-19-2007

Rated 0 
I like lyricists who leave some room for interpretation much more than I like listeners who are pedantic about meaning, so please don't take me for the latter. This is just what I hear.

It seems to me a song about imperialism, and perhaps about the birth of America. The intro is all swagger, the sound of marching feet and the ring of steel.

"Come and See" is part sales pitch, part warning. The ominous Caliban in the crib is tended by Shakespear's voice of anti-colonialism and a member of a mythical aboriginal South American tribe. Will we not go home again because this is our new home? Because we will die first? Or because we are entering a place that will change us and it irrevocably?

The rape in "The Landlord's Daughter" may at first be seen to be driven by a thirst for wealth (for sable, silver and gold). But like pirates and empires, who also find it easiest to justify their courses in economic terms, the rapist cares more for the act of the conquest, the exercise and proof of his own sick power. "Thou wilt deliver" is more important than whatever is being delivered.

And "You'll Not Feel the Drowning" says more about the lying, cynical speaker than the little fool (who may be a dying soldier of the empire, asked to believe that her sacrifice was for noble reasons, or a victim of the invasion, being told that the carnage was all for his own good). Compare the dimes with the lush, inviting scenery in "Come and See", or the silver and gold, free for the taking in "Daughter". After the conquest, what does the little fool get? The thinnest and smallest of coins, not even the silver dollars of tradition, but ten cents. Empire, after all, is for the emperors.

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bsheitman
07-29-2007

Rated 0 
I'm glad someone else is feeling the Pink Floyd vibe a well as me. I was starting to hum the rest of the lines of the song....

This album drew heavily from 70's rock. I hear Zeppelin, Rick Wakeman, Floyd, and ELP to name a few.

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