My Top 1000 Songs #866: Yankee Bayonet
[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.]
So... the Decemberists, huh? Mixed feelings for this band (as the fact that this is their first appearance on this site may suggest). At their best, I find their songs very stirring and emotional, Colin Meloy's vocals and the lyrical imagery and the sweetly folk-tinged but sometimes challenging music conjuring just a bit of Neutral Milk Hotel. But some of it's a little much for me (plus, saw them play a set at a day-long festival and it was kinda rough, though that was probably due more to external factors than their performance).
Overall, though, I really enjoy 2006's The Crane Wife, even if it's one of those intense records I only take out for an occasional ride. "Yankee Bayonet (I Will Be Home Them)" in particular grabs me, absolutely gorgeous, some strains of British folk and 70s prog, evocative wartime lyrics, those strangely captivating ah-ah-ahs; and of course I'm a massive sucker for boy-girl traded vocals (in this case provided by Laura Veirs).
Live 2019 (with Laura Veirs):It's turned into one of those songs where you can go down a YouTube rabbit-hole and just watch people playing it for hours...
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