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Had a dream
You and me and the war at the end times
And I believe
California succumbed to the fault line
We heaved relief
As scores of innocents died
And the Andalusian tribes
Setting the lay of Nebraska alight
'Til all the remains is the arms of the angel
Hetty Green
Queen of supply-side bonhomie bone-drab
If you know what I mean
On the road
It's well-advised to follow your own path
In the year of the chewable Ambien tab
And the Panamanian child
Stands at the Dowager Empress's side
And all the remains is the arms of the angel
And all the remains is the arms of the angels
And you've receded into loam
And they're picking at your bones
Will call cold
We'll come home
Quiet now
Will we gather to conjure the rain down
Will we now
Build a civilization below ground
And I'll be crowned
The community kicked it around
And the Andalusian tribes
Setting the lay of Nebraska alight
'Til all the remains is the arms of the angel
'Til all the remains is the arms of the angels
You and me and the war at the end times
And I believe
California succumbed to the fault line
We heaved relief
As scores of innocents died
And the Andalusian tribes
Setting the lay of Nebraska alight
'Til all the remains is the arms of the angel
Hetty Green
Queen of supply-side bonhomie bone-drab
If you know what I mean
On the road
It's well-advised to follow your own path
In the year of the chewable Ambien tab
And the Panamanian child
Stands at the Dowager Empress's side
And all the remains is the arms of the angel
And all the remains is the arms of the angels
And you've receded into loam
And they're picking at your bones
Will call cold
We'll come home
Quiet now
Will we gather to conjure the rain down
Will we now
Build a civilization below ground
And I'll be crowned
The community kicked it around
And the Andalusian tribes
Setting the lay of Nebraska alight
'Til all the remains is the arms of the angel
'Til all the remains is the arms of the angels
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Enjoy the song how it is put together as a whole.
Listen to Analize (Cranberries) !?
It certainly, kind of, is. When Colin Meloy (a massive REM fan) realised that, musically, it had an REM feel, he actually got Peter Buck in to play on the track. As for it not making a "whole lotta sense": that is very true of REM (who I personally don't have a lot of time for) but never true of the Decemberists. Meloy masterfully crafts his lyrics with great care and every song, regardless of how it sounds (eg: July July, Song For Myla Goldberg), has a great deal of substance to it and, quite often, an interesting little story inspiring it [see the above reference to Sarah "Nut-Bar" Palin. Quick, before she shoots it!]
Also: Thanks to positive tension for the David Foster Wallace reference. I have listened to this song an absurd amount of times since buying the album and never made that link.
Ok, now I want you to go to the top of the list and read all the comments.
Have you done that? Good.
Now, maybe you can answer the following question for me: Do people bother to read the other comments before posting or do they just go ahead and expose the rest of us to needless repetition to show how clever they are, when, if they have nothing new to offer, the really clever thing to do would be to simply agree with a particular post. Less typing for them, less reading for us, and we could the move on to the next song and do it all again? [I have included the question mark on the grounds of it starting as a question before losing its way]
I wish you would recan your interpretation of this song and just admit that you are just plain wrong. Please try to write better interpretations in the future. I hate to be mean but this was just simply a very poor analysis and I can think of very little good to say about what you have written here.
For what it's worth, the line would make sense with the interpretations of the song as a bit of a farce/jab at the fundamentalist christian view of the "end times": Giving out cake suggests a levity at odds with the seriousness of the situation (i.e. that all civilization had to escape to below ground), ala Marie Antionette, rather like the way some christians talk about "end times" as though it would be a joyful, somehow beautiful event to have the world torn to pieces and nearly everyone tormented and killed. Anyway.
Apparently this song was inspired by one of the crazy ramblings Sarah Palin graced us with during the 2008 presidential campaign. While there are a few references to the the then-upcoming election, the lyrics mostly have fun with the concept of the "end times," as eagerly awaited by Christian fundamentalists like Sarah Palin.
Colin Meloy is, of course, a firmly left-wing progressive (anti-war, gay rights, healthcare reform, etc.) Naturally, he supported and campaigned for Democratic candidate Barack Obama in 2008.
Some explanations and elucidations:
"California succumbed to the fault line" = The natural disasters of the "end times" evidently include massive earthquakes along the San Andreas fault in California.
"And the Andalusian tribes / Setting the lay of Nebraska alight" = "Andalusian" refers to southern Spain, usually in reference to the Vandals, a barbarian tribe that once occupied that region. In the context of the song, the "Andalusian tribes" are likely roving gangs of desperate and violent savages, roaming, burning, and pillaging across the wasteland in the aftermath of the apocalypse.
"Hetty Green" = An early 20th-century businesswoman known for her greed and stinginess
"Hetty Green / Queen of supply-side bonhomie bone-drab / You know what I mean" = Sarah Palin (Queen of pro-rich [supply-side economics] folksy [bonhomie] bone-grey dullness [bone-drab])
"And the Panamanian child" = John McCain (Born at a US Army base in Panama)
"Stands at the Dowager Empress's side" = Cindy McCain (Always wears heavy make-up and elaborate clothing, like a Dowager Empress.
The Narrator is telling his friend about a dream he had that they had been part of, in which the following situation was the case:
Following a large earthquake that takes out California, the united states is plunged into a post-apocalyptic state of being, where people form tribes that operate independent of the whole (like Andalusia and Panama).
During the chaos, the upper-crust Wall-street types (like Hetty Green) attempt to establish their dominance, but they can't manage to keep control in a world where their old ways no longer apply. That short lived empire fails and is swallowed up by the Earth(receded into loam). Now, the narrator and his friend are coming back to their former home to start a new society. In the end he's making suggestions as to how to go about just that.
I think the "heaved a sigh of relief line" is meant to be a bit callous because people tend to be that way. They feel bad when disasters happen to other people, but at the same time they are glad that they don't have to suffer.