I'm so glad somebody posted these lyrics! I could only figure out bits and pieces (from which I figured out the general story of the song, but not the details).

I'm not going to go too deep into the lyrics (fairly self-explanatory), but I have to say that this is among the best songs Joanna Newsom has ever released. I love it, and the little "yelp" between verses is tremendous.

this song clearly has extended nautical themes. it seems to me that the song deals with a woman who has forgotten her connection to the ocean - perhaps she was once an ocean creature, like a whale, as the use of the word "baleen" would have us believe. she remains uncertain on land, and it is only upon returning to the sea that contentment can be achieved.

The squeak is brilliant.

So, I'm running with this, having taken it from the "Chicago Reader", but "Colleen" can be seen as a story about the expectations and gender roles placed on women, and, in Colleen's case, her hidden desire to break from these roles.
"I was blessed among all women,
To have forgotten everything." seems to say that the luckiest women are those that do not think or question or remember a life before servitude and "the gilded cage".

Joanna references that Colleen, despite her inability to keep plants alive, is starting to go down the path towards motherhood, that her subconcious dreams of "a funny sea,
as soft as a newly born baby", which she cannot grasp entirely.

But this aching is interrupted by a deeper self that is angered at Colleen for having not only abandoned her wild and free roots, but has, in a certain way, lashed out against them. The most pivotal line, "is that my very own baleen?" reveals the link between victorian era (or any era, really) roles for women and the ocean.
While the ocean serves as a metaphor for freedom from the expectations of men and society, it can also be read literally; the ocean has always represented the great unknown, a place that we once came from but can never truly return to, despite our best efforts to. But I digress.

Similar to the painting, "The Gilded Age" in which a woman looks out her window longingly at the dancing gypsies, Colleen comes into contact with some travellers from the sea, whose leatherbound book reveals to Colleen her connection to the ocean. It must be noted that it was not a book found in a study, or given to her by a scholarly man, but travellers from the ocean, living a free life out on the sea. Colleen is deeply connected to a life she does not lead, a life of freedom and seafaring and no expectations.

In the end when she dives into the ocean and forgets everything, the story has come full circle: She was taught all of the things of servitude and womanhood to wipe from her mind the memories of her old life, one that society puts on par with being a "thief or a whore", but now she has forgotten all of those things, " so, soon", as Joanna aptly puts it.

And yeah, the squeak is brilliant. I'd be hard-pressed to find another song where the chorus of the song is just a little yelp in the middle.

So, I'm running with this, having taken it from the "Chicago Reader", but "Colleen" can be seen as a story about the expectations and gender roles placed on women, and, in Colleen's case, her hidden desire to break from these roles.
"I was blessed among all women,
To have forgotten everything." seems to say that the luckiest women are those that do not think or question or remember a life before servitude and "the gilded cage".

Joanna references that Colleen, despite her inability to keep plants alive, is starting to go down the path towards motherhood, that her subconcious dreams of "a funny sea,
as soft as a newly born baby", which she cannot grasp entirely.

But this aching is interrupted by a deeper self that is angered at Colleen for having not only abandoned her wild and free roots, but has, in a certain way, lashed out against them. The most pivotal line, "is that my very own baleen?" reveals the link between victorian era (or any era, really) roles for women and the ocean.
While the ocean serves as a metaphor for freedom from the expectations of men and society, it can also be read literally; the ocean has always represented the great unknown, a place that we once came from but can never truly return to, despite our best efforts to. But I digress.

Similar to the painting, "The Gilded Age" in which a woman looks out her window longingly at the dancing gypsies, Colleen comes into contact with some travellers from the sea, whose leatherbound book reveals to Colleen her connection to the ocean. It must be noted that it was not a book found in a study, or given to her by a scholarly man, but travellers from the ocean, living a free life out on the sea. Colleen is deeply connected to a life she does not lead, a life of freedom and seafaring and no expectations.

In the end when she dives into the ocean and forgets everything, the story has come full circle: She was taught all of the things of servitude and womanhood to wipe from her mind the memories of her old life, one that society puts on par with being a "thief or a whore", but now she has forgotten all of those things, " so, soon", as Joanna aptly puts it.

