SongMeanings | Lyrics | Fleet Foxes

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Fleet Foxes
White Winter Hymnal
94 Comments

Lyrics for White Winter Hymnal as interpreted by brasky09

White Winter Hymnal Lyrics

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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 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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blueneptune_14
09-10-2008

Rated 0

Does Michael perhaps refer to the archangle Michael? Perhaps at the battle of armageddon? Just a thought...

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jess_111
10-08-2008

Rated +1

This is just a suggestion.

I was read this story when I was younger about a fawn that had be rescued and raised by some children when his mother was shot by hunters.

When the fawn grew up and had to be released, the children put a red ribbon around his neck so the hunters wouldnt shoot him because he was a pet... eventually he did end up getting shot.

That is what this song reminds me of.

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Oliii_liver
10-08-2008

Rated 0

There's a German folk tale (or as the old German folk tales tend to be, a horror story) about a woman who was wrongfully decapitated, and was allowed to come back to find her true love who did not know she had died. She had to wear a red scarf around her neck in order to keep her head in place. If she could keep her lover, then she was allowed to stay on earth, but if he left her, then she was cursed or murdered again or something. So she met him and saw him three times. Everytime he asked her to remove her scarf, but she refused, because if he saw what had happened, she knew he would leave her. On the third time they saw each other, he tricked her into removing her scarf, and her head fell into the snow, and he left her.
Thats what I immediately thought of when I heard the lyrics, but there are many tales like this from many cultures.

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saraXkills
10-09-2008

Rated 0

this is by far my favorate song ever, i love it
and its sad.
but i love it!!!

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ivegotamouse
11-24-2008

Rated 0

i heard this song for the first time today

and i can not stop listening to it

it is the most beautiful song i have heard in a while

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Flamencoprof
11-26-2008

Rated 0

And now my fellow fox lies bleeding red blood into the fleeting snow, ah the pain of life & death!

p.s. Foxes are lone animals, I think he is thinking of wolves :- )

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Garfinator
11-26-2008

Rated 0

11-24-2008

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I think possibly this song could be talking about NC State Wolfpack football. Their colors are red and white also. Everyone in NC refers to the school as "The Pack"

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D:<
12-02-2008

Rated 0

this just goes to show that these lyrics can mean anything to anyone. i personally thought of war =/

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dannyhouk
12-02-2008

Rated +1

Though there may be some truth when the singer says the lyrics are "fairly meaningless," I also know that most artists hate to interpret their work and distill the meaning. Like good poetry, everything you need to say is in the lyric, to expand on it is to lose some of it's meaning.

I think it's a poetic image. I thought it interesting that in the beginning the singer is singing solo and you could interpret his loop as "I was following the I," like he's following himself. Then when the other singer(s) come in and the accompaniment starts, then it changes to "I was following the pack..."

Just a little interesting overlay of music and lyrics.

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clovus
12-02-2008

Rated 0

Wow, dannyhouk, you were thinking exactly the same thing as I was. Accepting "fairly meaningless" as an accurate statement would be like accpeting Bob Dylan's explanation for anything he has ever written. The images in this song are so strong that they will mean something different to anyone who thinks about the, even if it is just a basic feeling. Hearing what others think is really great too, so I hate it when some people complain because they read the "official" meaning (or lack thereof) somewhere.

My initial impression is that it's someone remembering a friend being left behind. Being "in the pack" isn't always bad, but it is upsetting to leave someone behind. Also, I think it is interesting that the narrator here thinks of "summertime" during the winter when he sees his fallen comrade.

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Targetpractice.v01
12-04-2008

Rated 0

It reminds me of someone recalling a dream.
I guess in that case he's talking about the dream to Michael, who was in the dream and who may or may not have died (dreams are often pretty vague on that sort of thing, you know?).

I actually doubt that that's what the writer had in mind, but it's how it sounds to me.

