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..

Interaction
Mail to a friend Send Lyrics to a Friend
Share on Facebook

Stumble It
Add to Del.icio.us Add to Del.icio.us




  • 94 Comments
  • Printer Friendly Lyrics
newest first     Expand All
raptor15
11-14-2009

Rated 0 
This is such a beautiful song. The video as on youtube is one of my all time fav music videos! When I listen to the song there are some images that flash through my mind. I don't see it unfold like a story as many other songs such as "False Knight..." or "Tiger Mountain Peasant..."
I imagine wolves (the pack) on the back of an open bed truck or wagon. The truck is moving slowly through the snow. There are people walking alongside it. Their (the wolves) throats are slit and wrapped in cloth which has turned red from the blood (scarves of red tied round their throats). They're wrapped so their heads don't fall and drag in the snow- haven't thought about why this is important. I cannot seem to displace the imagery I have of Michael as the Archangel Michael.
Still...sometimes it just makes me think of A Christmas Story! Ha ha.
It is a very ethereal, magical song.

Log in to reply
fivetide
11-02-2009

Rated 0 
There are some very bizarre and overly complex analyses on here aren't there? Man alive.

I believe the song has far more to do with harmonic layering and the impression of seasonality than any interpretation of the Russian revolution or similar tangential straw clutching. Nice to read those ideas though - whacky,

As for the words, they just appear to relate a simple incident on a dog-sled journey, nothing more.

And surely it's swaddled, not swallowed, although both work equally well.

Log in to reply
nostalgicBadger
10-28-2009

Rated 0 
I've got to follow up in the vein of "stop over-analyzing". Sometimes a song or a poem may be laden with metaphor, but don't forget that anybody with an imagination can find plenty of meaning where the author had no intentions. I see no reason to take this song in any way but literally.

A discussion of why they chose the words they did might yield some interesting results. For instance, "swallowed in their coats" reminds the listener that it's cold, and that they're bundled up, but certainly the phrasing "swallowed in their coats" evokes a different emotional effect than would "all bundled up in coats". Then again, perhaps the decision was not made at all for emotional effect, but simply for rhythm.

Overall, I think it's a pretty little slice of life song, which it accomplishes well enough that it doesn't need to do anything more.

Log in to reply
1 Reply
brownbear08
10-21-2009

Rated 0 
For me it was never meant to be over analyzed... it reminds me of that movie "A Christmas Story"... how they seemed to be swallowed in their coats with scarves wrapped around their neck to keep their heads from falling off (just child like imagination)... bassically everything tr1b3sman says!

Log in to reply
1 Reply
tr1b3sman
09-22-2009

Rated 0 
The way I see it this song is in now way violent.

I think its just what it is... "pack" is the children he played with as a child, "swallowed in their coats" is just using imagery to say the coats are so large in comparison to them, "to keep their little heads from falling in the snow" just means the scarves are so tightly bundled around them that it is as if the scarves are used to fasten their heads to their body. This is a memory being told to "Michael" so he is telling how he would trip and fall because of the all the winter gear he had on him. And perhaps he is embarrassed by it so he turns red as strawberries while he's laying in the snow. Or his jacket is red. Thats just what I think, I doubt such a beautiful song is violent.

Log in to reply
Tommibois
09-11-2009

Rated -1 
this song is about gang violence. it's simple.
FOLLOWING THE PACK
SCARVES OF RED TIED ROUND THEIR THROATS TO KEEP THEIR LITTLE HEADS FROM FALLING IN THE SNOW
MICHAEL YOU WILL FALL AND TURN THE WHITE SNOW RED AS STRAWBERRIES IN THE SUMMERTIME
so just think about this and decide for yourself

Log in to reply
sbramley
08-25-2009

Rated 0 
I went to that website that guy posted where Robin said the lyrics were fairly meaningless. I think the website actually got mixed up and put the "Sun It Rises" description for "White Winter Hymnal". Because it also says that White Winter Hymnal starts off the album and beings with a tongue-in-cheek harmony that's supposed to be funny. Which it doesn't. And Sun It RIses does. Which leads me to believe that the Sun It Rises Description is about White Winter Hymnal which makes a lot more sense.

