Lyrics for White Winter Hymnal as interpreted by brasky09

White Winter Hymnal Lyrics
I was following the pack
all swallowed in their coats
with scarves of red tied ’round their throats
to keep their little heads
from fallin’ 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..

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notethetrees
04-07-2008

Rated +2 
soooo pretty.

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Sovay83
04-11-2008

Rated +1 
yeah! i love this song!!

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leahper
04-29-2008

Rated +2 
Oh man, the way it builds up.. wonderful

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staroftrackandfield
05-27-2008

Rated 0 
the best harmonies and images i have head in a song in a long time.

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1 Reply
Anarise
06-07-2008

Rated +2 
I can't quite figure out what this song means, and it's been bothering me. From what I gather it's somehow about the death of innocence or at least death of some kind.

"The pack" sound like children from the fact that they were "swallowed in their coats" and "little heads", although "swallowed" sounds quite sinister, as if their clothes were eating them, as does "tied round their throats". This makes me think of a noose more than a scarf. The noose idea is supported by the fact that if it weren't for these, their heads would fall in the snow. Although I guess then the scarves could be somehow keeping them alive.

I'm not sure what the next couple of lines refer to, but the image of Michael falling then turning "white snow red" says to me he's bleeding on the ground. What surprises me there is the image of "strawberries in the summertime", which casts a positive image onto Michael's bleeding.

Any thoughts on this?

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3 Replies
sun_giant
06-14-2008

Rated +2 
pecknold says in an interview with daytrotter that the lyrics to this song are "fairly meaningless", and that the song is more focused on the vocal harmonies instead of the lyrics...but this is so far my favorite song from a stellar album. i've listened to it twice a day since i bought it

http://www.daytrotter.com/article/1245/fleet-foxes

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eatreadsleep
06-21-2008

Rated 0 
This song is gorgeous.

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sleeperesque
07-04-2008

Rated +5 
It reminds me of the book The Road by Cormac McCarthy. It's apostapocalypse story of a father and son trying to survive and stay clear of the men who march around wearing little red scarves around their necks - trying to find survivors whom they can eat.

The father coughs up blood throughout the book and the child is wrapped in any scraps of clothing they can find - sometimes drowing himself out in layers.

The only colour the boy can really see is the red of his dad's blood as everything else is covered in grey ash from the blazing earth, and the white of the snow as ifalls. However, the boy was born after the apocalypse so doesn't know what summertimer or even strawberries are.

Can be very poetic if you let it be.

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2 Replies
songyone
07-10-2008

Rated +5 
I think of this song as a little frame of a childhood memory - maybe of a five or six year old. He is with a bunch of children, maybe running after the older kids, who just look like a bunch of coats since they are so bundled up. He thinks in his child's mind that the scarves keep their heads from falling off. Then he looks behind him and his friend has fallen and hurt himself and there is bright red blood in the snow. Sometimes a memory like that sticks with you even though you can't remember anything else about it.

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songyone
07-10-2008

Rated +2 
It just came to me that a few Fleet Foxes songs seem to be written to a brother - Mykonos, He Doesn't Know Why - maybe this is about his brother. It would make an impression on a child if his brother, especially an older brother, was bleeding bright red in the snow.

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3 Replies
Chamoses
07-15-2008

Rated +1 
This song reminds me of the book "Where the red fern grows."

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Seanzy333
07-16-2008

Rated +2 
this always reminds me of the royal family trying to escape russia during the communist revolution.

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tylrshmk
07-16-2008

Rated 0 
my first time listening to thiis was today and i love it

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Digit
07-19-2008

Rated +3 
In a war, winter. A resistance group who wore red scarves. Men were forced to join or were killed (in that way the scarves kept their heads from "falling in the snow"). The forced recruitment included fairly young men, hence allusions to youth. The narrator's friend gets shot. Don't know about the "swallowed in their coats" bit.

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Digit
07-19-2008

Rated -1 
Now that I think about it:
The "swallowed in their coats" could just be telling us it's winter.

