Day 18: Cocoon – The Decemberists
I like me a good lullaby. I have a whole playlist on Spotify dedicated to “sleepytime” music – music that I know will help me relax and fall asleep. Typically something with a slow, rocking melody will get me there pretty fast. Songs like “Cocoon,” that lull you into a false sense of security.
From one of their premier albums “Castaways and Cutouts,” “Cocoon” is a lullaby about war. It has a very soothing melody and chill drumbeat, but it tells the story of wartime.
This cocoon, caught in Vesuvius’ shadow
Only the ashes remain
And I waited there for you
Why couldn’t you?
Here we lie waiting for something to startle
To shake us from gravity’s pull
And so the sleeping hours are through
What can we do?
This song evidently takes place in Italy during WWII, and the fallout from the war in the country. The protagonist has found somewhere safe in the midst of “Vesuvius’ shadow.” Though this is the setting of the song, it also has parallels to the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York City, especially since this album came out in 2002. Just take a look at these lyrics, crooned by frontman Collin Meloy.
The sorry conclusion, the low dirty war, it happened before you came to
But this is solution, and this is amends
The joke always tends to come true
But there on your windowsill over the unmoving platoon
Written in paperback, the view to the quarterback’s room
Under waning moon
Meloy alludes to a “sorry conclusion” and “low dirty war,” referencing the US’s relations with the Middle East and the war that came as a result. It’s even more evident in the next verse.
The tainted election, the hole in the sky
Command what is tried, what is true
But without solution, with feet on the ground
It won’t make a sound ’til you’re through
So loosen your shoulderblades
This is your hour to make due
Because there on the timberline
Deep cold November shines through
Soft and absolute
The 2000 election was still fresh in everyone’s minds during 9/11, which left a “hole in the sky.” These attacks led to a sense of new-found patriotism in the United States that lasted for awhile. We developed a “make do” attitude in the midst of uncertainty. Some people, however, were waiting for “deep cold November” when they could boot people out of office.
A lot of songs I’ve focused on this month have been songs whose lyrics juxtapose their sound. This chill, relaxing song is actually a political commentary of sorts. You wouldn’t think it if you spaced out when you listened to it, but if you really hear the lyrics, it makes all the difference.
Day 19: Savannah – Relient K
Every couple has their “spot” that’s their favorite. It might be a few different places, or the specific place they met. My boyfriend and I met at a coffee shop that is now closed down, but we’ve managed to find a new coffee shop which has become our “spot” when we don’t know where else to hang out.
For Relient K frontman Matt Thiessen, him and his former lover’s “spot” was Savannah, Georgia. To him, Savannah is a place where all of their problems would disappear, a place where they could return to normalcy. At least, that’s how it is in his head. On paper, it’s much different, because they’re not together anymore. Redman’s idealistic view of Savannah is punctuated by the easygoing melody behind it.
Savannah
I hope to be there by the morning
And see this pining all transforming
Into the arms of the Georgia sun
Savannah
I’d love to feel the heat the sunrise
Brushing rays across my windshield as if one dries
The streams from off my face
Thiessen is hoping that somehow, he and his former lover can return to “Savannah,” the place where everything was okay, before problems began to arise. But typically, broken relationships can’t go back to “normal.”
Yet I know you’ll be there
‘Cause you’ll know I’ll want you to be there and we’ll say hello
as I’m smiling in love
And we’ll sigh so relieved
I believe because we will both know by tonight
We’ll feel normal again
But until then
I’m not sure what made Thiessen and his love breakup, but it might have been that idealism that everything is okay, even when it’s not. That usually means a lack of honesty. “Savannah” is a good place for a vacation, but maybe not a permanent stay.
Audrey D. DeBoer 