"on the forthcoming full-length Fleet Foxes This song is really really simple. It's basically about how sad it can sometimes be when people grow apart for no other reason besides growing older, like friends from grade school who're united by comic books and Nintendo often end up going in completely different directions once they reach Middle and High School... that happened to me a lot and it seems like a shame. I wish I would've been smart enough to hold onto my friends at that age even though we started getting into different kinds of things. What do "things" matter anyway when a friendship's in the balance. Musically, this started as two different songs (the only two sections of the song) that got slammed together kind of clumsily into what we've got now. I had that song El Condor Pasa in mind when we were working on this but it didn't really turn out sounding like that. Too much reverb or something."

Log in to reply
loveleftneverkept
08-23-2009

Rated 0 
This songs style is definitely sung in the way most childrens songs are sung. The tune is simple and its repetative. A lot of childrens songs were based on things such as epidemics and war. for example ring around the rosie was actually based on the Bubonic Plague and if you really listen to the lyrics, it makes sense. I feel like this song could be about war sung with happy irony. the scarves could symbolize a specific side in the war and I feel as though hes describing someone getting shot. I could be completely wrong but it would seem to fit.

Log in to reply
1 Reply
lazyactivist124
08-09-2009

Rated 0 
As far as a story line goes, I think this song is awesome. It starts with a really bright harmony that gives the song a really happy feeling. It builds up to a fall of "Michael" off "the pack," ending with him "turn the white snow red as strawberries
in the summertime." Thus, bleeding to death. The beat and general mood of the song is very light and happy, yet the lyrics are very dark and sad, almost scary. It's a really good song.

FLEET FOXES ARE THE BEST.

Log in to reply
marisol4
08-01-2009

Rated +1 
i read in an interview that robin wrote this song about his experience in high school.

Log in to reply
razoer
06-26-2009

Rated 0 
It's more like he is trying to tell the future.

The singer went from past-tense to future-tense in line 7 : "And, Michael, you would fall"
And continuing in future-tense in the next 2 lines : "and turn the white snow red as strawberries
in the summertime.."

Almost as if this was a bad thought or desire of the singer's that would happen to michael as the pack of kids go running

Great Song and please reply


Log in to reply
NuclearDaydream
06-04-2009

Rated +1 
I always imagine wolves when I hear this song. Wolves travel in packs and of course they have coats of fur. The scarves of red tied round throats I don't take literally, I think of blood stained around their throat and muzzle from attacking a humans they find threats (attacking them 'to keep their little heads from falling in the snow) Then as soon as he turned he found Michael being attacked by the wolves, falling to the ground and bleeding all over the white snow.




Log in to reply
goose000
06-02-2009

Rated 0 
The song is written from a point of view of a hunter hunting with his partner michael. They are following a pack of wolves/foxes during winter while the wolves still have a thick winter coat of fur, this coat makes them look big and puffy. during the winter wolves/foxes change mostly white but sometimes a part of then stays their original color such as there neck. this coat keeps them warm and alive and not falling in the snow. at his point the narrator turns around and sees a wolf that snuck up on them and attacked michael and he falls in the snow, from this attack his blood turns the snow as red as strawberries in the summer time

Log in to reply
spasecad3t
05-18-2009

Rated 0 
When I hear this song I think of a group of people moving as a pack. All wearing red scarves, and swallowed in coats, they are probably some type of faction in uniform. In hard times (represented by winter) they cling on their fanatic beliefs to endure and justify their brutal means of success/survival (thus the scarves keep their little heads from falling in the snow as Michael's does). The dissenter, Micheal, is left bleeding in the snow. The narrator, upon referral to his friend, is reminded of a simpler time, hence the mention of strawberries in the summertime. The fast pace of the song seems to imitate the narrator trying to keep up with the group, unable to stay behind.

Log in to reply
hollygolightly4
05-16-2009

Rated 0 
OMG! This song is sooooo simple. I can't believe all the over-analyzing of this song. An older person is watching over a group of children in the winter-time. He's following behind them, and they're all bundled up in their winter coats with scarves to keep them warm and dry. One of the kids is straggling behind and the "watcher" turns around and sees him fall down as he is apparently prone to falling down. It turns the "white snow as red as strawberries" because the RED scarf is now splayed out on the white snow.