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Dustin T. Wind
12-24-2008

Rated +1

Okay here's a complete overanalysis.
Note first that there seems to be a play on words in the song's opening - "I was following the eye/I was following..." This strikes me as being a kind of canine internal dialogue -- simple, repetitive, breathless and completely phenomenological. I don't believe foxes run in packs so I think the pack referred to here is one of wolves. Wolves, of course are symbolic of the wild and also of death. They are swallowed in their heavy winter coats. Winter also is the time of want, of danger even death. The scarves are a reference to the fairy tale in which a woman has a scarf or choker that she won't take off and when her husband finally goes mad and makes her do so her head falls off. So that places us squarely in the realm of faerie here and also establishes the danger. But note, the word 'little'. This is, I think, not a reference to the literal size of their heads. Rather this should be read as in "don't worry your little head." So the danger of their heads falling is not to be taken too seriously. Now the narrator is following the pack, suggesting that he is near the rear of the group when he turns to find the individual to whom the song is addressed. Here's the real mystery -- who is this character? The word 'go' is the high note which places some degree of importance on it. This line "there you go," sounds like a mild scolding, as in "there you go again," a reference to an established personality or characteristic action. Tonally though it comes off as friendly, even admiring: here is this character who is a member of the pack, but an iconoclast, not the leader, but not a blind follower either. But what is it that truly distinguishes him? He's called Michael, the name of the archangel, a warrior and advocate of his people, an unsurpassed healers and sometimes associated with the creation. This may not be the right reference, but the name is a strong one and the Michael of this song lives up to it. "Michael you would fall" is perhaps the most intriguing line of thes song. The move into the subjunctive has a couple of possible readings. It could mean "you would" as in "you used to..." or "you would always..." referring to a habitual action. But the action described is apparently dying, a strange action to be able to repeat often enough to form a habit of it. I think rather this line should be read, "you would," as in "this is something you would do." Again, what the narrator says Michael would do is fall, and fall in such a way as to turn the snow red -- hard not to read that as death, and as just established this is something Michael would do, that is willfully, purposefully! But the attitude here is not the least bit tragic, though it is wistful, and maybe a little awestruck. This reading is strengthened by the closing line which likens Michael's blood on the snow to strawberries in summertime -- an entirely inappropriate simile if his death is to be read as a tragic act of self-destruction. But it's not. The red on the snow reminds the narrator of summertime, standing in opposition to winter. The sweetness of strawberries standing in opposition to the hunger of winter. Michael's attitude toward death is praiseworthy -- he is a warrior, unafraid of death, even courting it. In that fact he stands out from the pack.

2 Replies

GreatandInsignifigant
07-10-2009

Rated 0

I agree with the "eye" dialogue and that it could be symbolic imagery of luciferian leadership as in many occult views (There is I believe a duality there). Also running with the pack meaning as it is that whoever is not standing in their own right, and with that the meaning of packs in many cases being predatory and against the herd or sheepfold. The coats and scarves had me for consideration in that many interpretations could be found there... the fact that it is red and later the snow becomes red... Perhaps it does have something to do with innocence and the loss thereof. Isaiah 1:18 Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. As it seems to me up to the point of "Michael" falling the person is still with the pack so as to say he stated he "was following the eye"...."And, Michael"...."You would fall"...(making a change)...and thus changing the white snow to red. purity to sin?...from the perception It made an awareness of something and from that a decision for a new attitude, possibly something positive as "strawberries in the summertime". The act of willfully falling does seem to be evident of self destruction, and for what? To change views? or for a greater purpose... If your familiar with a prophecy in the book of Daniel, 12:1 At that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued. Since before rising one must be in a state in which they are not...one who has "fallen"... come to live in sin for the release of those in bondage of death, a decision in sacrifice for a greater good. whether its the rapture or merely a resurrection in theme, its a touching story. The meanings of songs are intriguing in that meaning can mean much and for as many people in their own accord. I am one who believes in the mystical, Other spiritual channeling and the divine in all that speaks to us though we don't always "listen".... Either way these are interesting lyrics.

"Theres a natural mystic in the air" -Bob Marley

alliot
10-30-2009

Rated 0

Red Necks and Red Bandanas: Appalachian Coal Miners and the Coloring of Union Identity, 1912-1936

Nice job on that.

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peekawho
12-27-2008

Rated 0

songyone,

...Could be about her brother. The scarves that keeps their necks warm and heads up to look at the beauty of the snow, so no one falls because of the cold.

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modervador
01-02-2009

Rated 0

I think the writer's statement about the song's "meaningless" nature is probably mostly correct, inasmuch as he was not consciously trying to be "deep" when he penned the lyrics. As a songwriter myself, I often believe that my best pieces kind of write themselves, emanating from the emotional part of the brain in words that go together well with both each other and the music, as opposed to those that arise from extensive working and reworking within the analytical parts of the brain. So now I'll tell you of what I feel when I hear this song, and I�ll analyse a bit as well.

Hearing the song and then reading the lyrics here brings out different aspects to me. This is particularly true with the lines "to keep their little heads from fallin� in the snow". When I read it, I see how it can pertain to the scarves, but when I hear it, it often evokes the narrator as an older brother whose job is to keep the younger kids from hurting themselves, thus he�s �the brother�s keeper� following Michael as he runs through the snow with his friends and siblings, all in their scarves and oversized winter coats. But he's still a distractible, error-prone kid himself, and "there you go" is a you-know-what-I�m-talking-about confession of both how things can happen in a blink of an eye, and the helplessness he sometimes feels when a bad thing happened because he had averted his attention. But there's no (or very little) blood when Michael falls; all (or most) of the red in the snow is from the brightly colored scarf that splays in various ways about the younger boy� head. Sometimes when Michael would �face plant�, the scarf would wrap around his head, making it look like a big, red strawberry, which makes the older brother laugh as he stands Michael on his feet again.

