The Decemberists - The Crane Wife Album Lyrics

And under the boughs unbowed
All clothed in a snowy shroud
She had no heart so hardened
All under the boughs unbowed

Each feather it fell from skin
Till threadbare while she grew thin
How were my eyes so blinded?
Each feather it fell from skin

And I will hang my head, hang my head low
And I will hang my head, hang my head low

A gray sky, a bitter sting
A rain cloud, a crane on wing
All out beyond horizon
A grey sky, a bitter sting

And I will hang my head, hang my head low
And I will hang my head, hang my head low

[Come & See]

There's an island hidden in the sound
Lapping currents lay your boat to ground
Affix your barb and bayonet
The curlews carve their Arabesques
And sorrow fills the silence all around
Come and see

There's a harbor lost within the reeds
A jetty caught in over-hanging trees
Among the bones of cormorants
No boot mark here nor finger prints
The rivers roll down to a soundless sea
Come and see
Come and see

The tides will come and go
With this bare waking eye
Who rose like the wind
Though we know for sure
Amidst this fading light
We'll not go home again
Come and see
Come and see

In the lowlands, nestled in the heat
A briar cradle rocks it's babe to sleep
Its contents watched by Sycorax
And patagon in paralax
A foretold rumbling sounds below the deep
Come and see
Come and see

The tides will come and go
Witnessed by no waking eye
Who rose like the wind
Though we know for sure
Amidst this fading light
We'll not go home again
Come and see
Come and see

[The Landlord's Daughter]

As I was rambled
Down by the water
I spied in sable
The landlord's daughter
Produced my pistol, then my saber
To make no whistle or thou will be murdered

She cursed, she shivered
She cried for mercy,
"My gold and silver if thou will release me!"

I'll take no gold miss, I'll take no silver
I'll take those sweet lips, and I'll deliver

[You'll Not Feel The Drowning]

I will dress your eyelids
With dimes upon your eyes
Lay you close to water
Green your grave will rise
Go to sleep little ugly
Go to sleep you little fool
Forty-winking in the belfry
You'll not feel the drowning
You'll not feel the drowning

Forget you once had sweethearts
They've forgotten you
Think you not on parents
They've forgotten too
Go to sleep now little ugly
Go to sleep now you little fool
Forty-winking in the belfry
You'll not feel the drowning
You'll not feel the drowning

Go to sleep little ugly
Go to sleep little fool
Forty-winking in the belfry
You'll not feel the drowning
You'll not feel the drowning

Hear you now the captain
Heed his sorrowed cry
"Weight upon your eyelids
As dimes laid on your eyes"

Soldier: Heart carved tree trunk, Yankee bayonet
A sweetheart left behind

Girl: Far from the hills of the sea-swelled Carolinas
That's where my true love lies

Soldier: Look for me when the sun-bright swallow
Sings upon the birch bough high

Girl: But you are in the ground with the wolves and the weevils
All a-chew on your bones so dry

But when the sun breaks to no more bullets in Battle Creek
Then will you make a grave? For I will be home then
I will be home then
I will be home then
I will be home then
Then

Girl: When I was a girl how the hills of Oconee
Made a seam to hem me in

Soldier: There at the fair when our eyes caught, careless
Got my heart right pierced by a pin

Soldier: But O did you see all the dead of Manassas
All the bellies and the bones and the bile?

Girl: No, I lingered here with the blankets barren
And my own belly big with child

But when the sun breaks to no more bullets in Battle Creek
Then will you make a grave? For I will be home then
I will be home then
I will be home then
I will be home then

Soldier: And stems and bones and stone walls too
Could keep me from you
This skein of skin is all too few
To keep me from you

Solider and Girl: But O my love though our bodies may be parted
Though our skin may not touch skin
Look for me with the sun-bright sparrow
I will come on the breath of the wind

You belong to the gang
And you say you can't break away
But I'm here with my hands on my heart

Our families can't agree
I'm your brother's sworn enemy
But I'll shout out my love to the stars

So wait for the stone on your window, your window
Wait by the car and we'll go, we'll go

When first we laid eyes
I swore to no compromise
'Til I felt my caress on your skin

Well, how soon we were betrayed
Your sister gave us away
And your father came all unhinged

So wait for the stone on your window, your window
Wait by the car and we'll go, we'll go

But Oh Valencia
With your blood still warm on the ground
Valencia
And I swear to the stars
I'll burn this whole city down

