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The Decemberists
The Decemberists


Background information
Origin Portland, Oregon, United States
Genre(s) Indie Rock
Folk-Rock
Art Rock
Baroque Pop
Progressive Rock
Years active 2000—present
Label(s) Capitol Records
Kill Rock Stars
Website Website
Members
Colin Meloy
Chris Funk
Jenny Conlee
Nate Query
John Moen
Former members
Jesse Emerson
Ezra Holbrook
Rachel Blumberg
David Langenes
Petra Haden



Music World  →  Lyrics  →  T  →  The Decemberists  →  Albums  →  The Hazards Of Love

The Decemberists Album


The Hazards Of Love (03/24/2009)
03/24/2009
1.
Prelude
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
An Interlude
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
. . .

Prelude

[No lyrics]

. . .


My true love went riding out
in white and green and gray
past the pale of office wall
where she was want to stray
and there she came upon
a white and wounded faun

Singing
Oh, oh
the hazards of love

she, being full of charity,
a credit to her sex
saught to right the faun's hind legs
when here her plans were vexxed
The ? shifted strange
the beast began to change

Singing
Oh, oh
The hazards of love
Singing
Oh, oh oh oh
The hazards of love
You'll learn soon enough
The prettiest whistles won't wrestle the thistles undone
Undone

Fifteen ? maidens lay
along in their bower
fourteen occupations pay
to pass the idle hour

Margret heaves a sigh
Her hands clasped to her thigh

Singing
Oh, oh
The hazards of love
Singing
Oh, oh oh oh
The hazards of love
you'll learn soon enough
The prettiest whistles won't wrestle the thistles undone
undone
undone
undone
undone

. . .


Thou unconsolable daughter
said the sister
when wilt thou trouble the water
said the sister

and what irascible (?)
is the father

and when young Margaret's waistline
grew wider
the fruit of her amorous entwine
inside her

And so our heroine withdraws
to the Taiga

. . .


Gentle leaves, gentle leaves
Please array a path for me
The woods are blowing thick and fast around

Columbine, Columbine
Please alert this love of mine
Let him know his Margaret comes along

And all this stirring inside my belly
won't quell my want for love
And I may swoon from all this swaying
But I won't want for love


Mistlethrush, Mistlethrush
Lay me down in the underbrush
My naked feet grow weary with the dusk

Willow Boughs, Willow Boughs,
Make a bed to lay me down
Let your branches bow to cradle us

And all this stirring inside my belly
won't quell my want for love
And I may swoon from all this swaying
But I won't want for love

Oh, my own true love
Oh, my own true love
Can you hear me, love?
Can you hear me, love?

And all this stirring inside my belly
won't quell my want for love
And I may swoon from all this swaying
But I won't want for love

Won't want for love...
Won't want for love...
Won't want for love...

. . .


And here I am
softer than a shower
and here I am
to garland you with flowers

to lay you down
in clover bed
the stars a roof
above our heads

and all my life
I never felt the tremor
and all my life
that now disturbs my fingers

I lay you down
in clover bed
the stars a roof
above our heads

And we'll lie in the ? ? ?
? the weight of our summer clothes
and I'd wager all

The hazards of love
The hazards of love

And take my hand
and cradle it in your hand
and take my hand
to feel the pull of quicksand

I lay you down
in clover bed
the stars a roof
above our heads

and we'll lie in the ? ? ?
? the weight of our summer clothes
and I'd wager all

The hazards of love
The hazards of love
The hazards of love
The hazards of love

. . .


I'm
Made of bones of the branches
The boughs and the brow-beating light

While my feet are the trunks
And my head is the canopy high

And my fingers extend
to the leaves
and the eaves
and the (bright?)

Might I shine?
It's my shine (child?)

He
Was a baby abandoned
entombed in a cradle of claim (clay?)

And I was a soul
Who took pity
And stole him away

And gave him the form of
A fawn to inhabit
By day

Bright Eyes, stay
It's my day

And you
Have removed this temptation
that's troubled my innocent child

To abduct and abuse and to render, (bereft?) and defiled

But the river is deep
To the banks and the water is wild,
I will fly you
To the far side

. . .