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Gladiuse
07-20-2008

Rated +2 
It's a simple fairy tale.
The pack are children bundled up in clothes and who have scarves that keep their heads tied to their necks, like a knot. Think of that one Edgar Allan Poe story of the girl in the French revolution.
The singer has to keep watch over them so that they don't lose their heads. He gets distracted and Michael falls, losing his scarf, and his head falls off. It's a fantasy fairy tale. It's that simple.

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valrus
07-24-2008

Rated +1 
I thought it was "swaddled."

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rhimansworld
07-25-2008

Rated +1 
I think of it more as foxes than as children, in the snow. Maybe because of the band name, mainly just because of the image in my head. Their coats are red, hence the 'all swallowed in their coats' part and the 'scarves of red' could simply be the red coat around a foxes throat. This would also explain the pack part. As for the michael bit, i think it's just gorgeous.

A perfect winter song :)

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bluemaxx
07-29-2008

Rated -2 
I thought for sure he was singing "I was following a pack of swallos" as in the bird a red throated swallow....we have barn swallows here like that?

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OliverJames
07-30-2008

Rated +3 
Oh my Sweet Jesus. I do say fair conjecture. Hm... Could you imagine being in a pack of foxes for a day?

Four legged, soft, red, two feet off the ground-

One time while deer hunting with shotguns. I am drive hunting with my family who are mostly second generation Norwegian hics-like myself. All of the sudden above me I hear Ka-BOOM not thirty yards above me on the border of the wood and a harvested field. I scrambled up to see what had happened.

Had our hunting party shot a deer? Would we eat venison through the winter?

No. My Uncle Dean had shot a fox with a 12 gauge slug. I remember seeing a more orange than red fox with a bullet hole in it.

As a seventeen year old I was less than full of objection, by cause of the the assassin being my six four two fifty plus uncle almost shooting me. He was justified- He said the foxes kill the pheasants- other game.

Much would I rather be a fox hunting a pheasant than a man. And catching the bird out of the air after running through the tall grass I would bring it back to my den quickly and indulge.

Much like the tom cat that he shot a month ago. That was hiding in the pull behind combine that works no more- circa 1940 maybe. And he shot that with bird-shot anyway. Still Ben and I marveled at the marksmenship because the first shot only phazed? the wild cat and prompted it to try and flee to no avail when the black lab- Athena- gave pause to the fire arms and a chance for dean to re-position for the kill shot.

I am no innocent son either. I tracked this predatory loner as it met its fate.

Similar too- is the story of my grandfather shooting a hawk from the sky with a rifle.

He said "Cocky Fucker." and then shot it out of the sky.

I would not say much but I was coined the Hawk in college. So I should probably end there.

I ain't gonna work on Shelly's farm no more.

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Lemonhead
08-09-2008

Rated -1 
wow great song - its about a bunch of little kids who get eaten by wolves...messily...in the snow....sad song....

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1 Reply
icamethird
08-23-2008

Rated -3 
Anarise...what the hell are you talking about!! your comment is just stupid. You're trying to look smart, but actually you're NOT !!

wow, i'm glad that's of my chest :)

by the way, excellent song

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Rahmid
08-25-2008

Rated +2 
I'm pretty sure there is no real mean. It sounds like this song was down with a fancy bit of automatic writing. Very Beautiful

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Low Feedback
09-01-2008

Rated 0 
This song has a beautiful, almost childish rhythm that I love.

My name is Michael.
This is a sweet song!

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cathryn
09-06-2008

Rated +1 
to me, michael sounds like a hemophiliac. the lyrics are "you would fall", as if he did it more than once, and bled profusely. that could sort of still be referential to the loss of innocence theme... children playing in the snow, a little boy falls, and they're exposed to blood and so young that they don't quite understand-- it just happens to be the same color as their scarves.

i also kind of associated the children with baby foxes, in a way.

this song is incredible, by the way.

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