And yeah, the squeak is brilliant. I'd be hard-pressed to find another song where the chorus of the song is just a little yelp in the middle.

myeh_man,

While I don’t completely disagree with your post, I think so often peoples explications of Joanna’s lyrics fall back on the standard “expectations and gender roles placed on women” meaning. I think there is an element of this in the lyrics, but perhaps from a perspective different than what we are used to hearing from other female artists and traditional women’s lib voices. She seems to be such a naturalist. In relation to her body of work, I wonder if she is not more of an advocate for gender roles. Not in the sense that man imposes it’s will on each gender along with normative value distinctions, but in the sense that true equality comes in treating different things differently. When I think of this song I think of evolution. Whales are mammals of the sea. We go further and further along the path of “civilization,” first defining women’s roles as subservient, then further on defining their ability to act as if men. Colleen has forgotten even how to provide and nurture life (I tilled and planted, but could not produce - not root, nor leaf, nor flower, nor bean), but in her dreams she longs for motherhood (And I dive for my child with a wildness in me, and am so sweetly there received). Is that not a mirror of some of our more prominent women today. I think the artist is asking here not to be set free of man’s bondage, but that of advancing “civilization.” She wants to be free to be a woman, be a woman.

Corsets were often made from whalebones. Just another whale connection. I'm still not really sure what the song is about for me.

I feel like Colleen is definitely the Sea, or a spirit of the sea. The "gray and sloping-shouldered thing" asks why she is wearing whale around her waist. That imagery of the baleen and the corset. That is very vivid and interesting. She is actually binding herself with the sea, so to speak.She definitely belongs in the water, with the water. Great song. I hear the most Celtic influences in this song of any of her others. She has quite the fascination with water, doesn't she?

"Colleen" in Gaelic literally means "girl", doesn't it? So if you really wanted to roll with the whole women's roles in society/feminism thing, you could definitely pull it off just from that.
And is this her other sister? Because Emily the Astrophysicist already has hers.

I think most everything that's been said about gender identity is oversimplistic. Joanna Newsom, like any good artist, knows not to make her music into a direct, obvious argument for or against something. She's not a propoganda artist.

And as for DZA320's argument that this is about "lost" gender roles, I think there's almost nothing in the song to suggest that. Colleen's inability to make anything grow, not root nor leaf nor flower nor bean, I think that has almost nothing to do with "womanhood" or the loss of some prized domesticity, so much as the fact that Colleen is a sea creature.

Things don't die in the garden because she's forgotten how to be a woman. Things die in the garden because
She OVER WATERS everything.

It's pretty obvious that this song isn't really about womanhood or feminist themes as much as its about a fish out of water. And if Colleen truly is yearning for womanhood, she would want to stay on the land and suffer in the sun rather than go to the bottom of an ocean, strain plankton through her baleen and make no words but whalesong. Which, I hope, is what she ends up doing.

This song is the greatest thing to happen since Tang. I wonder what her real name was though.

Don't overanalyze the song. It's just a story.

Finding some form of escape/oblivion in the deep water is a preoccupation for Joanna Newsom, see e.g. the ending to Monkey & Bear, a similar song that also features a female character moving from a practical rational life into an ambiguous aquatic disappearance.

By the way the gender studies interpretations seem simplistic to me, too, but saying "it's just a story" is surely even worse. The problem is more under-analysis than over.

This is an amazing song.
Quite different to much of Joanna’s other work.
Very folk, which is lovely.

I love, love, love this song. This part, in particular, is great:

And I hate the sight of that empty air,
like stepping for a missing stair
and falling forth forever blindly:
cannot grab hold of anything! No,
Not I, most blessed among Colleens.

I love that she actually took the time to consider what it might mean for a creature of the sea to be on land -- empty air, like stepping for a missing stair. Beautiful.

i think this has more than one meaning, or maybe a meaning that reaches deeper meanings. first off, i think it's about maybe colleen being someone who on earth was by what society would think of as bad. 'a thief or whore' and was thrown overboard. and she developed a love for the sea, or maybe in other words, freedom. so when she went back, she was useless and went back to her child, the sea. a mother's love for the child is so strong so i think that's why she chose that imagery. and she just wants to be somewhere free, where there is no time, no remembering, just living. but i think everyone's interpretations are quite insightful. this is just my opinion. and joanna said once in an interview that she doesn't feel at home in the water. so, maybe it's like some strange paradox. she's very personal. but that's it's just my interpretation.

oh, also about the sea being her child, maybe she feels more useful in the sea. because she is worthless on land. nothing she does creates anything.