Isn't a lovely night
and so alive
with fireflies
providing us their holy light

and here we made a bed of boughs
and thistle down
that we had found
to lay upon the dewey ground

and isn't it a lovely day
we got in from our play
isn't it ?
a sweet little baby

and wasn't it a lovely breeze
that swept the leaves
of arbor reeves
and bent a brush of blushing knees

and here we died our little deaths
and we were left to catch our breaths
so swiftly lifting from our chests

and isn't a lovely way
we got in from our play
isn't it ?
a sweet little baby

. . .


Colin:

Mother I can hear your foot-fall now
Soft disturbance in the dead-fall how
It proceeds you like a black smoke pall
Still the wanting comes in waves
And you delivered me from danger then
Pulled my cradle from the reedy glen
Swore to save me from the world of men

Still the wanting comes in waves
In waves
And waves
And the wanting comes in waves
And the wanting comes in waves

And I want this night
And I want this night
Oh

Shara:

How I made you
I wrought you, I pulled you
From war I labored you
From cancer I cradled you
And now

This is how I am repaid
This is how I am repaid

Remember when I found you
The miseries that hounded you
And I gave you motion
Anointed with lotions
And now

This is how I am repaid
This is how I am repaid

Colin:

Mother hear this proposition right
Grant me freedom to enjoy this night
And I'll return to you at break of light
For the wanting comes in waves
And waves
And waves
Still the wanting comes in waves
Still the wanting comes in waves
Still the wanting comes in waves
And you owe me life
And you owe me life

Shara:

And if I grant you this favor to hand you
Your life for the evening
I will retake by morning
And so
Consider it your debt repaid
Consider it your debt repaid
Repaid
Repaid

. . .

An Interlude

[No lyrics]

. . .


I had entered into a marriage
In the summer of my twenty-first year
And the bells rang for our wedding
Only now do I remember it clear
Alright, alright, alright

No more a rake and no more a bachelor
I was wedded and it whetted my thirst
Until her womb start spilling out babies
Only then did I reckon my curse
Alright, alright, alright
Alright, alright, alright

First came Eziah with his crinkled little fingers
Then came Charlotte and that wretched girl Dawn
Ugly Myfanwy died on delivery
Mercifully taking her mother along
Alright, alright, alright

What can one do when one is widower
Shamefully saddled with three little pests
All that I wanted was the freedom of a new life
So my burden I began to divest
Alright, alright, alright
Alright, alright, alright

Charlotte I buried after feeding her foxglove
Dawn was easy, she was drowned in the bath
Eziah fought but was easily bested
Burned his body for incurring my wrath
Alright, alright, alright

And that's how I came your humble narrator
To be living so easy and free
Expect you think that I should be haunted
But it never really bothers me
Alright, alright, alright
Alright, alright, alright

. . .


and all the while whispering arbors
provide cover

what previous witnessed ardor
of our lovers

our heroine here falls prey to
her abductor

all a gallop with margaret slung ?
crossed ?

having clamped her innocent fingers
in ?

this villain was calculated crossing
the river

. . .


-The Queen-
I'm made of bones of the branches the boughs and the bough beating light
well my feet are the trunks, my head is the canopy
and my fingers extend to the leaves in the eves

and a bright, brighter shine
It's my shine

and he
was a baby abandoned
intombed in a cradle of clay
and I was a soul who took pity and stole him away
and gave him the form of a faun to inhabit

and a day, brightest day
It's my day

and you
have removed this temptation that's troubled my innocent child
to abduct and abuse
and to render ? and defiled
but the river is deep to the base of the water

and I
I will fly you
to the far side

. . .


annan water
you loom so deep and wide
I'll cross over
if you would stem the tide
build a boat
that I might ? the other side
to reach the farther shore
where my true love lies in wait for me
in wait for me
in wait for me
in wait for me

