MetaChat - One Night I Overheard

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03 November 2006

One Night I Overheard The Prior exchanging words
With a pentinent whaler from the sea.
The captain of his ship
Who matched you toe to tip
Was known for wanton cruelty.

(I give you The Decemberists, on this gloomy morning.)

post by: danf at: 12:08 | 12 comments

Love the song, love the record, but what the fuck is up with Colin's accent?

It sounds like

"one night I overhoid the prior exchanging woids
With a pentinent whaler from the sea..."

posted by pieisexactlythree 03 November | 12:13

I think it's meant to be "authentic" in a subtle way. What I like about the lyrics is the 19th Century sensibility at play. The references and the "voice" are of one who has never ridden in a car, seen a movie, etc.

My daughter bought this dvd of portland bands playing one song each in this house before they burned it. This song blew me away and I had to get it. Too bad their shows at the Crystal were on school nights. . .we'd have gone.

posted by danf 03 November | 12:18

Authentic what?

posted by pieisexactlythree 03 November | 12:20

Authentic maybe the way a street urchin on the east coast of the US talked in the 1800's. Or sumthin'.

posted by danf 03 November | 12:23

Shine ya shoes, govnah?

posted by pieisexactlythree 03 November | 12:32

It's fun to see them do this song live. They make the whole audience scream when the whale appears.

posted by matildaben 03 November | 13:08

I've been wondering what they sound like.... does anyone have the song as an .mp3? Winamp's refusing to play the .m4a file.

posted by Zack_Replica 03 November | 14:03

A couple years ago I saw them do this song outdoors at Waterfront park. As the two women sang the mariner's mother's lines they started cracking up. I turned around and saw a gigantic blue balloon being passed around the crowd. It must have been ripped loose from its moorings elsewhere in the festival. I saw the thing and thought OMG teh whale, lol!

posted by pieisexactlythree 03 November | 14:05

itunes won't let me play it unless I sign in as you, danf. That's never happened to me before.

posted by jrossi4r 03 November | 15:39

Are they good live? I'm a bit short of gig-going cash at the moment, but they're playing live soon and I do like me some Decemberists (maybe it's a MeCha username thing?!). I'm quite tempted to go and see them, but it's a bit of a toss up between them and The Sadies.

posted by TheDonF 03 November | 15:58

jrossi4r, I'll email it to you. We'll see if that works.

posted by danf 03 November | 16:46

Thanks, mister!

posted by jrossi4r 03 November | 17:04

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