I always wondered if maybe Colleen was a narwhal. Maybe the queen of the narwhals!

I agree that the name "Colleen" is significant - I also remember it meaning girl. And the "baleen round your waist" probably does refer to a sort of double betrayal in wearing a corset.

I'm going out on a limb here, but as far as it all pertains to Joanna's life, she certainly has come to fame very quickly, and I can imagine this song being about any perception she has of being exploited. I agree that this song is very similar to Monkey and Bear.

Going on this idea, I would say that the ocean represents what is natural and primitive, and more importantly, freedom. She sings of being made the pet of the people who take her in, and of succumbing to their conventions, and I think this is her way of expressing fear that she is being borne away by her own fame. And the man reminding her who she is, and that she has forgotten it, seems to fit in as well.

Also, it just seems like something she would be aware of and troubled by. Just my opinion.

i think this song is about a whale who got turned into a human

Hi Songmeanings folks,
I'm really impressed by all the thought you've evidently put into these interpretations, and I'm hoping some of you will be interested in contributing to a project related to Ms. Newsom's amazing work. You see, I am putting together a book of writings to be called “Visions of Joanna Newsom” (yes, the reference to Bob Dylan's "Visions of Johanna" is intentional). I’m looking for art, essays, poems, true stories, academic readings of songs, anecdotes, and all things related to Ms. Newsom. I’ve already secured a contribution from the novelist and Joanna-acolyte Dave Eggers, and the book will be published through a small press that I will soon be starting up here in Sacramento. This is not just a pie-in-the-sky project; it’s real and will definitely happen. I will need new work that hasn't already been posted here, because I don't want to violate copyright, but I'm sure some of you will be willing to rise to the occasion and offer your views on a particular song or album's meaning.
So who am I? Well, I teach English Literature and Creative Writing full-time at the California State University, Sacramento. I’m also poet of sorts; you can read some of my poetry at my now-lapsed blog: www.miracleshirker.blogspot.com or verify my academic existence at the CSUS English Department’s web page: http://www.csus.edu/engl/. I’m also a board member at the Sacramento Poetry Center, where I co-edit The Tule Review, and I have a few books and articles out there already in various fields. You can reach me via email at buchanan@csus.edu
Thanks! yours, Brad Buchanan

I may be going out on a limb here with my interpretation with this song because I think of it very literally; just a story.

Whatever the name of the girl was before she was entitled Colleen, she may in fact have been a thief or a whore (I most likely get the impression of a whore). This woman was on a boat with men who did use her but then eventually got over her; thus they got rid of her. She was thrown overboard and was probably severely hurt while in the ocean but she luckily lives but has now forgotten everything of her past.

While washed up on shore, a group of people find her (I imagine nuns or some religious group), who know what type of girl she was and they take her in. They try to teach her a cleaner life ("prayers for chastity") and they realize that she has no remembrance of her previous lifestyle; thus she is lucky because it was looked down upon. She has the gift of starting new; something many wish to have.

She then pursues her new life of goodness by "making herself of use" (probably helping the people who helped her). She then realizes with the watering of plants that none of these good things are working for her and she ruins the growth by over watering them. The over watering is an important reference and the first sign that there is a connection between her and the sea. However, she doesn't understand how she can be destroying things because she was given the titled "blessed".

When she dreams, she often dreams of the ocean but one night comes a dream that can't just be seen as a dream of the beach. A strange figure appears to her (probably something connected to the sea, maybe a spirit) and it is shocked that Colleen has forgotten everything. Since this was such a different dream about the sea, it probably got Colleen thinking more about her connection with the sea and her life before she forgot the sea.

Later a group of men from the sea arrive in town and Colleen stumbles upon the book with the whale. This is another sign of connection between her and the sea because she is extremely fascinated by the creature. The man showing her seems to be someone who knew of her past and maybe even knew her personally. He sees that she seems fixed on the ocean creature and he then realizes and tells her that she hasn't in fact forgotten everything.

After his statement, she seems a bit shocked by him and asks,"You dare to speak a lady's name?" and he explains that he wouldn't dare speak her name, her real name, because of the meaning it holds. This then may reveal that she may be more that just fond of the sea; she may be in fact part of the sea. Just like in her dream, she may have been a spirit that ended up on a boat and was used as a whore.

