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I was following the pack all swallowed in their coats
With scarves of red tied 'round their throats
To keep their little heads
From falling in the snow
And I turned 'round and there you go
And Michael, you would fall
And turn the white snow red as strawberries in the summertime
With scarves of red tied 'round their throats
To keep their little heads
From falling in the snow
And I turned 'round and there you go
And Michael, you would fall
And turn the white snow red as strawberries in the summertime
Lyrics submitted by brasky09
Track duration: 02:27
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"I was following the pack all swallowed in their coats"
I think that line is pretty well interpreted as children in heavy winter coats.
"With scarves of red tied round their throats to keep their little heads from falling in the snow"
The stream of consciousness jumps to an image of snow men, with scarves tied around where the head would go to hold their heads on, but the red on white imagery leads to the next jump in the stream of consciousness:
"And I turned 'round and there you go
And Michael, you would fall
And turn the white snow red as strawberries in the summertime"
Michael, whoever he is, has fallen and injured himself, perhaps fatally and perhaps not (I couldn't find any reference to a Michael Pecknold or his alleged death so the story about it being Robin Pecknold's brother may not be true).
It's more of a series of memory snapshots about childhood winter in general, with the exception of a specific memory brought on by the colors of the red scarves on the snowmen.
During the French Revolution, mobs of revolutionists beheaded those (such as royalty -- I'm sure you've heard of Marie Antoinette) who were against the revolution. Revolutionists would gather around the guillotines in "packs" to watch the beheadings. The fashion then was to wear high-collared coats, which may have appeared to "swallow" the individual. Also, I found a painting depicting a beheading scene in the French Revolution. The revolutionists in the illustration wore red scarves around their necks, perhaps to symbolize their loyalty to the revolution. Perhaps "Michael" didn't wear a red scarf or did not support the revolution, and thus he was quickly beheaded at the guillotine.
"I was following the pack all swallowed in their coats" -- someone was following the revolutionists on their way to the guillotine to behead those who opposed the movement. Perhaps this person was for the revolution and was a friend of Michael, or he too was on his way to the guillotine.
"With scarves of red tied 'round their throats" -- the revolutionists wore red scarves to symbolize their loyalty.
"To keep their little heads from falling in the snow" -- in order to keep from being beheaded, they wore the red scarves to show others that they were for the revolution.
"And I turned 'round and there you'd go, and Michael you would fall, and turn the white snow red as strawberries in the summertime." -- Michael did not wear a scarf or did not support the revolution, and thus he was quickly beheaded.
Hope this helps :)
"I was following the pack all swallowed in their coats
To keep their little heads
From falling in the snow"
So, this guy was following the pack (children) all swallowed up in their coats, because mummy and daddy did not want you to get sick they pulled up the zippers too high. The scarfs were tied around their throats as if they were choking, again with the same reason that mummy and daddy were trying too hard to protect their children from the cold.
But although the parents thought they were in good hands and they would not get cold or sick because their jackets were closed up tight and their scarfs too, the guy turned around and did not see Michael playing to wild and fell off of the whatever they were riding on. Maybe a sledge with horses, falling in the snow, and the sledge riding on his head, with Michael then bleeding to death in the snow.
Of course, this song has no deeper meaning, but this means more that Fleet Foxes did not want to tell a story about their youth or something. It's just a little story about a guy not paying attention and the contradiction of parents protection their children from the cold too much, still one falls and dies in the snow because of an accident jackets and scarfs could never prevent. This contradiction also sounds through the sound of the music, for it being very cheerful, while the story isn't.
So yes, it's a story. A cruel story. But no deeper meaning. Just the feeling you get when you listen to it. Therefor this is one of the best of the Fleet Foxes.
"I was following the pack all swallowed in their coats"
One of the most important gameplay features in "Journey" is that you can go on a trip with other players you encounter along the way. Everyone has a symbol attached to a gem around their necks, and it's implied, through the many flying symbols at the end, that it's the after life, that all these symbols flying around use to be other people's symbol's and that many other people went on this Journey as well and you're following the same path. Kind of like the "pack" mentioned in the song.
