The Decemberists

I have fallen in love!

For a solid couple of weeks, virtually the only music I have listened to is that of The Decemberists, a group from the Portland, Oregon area.

I discovered them via last.fm, an online music community that has a downloadable radio that plays music based on a person's listening habits, which the site determines via the use of a plug-in for iTunes (or whatever player you might use). It creates a database based on what you've listened to in the past, then plays music it "thinks" you'd like.

Well... the more I listened to the last.fm radio, the more I heard The Decemberists, and the more I heard them, the more I liked them. I have since collected everything they've relased, as well as a two-CD re-release of the band's writer and lead singer Colin Meloy's college band — Tarkio.

NPR has a couple of concerts online — one of The Decemberists and a solo show by Meloy

Meloy is one of the most literate writers I've come across in a long time and his songs are often based on literature (he was an English major back in Missoula, Montana), and many of his songs have a very traditional feel to them. One of my favourites is "We Both Go Down Together"...

We Both Go Down Together

by Colin Meloy

Here on these cliffs of Dover
so high you can't see over
and while your head is spinning
hold tight it's just beginning

you come from parents' wanton
a childhood rough and rotten
I come from wealth and beauty
untouched by work or duty

and oh, my love, my love.
and oh, my love, my love.
We both go down together.

I found you, a tattooed tramp
A dirty daughter from the labor camps
I laid you down in the grass of the clearing
You wept, but your soul was willing

and oh, my love. my love.
and oh, my love. my love.
We both go down together.

And my parents will never consent to this love
But I hold your hand

Meet me on my vast veranda
My sweet untouched Miranda
and while the seagulls are crying
we fall but our souls are flying

and oh, my love. my love.
and oh, my love. my love.
and oh, my love. my love.
and oh, my love. my love.
We both go down together.

Oh, and there is no truth to the rumour that I only like them because my birthday is in December!

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