Oh, gray river
your waters ramble while
the horses shiver
and bide against the bridal
but I will cross
if mine own horse is pulled from me
though my mother cries that if I try
I sure will drown it be
Will drown it be
will drown it be
will drown it be

but if you cull
and let me pass
you may render me a wreck
when I come back
so calm your waves
and slow the churn
and you may have my precious bones on my return

annan water
oh hear my true love's call
hear her holler
above your water's pall
god, that I could
that my two arms could give me way
and I would cross your breath
and rest my breast about her amber ring
her amber ring
her amber ring

But if you cull
and let me pass
you may render me a wreck
when I come back
so calm your waves
and slow the churn
and you may have my precious bones
on my
on my
Return

. . .


I have snipped your wingspan
My precious captive swan
Here all clipped of (?)
Your spirit won't last long

Don't you lift a finger
Don't you snap and jaw
Limber limbs akimbo
Rest till rubbing raw


Oh my own true love! Oh my own true love!
Can you hear me, love? Can you hear me, love?

Don't hold out for rescue
None can hear your call
Till I have wrest and wrecked you
Behind these fortress walls

Oh my own true love! Oh my own true love!
Can you hear me, love? Can you hear me, love?

. . .


Father I'm not feeling well
the flowers me you fed
Tasted spoiled for suddenly
I find that I am dead
But father don't you fear
your children all are here
singing ooooh the hazards of love

Father turn the water down
the basins overflown
the water covers everything
and me left all alone
but papa here in death
I have regained my breath
to sing ooooh the hazards of love
to sing ooooh the hazards of love

Spare the rod, you'll spoil the child
but I prefer the lash
my sisters drowned and poisoned
all of me reduced to ash
and buried in an urn
but father I return
singing ooooh the hazards of love
singing ooooh the hazards of love
the hazards of love
the hazards of love

. . .


Colin:

Mother I can hear your foot-fall now
Soft disturbance in the dead-fall how
It proceeds you like a black smoke pall
Still the wanting comes in waves
And you delivered me from danger then
Pulled my cradle from the reedy glen
Swore to save me from the world of men

Still the wanting comes in waves
In waves
And waves
And the wanting comes in waves
And the wanting comes in waves

And I want this night
And I want this night
Oh

Shara:

How I made you
I wrought you, I pulled you
From war I labored you
From cancer I cradled you
And now

This is how I am repaid
This is how I am repaid

Remember when I found you
The miseries that hounded you
And I gave you motion
Anointed with lotions
And now

This is how I am repaid
This is how I am repaid

Colin:

Mother hear this proposition right
Grant me freedom to enjoy this night
And I'll return to you at break of light
For the wanting comes in waves
And waves
And waves
Still the wanting comes in waves
Still the wanting comes in waves
Still the wanting comes in waves
And you owe me life
And you owe me life

Shara:

And if I grant you this favor to hand you
Your life for the evening
I will retake by morning
And so
Consider it your debt repaid
Consider it your debt repaid
Repaid
Repaid

. . .


Margaret arrayed the rocks around the hull before it was sinking,
A million stones, a million bones, a million holes within the chinking.

And painting rings around your eyes these peppered holes so filled with crying.
A whisper weighed upon the tattered down where you and I were lying.

Tell me now, tell me this, A forest's son, a river's daughter,
A willow on the willow wisp, our ghosts will wander all of the water.

So let's be married here today these rushing waves to bare our witness,
And we will lye like river stones rolling only where it takes us.

Chorus:
But I pulled you and I called you here,
And I caught you and I brought you here
These hazards of love, never more will trouble us.

Oh Margaret the lapping waves are licking quietly at our ankles
another bow another breath this brilliant chill's come for the shackle.

With this long last rush of air we speak our vows and sorry whispers,
when the waves came crashing down, he closed his eyes and softly kissed her.

But I pulled you and I called you here,
And I caught you and I brought you here
These hazards of love, never more will trouble us.
And these hazards of love, never more will trouble us.

. . .


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