"With scarves of red tied 'round their throats"
The character you play is this thing that is dressed in a red cloak and a red scarf. In the game, the scarf allows the character you control fly temporarily. The cloak...kind of seems like that's all the character is. There are all these cloth creatures that are sentient scattered throughout the game. They glow whenever they are sung to or they come in contact with you. The character you play is implied to be made of the same stuff. "All swallowed in there coats", indeed, the character you play practically IS his coat. His face is really dark, there are just two glowing eyes. If it wasn't for this gold stripe going across his forehead I'd almost say the cloak/coat he wears is empty.
"To keep their little heads
From falling in the snow"
Towards the very end, there is a winter level. There isn't as much jumping or gliding in this level, this is the part of the game where things get really tough. The character you play has to fight against the wind. When you walk against strong winds, you tend to keep your body forward at an angle, and your head down so the wind doesn't get in your eyes, so it looks like your head is about to "fall". I only understood what this piece of imagery meant until I played this game. The "scarf" is suppose to prevent that. In the game, at the very end of the winter level, you struggle up this hill. As the frosty winds bite at you, it shortens your magic scarf. When the scarf completely vanishes due to the winds, the character can't go any further, and it collapses to the ground.
"And I turned 'round and there you go
And Michael, you would fall
And turn the white snow red as strawberries in the summertime"
As previously explained, in "Journey", it's encouraged through benefits in the game that you travel your journey with a companion. Keep in mind that the characters you and everyone else play wear red clothing, so when they "fall" near the end, they turn the white snow red.
So, yeah, the symbolism that Fleet Foxes used in this song and the symbolism that Jenova Chen used in "Journey" are very similar. The trope of a traveler going on an adventure is not anything that is new, and it's very likely that Jenova Chen didn't even know about this song when he was designing his game. If you want to make a game about a Journey, of course details and symbolism about traveling are going to slip in. Struggle, turmoil, trying to fight against the cruel winter, companions, people potentially dying, almost giving up....all these themes are very common in stories about journeys.
Here's a trailer to the videogame. youtube.com/…
Here's a link to "White Winter Hymnal" youtube.com/…
I loved playing in the snow! Sometimes one of my friends would get injured, and we would run to him when that happened with lots of worries.
But this also reminds me of the time when I got abused by my classmates in elementary school. This song can be seen as a symbolism of innocent death, too. The "red scarf" and "you'll fall" resemble blood and injury. There was no blood when this happened, but I felt like this was like an emotional injury.
Great song. I love Birdy's cover too! <3
"following the pack all swallowed in their coats"
the hunter is running after a pack o'furry dogs
see: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/…
especially in winter the animals would have a large fur, see
"scarves of red tied round their throats to keep their little heads falling in the snow": dog collars with leashes to keep the dogs from sniffing the snow all the time
then Michael is shot accidentally by one of the party
OR:
the pack is a pack of sled dogs in wintry Alaska 'cause of the leashes, which a normal hunting party would not have
"I was following the pack all swallowed in their coats" the fact that he was following a pack makes it seem like he was under the influence of this group, not necessarily a good influence. all swallowed in their coats makes me think of 'gangsters' or whatever with their hoods on all the time, it makes them look like their 'swallowed'
"With scarves of red tied 'round their throats" could possibly mean nuses, at least thats what imidiatly came to mind. but with the next lyric i believe it might mean bandages from harm they had brought to themseves, the bandages are for keeping 'their heads from falling off'
"To keep their little heads
From falling in the snow" the term snow is somtimes used for describing cocaine. s maybe theyve been doing drugs, witch mightve made them suicidal? i dont know ive never tried it. but the red that was mentioned before could be used to symbolize nose bleeds, thats common with the usage of cocaine.
"And I turned 'round and there you go" perhaps he had wished for his friend to stop, but 'Michael' was doing things behind his back, probably got a nose bleed? thats what i get from the next lyric
"And Michael, you would fall
And turn the white snow red as strawberries in the summertime" Michael had turned the 'snow' blood red from bleeding.
so a drug song? hah i dont know, but i do love it:) one of my favorite songsss<3