He realizes though that she isn't the same as he had remembered her; she is now civilized (in a sense). She agrees with him that she does know all these skills but as she now remembers everything, she mentally regains her connection with the sea and loses the name "Colleen".

The song ends with her return to the sea; her true home. She explains how at the bottom of the ocean, she is "free". She isn't held back by what is good and bad in society; she can now be who she truly is. The farther into the ocean she dives, the more she becomes reconnected to it and forgets everything she had learned and now remembers who truly she is.

Argh this song is so frustrating because it's one of my favourite Newsom songs, but it's so hard to work out exactly what it's about.

So there's obviously these two opposed lives at work, that in which the narrator is some kind of sea creature, linked intricately with nature and that in which she is one who lives among humans living by their constructs.

I think this song is about the calls of nature, perhaps on mothers, but also more broadly applied to humans in general. The lyrics seem to say that you cannot tame natural spirits, or the instincts given to us by them.

When 'Colleen' is first 'run-aground' we hear her story as she was told it by other peoples that she had encountered. Therefore in the first few verses the sea is powerful and violent, threatening and dangerous as this is what the sea represents to them. Colleen doesn't remember it being violent however, as she has forgotten everything by this point.

Next, the people take her in and give her a name, say she is 'blessed' for having forgotten. This is a recurring theme in a lot of art, that those who have no memory are innocent and pure, like a baby who has no memory of sin etc. An example of this is Eloisa to Abelard by Alexander Pope- the basis for the film Eternal Sunshine for the Spotless Mind. I agree with above posters that the name Colleen is significant for being the gaelic for girl, I didn't know that before I read it here. This whole verse deals with societal construct and artificial imposition. By naming her, they're labelling her and taming her wildness.

Next, Colleen tries to grow things; this is where the theme of reproduction is first introduced. She can't do it because she works under different rules, the rules of the wild, the rules of the sea. She tells us her frustration in that amazing verse about the missing stair- God I love it :)

Then, it's as if we're told the reason for her failiure, the sea is not threatening at all but something like a child. In the dream Colleen dives for the child with a 'wildness' and her frustration is relieved in satisfaction. I think this represents the natural instincts of motherhood and how they should be preferred over the artificial treatment of a child such as the administering of 'bitter herbs'.

In the new dream, however, it seems like a whale (gray and sloping-shouldered thing) has found her wearing its baleen. The whale is dismayed that Colleen has forgotton the ways of the sea and used the natural baleen as a item of clothing- a symbol of civilisation.

The travellers from the sea seem to know who colleen is. Perhaps this is because they have a stronger connection with nature than the townspeople. When Colleen sees the whale in the book she recognises it from her dream. The second name of the story is given: 'He-Who-Easily-Can-Curve-Himself-Against-The-Sky'. This is significant. This name is far less of an arficial construct than Colleen- it reads more like a description. In fact it describes one who is at one with nature (easily curves against the sky). This non-name goes back to an ancient tradition in which the true names of spirits in nature were not known to or spoken by human beings as the power that the name held was too strong. Instead names were descriptions of natural artifacts. This could be why the traveller refuses to speak Colleen's real name as she is in fact a part of nature.

This all seems to have a profound affect on Colleen. Perhaps it's echoing the Madeleine incident in Proust's 'À la recherche du temps perdu'. In the novel, the Madeleine sparks an involuntary memory and the sensation is described as 'awakening'. This seems very similar with what has happened to Colleen, she looks 'perturbed' because she is remembering her true self reinforced by the traveller saying that she 'ain't forgotten everything'.

She is told that the peace she has found is more like a 'dread disease'. It's a complacenct regime that Colleen, who is wild at heart cannot live under, which is why she cannot grow plants or make sense of the world around her. Colleen finally realises this when she kind of angrily sings 'I don't know any goddamned Colleen'.

And so she returns to the sea where she is wild again. She is no longer self-aware now, merely sentient, like an animal, or somebody who is in a dream. Memory and societal norm is now unimportant to her and she has 'never felt so free'. She forgets 'Colleen' and simply exists under the water.