All I heard was a shout
Of your brother calling me out
And you ran like a fool to my side

Well the shot, it hit hard
And your frame went limp in my arms
And an oath of love was your dying cry

So wait for the stone on your window, your window
Wait by the car and we'll, go we'll go

But Oh Valencia
With your blood still warm on the ground
Valencia
And I'll burn this whole city down
Valencia
With your blood getting cold on the ground
Valencia
And I swear to the stars
I'll burn this whole city down

Sing, muse, of the passion of the pistol
Sing, muse, of the warning by the whistle
On a night so dark in the waning
A dawn obscured by slate sky raining

Five and twenty burglars by the reservoir
A teenage lookout on the signal tower
The mogul's daughter in hog-tie
The mogul fingers the wrong guy, all lies

It was a perfect, the perfect, the perfect
The perfect, the perfect, the perfect
The perfect, perfect crime
It was a perfect, the perfect, the perfect
The perfect, the perfect, the perfect
The perfect, the perfect crime
It was the perfect crime

The bagman's quaking at the fingers
The hand-off glance a little lingers
A well-dressed man in the crosshairs
A shot rings out from somewhere upstairs

It was a perfect, the perfect, the perfect
The perfect, the perfect, the perfect
The perfect, the perfect crime
It was a perfect, the perfect, the perfect
The perfect, the perfect, the perfect
The perfect, the perfect crime
It was the perfect crime

It was like a ticker-tape parade
When the plastique on the safe was blown away
And we all gaze from eye to eye
As we mouth our silent goodbyes

The valley's sleeping like a bastard
It stinks of slumber and disaster
Two words are spoken with tap wire
The agent's ploy finds a surefire backfire

It was a perfect, the perfect, the perfect
The perfect, the perfect, the perfect
The perfect, the perfect crime
It was a perfect, the perfect, the perfect
The perfect, the perfect, the perfect
The perfect, the perfect crime

It was a perfect, the perfect, the perfect
The perfect, the perfect, the perfect
The perfect, the perfect, the perfect
The perfect, the perfect, the perfect
The perfect, the perfect, the perfect
The perfect, the perfect, the perfect
The perfect, the perfect, the perfect
The perfect, the perfect, the perfect
The perfect, the perfect, the perfect
The perfect, the perfect, the perfect
The perfect, the perfect crime

With all the grain of Babylon
To cultivate to make us strong
And hidden here behind the walls
Are shoulders wide and timber on
'Til the war came
'Til the war came

A terrible autonomy
Is grafted onto you and me
Our trust put in the government
They told their lies are heaven sent
'Til the war came
'Til the war came

And the war came with a curse and a caterwaul
And the war came with all the poise of a cannonball
And they're picking out our eyes by coal and candlelight
When the war came, the war came hard

We made our oath to Vavilov
We'd not betray the Solanum
The acres of asteraceae
To our own pangs of starvation
When the war came
When the war came

And the war came with a curse and a caterwaul
And the war came with all the poise of a cannonball
And they're picking out our eyes by coal and candlelight
When the war came, the war came hard

With all the grain of Babylon

Two, three, four

The Shankill butchers ride tonight
You better shut your windows tight
They're sharpening their cleavers and their knives
And taking all their whiskey by the pint

'Cause everybody knows
If you don't mind your mother's words
A wicked wind will blow
Your ribbons from your curls
Everybody moan, everybody shake
The Shankill butchers wanna catch you awake

They used to be just like me and you
They used to be sweet little boys
But something went horribly askew
Now killing is their only source of joy

'Cause everybody knows
If you don't mind your mother's words
A wicked wind will blow
Your ribbons from your curls
Everybody moan, everybody shake
The Shankill butchers wanna catch you awake

The Shankill butchers on the rise
They're waiting until the dead of nights
They're picking at their fingers with their knives
And wiping off their cleavers on their thighs

'Cause everybody knows
If you don't mind your mother's words
A wicked wind will blow
Your ribbons from your curls
Everybody moan, everybody shake
The Shankill butchers wanna catch you
The Shankill butchers wanna cut you
The Shankill butchers wanna catch you, awake
Awake
Awake
Awake

Ramblin' where to begin
I taste the summer on your peppery skin
Been saved the warmer the waves
I felt a slip into a watery grave

My girl, linen and curls
Lips parting like a flag all unfurled
She's grand the bend of her hand
Digging deep into the sweep of the sand

Summer arrives with a length of lights
Summer blows away
And quietly gets swallowed by a wave
It gets swallowed by a wave

Waylay the din of the day
Boats bobbing in the blue of the bay
In deep far beneath all the dead sailors
Slowly slipping to sleep

My girl, linen and curls
Lips parting like a flag all unfurled
She's grand the bend of her hand
Digging deep into the sweep of the sand

Summer arrives with a length of lights
Summer blows away
And quietly gets swallowed by a wave
It gets swallowed by a wave...

