Song for the Moment
“The Rake’s Song” by The Decemberists.
I’ve made no bones about the fact that I love me some Decemberists. In general, I’d say any band who can write a 10-minute prog-ish song about “The Tempest” is aces in my book. But, luckily for them, the Decemberists have a lot more than that going for them.
The Crane Wife is one of my favorite albums from the past few years — so it was with great excitement that I heard this new Decemberists track on Sirius this weekend. A quick google search revealed that they have a new album coming out in March (The Hazards of Love), and this is their first single.
Let me tell you why I love “The Rake’s Song”. First, I appreciate the fact that they use the term “Rake”. I love this out-of-fashion term, and fully support any attempt to bring it back into everyday vernacular. Second, it rocks. I love the way the dirty guitar/fuzzy bass/pounding drums all work together. It makes me feel like I’m ready to go on some sort of rampage. Which brings me to the third reason why I love this song — it is fucking dark. Listen to the lyrics. Then, on the chorus, realize they’ve got a group of people — who sound like children — shouting along.
Bad. Ass. (Something I’ve never said about the Decemberists, though I love them so.)
All right? All right! All right.