Sometimes when an artist says it's basically meaningless that is just what they mean. It's just a simple story about a winter day spent watching children.

Log in to reply
1 Reply
GaHeRiS
05-16-2009

Rated 0 
I'm completely going off the feeling I get from it now, but I think it could be about him being merrily going along with his friends(metaphorically) - life was good, everything was well. And then he turns around to find that a friend committed suicide - when there was no indication that they had the intention to.

I'm probably completely off, but I just get that feeling from this song now.

Log in to reply
elishajean
05-15-2009

Rated 0 
i think that this song was not meant to be clearly understood
and that is what makes it so delightfully intriguing.

but, michael, oh :(
that is rather sad,
i think i'd rather white snow - not strawberry red.

Log in to reply
spastikcomma
05-14-2009

Rated 0 
I think Michael and the singer are hunting the pack and Michael is shot by a protector of the pack.

Log in to reply
ungdomskulen
05-12-2009

Rated 0 
All you guys who love Fleet Foxes, check out Robin Pecknolds solo project White Antelope. He have just made a couple of songs but they sound a lot like FF. Find WA at myspace.

Log in to reply
teffie123
04-27-2009

Rated 0 
such a beautiful song
its the only fleet foxes song ive heard
but its so pretty!
poor darling micheal!................

Log in to reply
breathewords
04-26-2009

Rated 0 
reminds me of the english countryside.
oh, how i miss you.

Log in to reply
AgainstMeFan1
04-23-2009

Rated 0 
i got this ringtone at http://doiop.com/free-ring-tones

basically every time my phone rings all my friends just jam out lol!

Log in to reply
peacestriver
04-23-2009

Rated 0 
i love this song. i don't really think of it being darkly cheerful like others have said, though...
i just see them making fun of their friend, Micheal, for being clumsy, falling down, and bleeding all over the snow. oh, me.

Log in to reply
kaat
04-16-2009

Rated 0 
I can't find obvious meaning to the words. And as posted, perhaps there wasn't much intended. But it backs up an idea I've always had; that musicians are sometimes capable of bringing together music and words guided only by what they inherently 'know' will have a certain effect. I react joyously to this song, but I'm not really sure why.

Log in to reply
dirtyvest
04-08-2009

Rated +1 
I think the writer of this song was hugely influenced by the disney film the fox and the hound and this song is a loose interpretation of the themes explored in that movie of the conflict between friendship and duty. The song-writer is writing from the perspective of a hound, which is part of a pack that is hunting foxes.

The red scarves are tied around the pack's throats to show that they are owned and are not wild dogs/wolves. This stops them from being shot, hence their little heads falling in the snow (note how snow is linked to death in this song). They pack is swallowed by their coats because thy have their winter coats of fur instead of their summer coats. This hound was following the pack. He is following the pack because he does not want to be an active part of it. The reason for this is that the pack is tracking his fox friend from when he was a puppy.

Michael (the fox friend of the hound) is hiding from the pack, but bolts for safety when they get too close to him for comfort. Unfortunately Michael is caught and killed by the pack with his blood staining the snow as red as strawberries in the summertime.

This final lyric in the song expresses the care that the hound feels for the fox. Perhaps the fox and the hound played in fields of strawberries during the summertime and the hound is thinking back to these good times to try and get over the trauma (note how the summertime is associated with pleasantness, whereas the wintertime is associated with death).

The pack could also be a pack of wolves and the scarves of red around their throats are from the pack eating their prey.Resulting in them having bloody manes. They would need to eat and therefore have these manes to stop them from starving and dying, hence falling in the snow. Whether it is hounds or wolves the themes of the song remain the same.

Log in to reply




  • Add Your Comments
What does this song mean to you?

You must be logged in to post your comments.

Feel free to create an account with us, or log in with your existing account, to start adding your comments to songs.





Popular
Top:   Lyrics, Artists, Albums
Random:   Lyric, Artist, Album

Your Ad Here