As a final observation, though this may be completely off, does it seems to anyone else like there are massive parallels between this tale and The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Anderson? I mean there are far more differences than similarities, but it seems as if the story wasn't far from Newsom's mind when she wrote Colleen.

Anyway, though it's kind of fumbled, that's my interpretation of this song.

Argh this song is so frustrating because it's one of my favourite Newsom songs, but it's so hard to work out exactly what it's about.

So there's obviously these two opposed lives at work, that in which the narrator is some kind of sea creature, linked intricately with nature and that in which she is one who lives among humans living by their constructs.

I think this song is about the calls of nature, perhaps on mothers, but also more broadly applied to humans in general. The lyrics seem to say that you cannot tame natural spirits, or the instincts given to us by them.

When 'Colleen' is first 'run-aground' we hear her story as she was told it by other peoples that she had encountered. Therefore in the first few verses the sea is powerful and violent, threatening and dangerous as this is what the sea represents to them. Colleen doesn't remember it being violent however, as she has forgotten everything by this point.

Next, the people take her in and give her a name, say she is 'blessed' for having forgotten. This is a recurring theme in a lot of art, that those who have no memory are innocent and pure, like a baby who has no memory of sin etc. An example of this is Eloisa to Abelard by Alexander Pope- the basis for the film Eternal Sunshine for the Spotless Mind. I agree with above posters that the name Colleen is significant for being the gaelic for girl, I didn't know that before I read it here. This whole verse deals with societal construct and artificial imposition. By naming her, they're labelling her and taming her wildness.

Next, Colleen tries to grow things; this is where the theme of reproduction is first introduced. She can't do it because she works under different rules, the rules of the wild, the rules of the sea. She tells us her frustration in that amazing verse about the missing stair- God I love it :)

Then, it's as if we're told the reason for her failiure, the sea is not threatening at all but something like a child. In the dream Colleen dives for the child with a 'wildness' and her frustration is relieved in satisfaction. I think this represents the natural instincts of motherhood and how they should be preferred over the artificial treatment of a child such as the administering of 'bitter herbs'.

In the new dream, however, it seems like a whale (gray and sloping-shouldered thing) has found her wearing its baleen. The whale is dismayed that Colleen has forgotton the ways of the sea and used the natural baleen as a item of clothing- a symbol of civilisation.

The travellers from the sea seem to know who colleen is. Perhaps this is because they have a stronger connection with nature than the townspeople. When Colleen sees the whale in the book she recognises it from her dream. The second name of the story is given: 'He-Who-Easily-Can-Curve-Himself-Against-The-Sky'. This is significant. This name is far less of an arficial construct than Colleen- it reads more like a description. In fact it describes one who is at one with nature (easily curves against the sky). This non-name goes back to an ancient tradition in which the true names of spirits in nature were not known to or spoken by human beings as the power that the name held was too strong. Instead names were descriptions of natural artifacts. This could be why the traveller refuses to speak Colleen's real name as she is in fact a part of nature.

This all seems to have a profound affect on Colleen. Perhaps it's echoing the Madeleine incident in Proust's 'À la recherche du temps perdu'. In the novel, the Madeleine sparks an involuntary memory and the sensation is described as 'awakening'. This seems very similar with what has happened to Colleen, she looks 'perturbed' because she is remembering her true self reinforced by the traveller saying that she 'ain't forgotten everything'.

She is told that the peace she has found is more like a 'dread disease'. It's a complacenct regime that Colleen, who is wild at heart cannot live under, which is why she cannot grow plants or make sense of the world around her. Colleen finally realises this when she kind of angrily sings 'I don't know any goddamned Colleen'.

And so she returns to the sea where she is wild again. She is no longer self-aware now, merely sentient, like an animal, or somebody who is in a dream. Memory and societal norm is now unimportant to her and she has 'never felt so free'. She forgets 'Colleen' and simply exists under the water.

As a final observation, though this may be completely off, does it seems to anyone else like there are massive parallels between this tale and The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Anderson? I mean there are far more differences than similarities, but it seems as if the story wasn't far from Newsom's mind when she wrote Colleen.

Anyway, though it's kind of fumbled, that's my interpretation of this song.

poweroutage: thanks for your comment - I think you're right on the pulse there. Feel like I'm starting to piece this song together now! Though I rather like that it remains enigmatic as well.

Alentalas is completely right, in my opinion