[The Crane Wife 1]
It was a cold night
And the snow lay 'round
I pulled my coat tight
Against the falling down
And the sun was all
And the sun was all down
And the sun was all
And the sun was all down

I am a poor man
I haven't wealth nor fame
I have my two hands
And a house to my name
And the winter's so
And the winter's so long
And the winter's so
And the winter's so long

And all the stars were crashing 'round
As I laid eyes on what I found

It was a white crane
It was a helpless thing
Upon a red stain
With an arrow its wing
And it called and cried
And it called and cried so
And it called and cried
And it called and cried so

And all the stars were crashing 'round
As I laid eyes on what I found
My crane wife, my crane wife
My crane wife, my crane wife

How I helped her
And how I dressed her wounds
And how I held her
Beneath the rising moon
And she stood to fly
And she stood to fly away
And she stood to fly
She stood to fly away

And all the stars were crashing 'round
As I laid eyes on what I found
My crane wife, my crane wife
My crane wife, my crane wife

[The Crane Wife 2]
My crane wife arrived at my door in the moonlight
All star bright and tongue-tied I took her in
We were married and bells rang sweet for our wedding
And our bedding was ready when we fell in

Sound the keening bell
And see it's painted red
Soft as fontanel
The feathers in the thread
When all I ever meant to do was to keep you
My crane wife
My crane wife
My crane wife

We were poorly, our fortunes fading hourly
And how she vowed me, she could bring it back
But I was greedy, I was vain and I forced her to weaving
On cold loom, in a closed room, with down wove

Sound the keening bell
And see it's painted red
Soft as fontanel
The feathers in the thread
When all I ever meant to do was to keep you
My crane wife
My crane wife

There's a bend in the wind and it rakes at my heart
There is blood in the thread and it rakes at my heart
It rakes at my heart

My crane wife

When we arrive, sons and daughters
We'll make our homes on the water
We'll build our walls aluminum
We'll fill our mouths with cinnamon now

These currents pull us 'cross the border
Steady your boats, arms to shoulder
Till tides all pull our hull aground
Making this cold harbour now home

Take up your arm
Sons and daughters
We will arise from the bunkers
By land, by sea, by dirigible
We'll leave our tracks untraceable now

When we arrive, sons and daughters (when we arrive, sons and daughters)
We'll make our lives on the water (we'll make our lives on the water)
We'll build our walls aluminum
We'll fill our mouths with cinnamon

When we arrive, sons and daughters (when we arrive, sons and daughters)
We'll make our homes on the water (we'll make our homes on the water)
We'll build our walls aluminum (we'll build our walls aluminum
We'll fill our mouths with cinnamon (we'll fill our mouths with cinnamon)
(We'll fill our mouths with cinnamon)

When we arrive, sons and daughters (when we arrive, sons and daughters)
We'll make our homes on the water (we'll make our homes on the water)
We'll build our walls aluminum (we'll build our walls aluminum)
We'll fill our mouths with cinnamon (we'll fill our mouths with cinnamon)
(We'll fill our mouths with cinnamon)

When we arrive, sons and daughters (when we arrive, sons and daughters)
We'll make our homes on the water (we'll make our homes on the water)
We'll build our walls aluminum (we'll build our walls aluminum)
We'll fill our mouths with cinnamon (we'll fill our mouths with cinnamon)
(We'll fill our mouths with cinnamon)
We'll build our walls aluminum, now

Hear all the bombs fade away
Hear all the bombs, they fade away
Hear all the bombs fade away
Hear all the bombs, they fade away
Hear all the bombs, they fade away
Hear all the bombs fade away
Hear all the bombs fade away
Hear all the bombs fade away
Hear all the bombs fade away
Hear all the bombs fade away
Hear all the bombs fade away
Hear all the bombs fade away
Hear all the bombs fade away
Hear all the bombs fade away
Hear all the bombs fade away
Hear all the bombs fade away
Hear all the bombs fade away
Hear all the bombs fade away
Hear all the bombs fade away
Hear all the bombs fade away