Sometimes I see the narrator as a younger boy following a pack of older kids, trying to catch up, and Michael is lagging even farther behind. The narrator turns, and for various reasons, Michael �chooses� just that moment to �fall�. Again, no tragedy, just kids doing what they do.

Sometimes I think of the archangel Michael, and �you would fall� thus refers to a fallen angel, but more specifically in the sense that everyone, including the narrator, loves the angelic Michael, but the narrator is reminded of his brother�s humanity when he does something un-angelic. But I don�t think the writer was actively thinking about such an obtuse, convoluted connection when he wrote this song. Does it really have to be any deeper than a simple image that countless kids have experienced?

I do believe the line is �all swallowed in their coats�, both because that�s what it sounds like in all three verses, and because it�s more powerful imagery than �swaddled�. With little kids, the winter clothes are disproportionately large, and they look like they were quite literally swallowed up to their faces by their coats. This is why I tend to see Michael and the rest of the pack as little kids and the narrator as older, consistent with the first interpretation I offered above. A swaddled kid would not be mobile. There�s also the bonus that �follow� and �swallow� are phonetically similar and go well in their respective places in adjacent lines.

OK, that�s it.

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designedlikedice
01-03-2009

Rated 0

i LOVED this song and then it got on my nerves all of a sudden.

i interpreted it as kinda morbid and cute at the same time.

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wildwings79
01-05-2009

Rated 0

This song introduced me to the Fleet Foxes. Great song, but I didn't take away the same deep meanings as some others have. I thought it was a simple song about the narrator who was charged with watching a group of children on a snowy day as they played. He turned his back for one second and his precious one fell and got hurt. And since it says, "Michael, you would fall," sounds like maybe he fell on several occasions. The narrator tried to tried to watch and protect, but failed. That's all.

If you've ever been the eldest in a group of children, but not much older yourself, and have been given the burden of being the "responsible one" by default...that's what this song reminds me of.

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cheekymunkeyboo
01-05-2009

Rated 0

I think of this like it sung from a child's point of view. The 'swallowed in their coats' and 'to keep their heads from falling in the snow' lines sound like the slightly bizarre things children think. Like scarfs are for keeping your head tied on.

And the simile at the end sounds very innocent about a not very pleasant subject, not sure if that's genuienly innocent, as in from a childs point of view making a statment about what they see, or a morbid one, almost mocking the bleeding.

Just some ideas, love this song...

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Clarkbar
01-12-2009

Rated 0

first i'd like to say i absolutely love this song and its wonderfully made.

second i'd like to acknowledge that the lyrics were said to have no real meaning

but regardless i thought it was ironic that the scarves, which are seemingly meant to protect the children, are red. then Michael falls and hurts himself (his head maybe?) and the snow turns red.

doesnt really mean anything but its interesting

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ExoM7
01-14-2009

Rated +1

This song is amazing and makes me enjoy listening to music any time.

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gwah
01-18-2009

Rated -1

I think it might allude to the young boy trying to conform because of "following the pack", maybe "swallowed by their coats" means swallowed by their ignorance and desire to conform, the "red scarves" that they all wear are a symbol of their conformity and Michael's falling is what happens to all societies that are too eager about and rely too much on conformity.

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gwah
01-18-2009

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stewpify
01-20-2009

Rated +2

Not wolves? Not a sled team? With snow, pack, coats, scarves, etc., there appears to be an image of sledding through the hinterlands, and in the passing trees and scraping of the runners, a cadence.

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Jimper
01-22-2009

Rated 0

Hymnals do not reek of tragedy, but celebration, praise, thanksgiving. The song then, by virtue of its title, cannot be tragic in tone.

Try reading it from the point of view of a guardian of a pack of children whose intent it is to prevent their little heads from falling in the snow, figuratively, to keep them dry and comfortable. Delete the descriptors and the poem reads, logically, as "I was following the pack to keep their little heads from falling in the snow". Thus, "all swallowed in their coats with scarves of red tied 'round their throats" can function as a participial phrase chosen to amplify description of what they were wearing. The strand of thought may not necessarily link the inevitability of their heads falling in the snow with a scarf's
removal. Put commas after "pack" and "throats", and try reading it again.

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Aliendude
01-24-2009

Rated 0

While I don't take any specific meaning from this song, I've never had music create such a strong image in my mind. I imagine a line of soldiers trudging through a snow storm in silence when one of them gets shot. Of course typing it out in one line doesn't do the song justice--it's really beautiful.

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Anarchytect
01-27-2009

Rated 0

Regardless of the meaning, the beauty could not disputed.

Maybe its better not to question the meaning and just enjoy the song's beauty.

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