The Hazards of Love 4

The Hazards of Love 4 , a song from the Decemberists' album "The Hazards of Love" is one of my favorite songs.  No, really. It's the last song in a rock opera about the adventures of Margaret, a lovely village girl, and her lover, William, a shape-shifting forest dweller.  William's adopted mother, the Queen of the Forest is jealous of Margaret, so she convinces 'The Rake' - a dishonest man with a violent history to abduct Margaret. The Rake takes Margaret across the River Annan, and because the river is so violent, William is not able to cross. In another song "Annan Waters" he makes a deal with the river, telling it that it may drown him on his return if it will allow him to pass now. He rescues Margaret, and in this last song, he fulfills his promise, marrying her as the water rises around him. It's a beautiful song, but I can't say the entire album is worth much. I'll post about the other decent songs in upcoming Music Mondays.

As a foot note, the title of the song invariably links to a Youtube video of the song. Thus, you can listen and read it at the same time.


"Margaret, array the rocks around the hole before we're sinking
A million stones, a million bones, a million holes within the chinking
And painting rings around your eyes, these peppered holes too filled with crying
A whispered weight 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 will-o'-wisp, our ghost to wander all of the water

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

But I pulled you and I called you here
(Didn't I? Didn't I? Didn't I?)
And I caught you and I brought you here
(Didn't I? Didn't I? Didn't I?)
These hazards of love
Never more will trouble us

O Margaret the lapping waves are licking quietly at our ankles
Another bow, another breath, this brilliant chill has come to shackle
With this long last rush of air, we'll speak our vows of starry whisper
And when the waves came crashing down, he closed his eyes and softly kissed her

But I pulled you and I called you here
(Didn't I? Didn't I? Didn't I?)
And I caught and I brought you here
(Didn't I? Didn't I? Didn't I?)
The hazards of love
Never more will trouble us
And these hazards of love
Never more will trouble us"