Daily Rec [cognitive dissonance]

Today’s song is my favorite Decemberists song, bar none. By the transitive property, this makes it one of my favorite songs of all time.

As I usually do with the Daily Rec, I sat down with my super-fancy headphones and try to really pick apart the song, element by element. Much to my surprise, it’s not working. It’s not that I can’t identify what’s going on in the song, it’s that it’s so far over my head that I can’t begin to analyze it piece by piece. So, long story short, this song is comprised of a lot of layered string instruments. I don’t even know which string instruments, but I can assure you that they sound awesome. The general sound of the song is one massive, ethereal harmony. It’s actually kind of beautiful and the overall impression I would give of the song is that it sounds hopeful and somehow graceful.

So, in keeping with the harmonious, graceful atmosphere that the music creates, this is obviously a song about homeless child prostitutes. Not kidding. See, just check out this cheery verse:

And we laughed off the quick tricks
And the old men with limp dicks
On the colonnades at the waterfront park
As four in the morning
Came on cold and boring
We huddled close in the bus-stop enclosure enfolding
Our hands tightly holding

The thing is that the song, while about these two prostitutes (both male), is actually a pretty hopeful thing. If anything, it seems like the narrator is trying to convince his companion about just how good they have it. There are a number of ways to read the verse I’m about to quote below, but it’s hard to misinterpret the way it’s presented in the song: it sound exultant. If anything, the narrator is trying to point out that things really aren’t that bad, and that there’s something worth holding onto in their lifestyle.

And here in our hovel
We fuse like a family
But I will not mourn for you
So take up your make-up
And pocket your pills away
We’re kings among runaways
On the bus mall
We’re down on the bus mall.

The only caveat I would give to my analysis above the that the lines from:
But I will not mourn for you
So take up your make-up
And pocket your pills away
read somewhat like the narrator is trying to either return his companion/lover to his family or prevent him from committing suicide. But, if that is the case, it opens the song up to a number of interesting questions. Is the narrator putting on a falsely cheery front? Is he legitimately proud of what they’ve accomplished on their own? Is he simply turning the screws on someone who he thought was there for him? I don’t know which of these, if any, apply, but finding your own reading is part of the fun of the song. The real bottom line is that this song, along with We Both Go Down Together, is one of the very strongest examples of The Decemberists’ incredible pop songwriting abilities.