The Decemberists - Grace Cathedral Hill (from Castaways & Cutouts)

[@hanndull]

Listening to this song rn while sitting in front of Grace Cathedral on New Year’s Eve 🎶 ⛪️

[@Winterharbourmusic]

Just came from Ben Gibbards live stream on youtube in light of the coronavirus situation, and was amazed and flabbergasted by this song!

[@3ggztr3m3b33tz]

The fucking organ is the best sound I've heard today.

[@toilnblood]

I just had that same thought. Leslie methinks.

[@sleepymongoose6663]

"Grace Cathedral Hill" Grace Cathedral hill All wrapped in bones of setting sun All dust and stone and moribund I paid twenty-five cents to light A little white candle For a New Year's Day I sat and watched it burn away Then turned and weaved Through slow decay We were both a little hungry So we went to get hot dog Down to Hyde Street Pier The light was slight and disappeared The air it stunk of fish and beer We heard a Superman trumpet Play the national anthem And the world may be long for you But'll never belong to you But on a motorbike When all the city lights Blind your eyes tonight Are you feeling better now? Some way to greet the year: Your eyes all bright and Brim with tears The pilgrims, pills, and tourists here Will sink fifty-three bucks to buy A brand new halo Sweet on a green-eyed girl All fiery Irish clip and curl All brine and piss and vinegar I paid twenty-five cents to light A little white candle And the world may be long for you But'll never belong to you But on a motorbike When all the city lights Blind your eyes tonight Are you feeling better now?

[@knightwfu]

"And the world may be long for you\ but it will never belong to you\ But on a motorbike\ when all the city lights\ blind your eyes tonight\ Are you feeling better now?" I never figured out whom these words are meant for. The song details one new year evening spent in San Francisco. It begins in Grace Cathedral Hill at sunset and follows the narrator and a friend as they meander around the city on their motorbikes through the streets into the night, encountering the sight, sound, and smells of the city as it celebrates the New Year. Against what must be an infectiously loud and festive setting is a slow and melancholic tune that suggests an unmistakable sense of sadness and forlorn. Hence the message of the chorus, recalling the white candle in the cathedral burning down as the two of them looked on. It contrasts sharply with boisterousness suggested by the narration --- the new year's day tourists, the trumpet playing National anthem, the blinding lights of the street. The music plays out the mood of the narrator and his companion. The words "moribund", "decay", "wrapped in bones", "light was slight and disappeared", "white candle" suggest death, but the key seems to lie with the opening sentence of the chorus. Nonetheless, irrefutably is an unresolved sense of loss that continue to linger with the pair, isolating them from the world around them. Yet, they seek solace in the lights and their motorbike: "Some way to greet the year...Are you feeling better now?" Yet, whom are the chorus words for? Are they for the narrator's friend? To comfort her (is she the "green eyed girl, all fiery Irish clip and curl"?) through a time of loss. Or are they words for the narrator himself? Both? For our generation of night-crawlers, bathing in the city lights, never truly grasping or confronting just how little the world does belong to us, though it seems to need us; that we all are at one point vulnerable, sad, and helplessly isolated. I always thought good art must leave enough ambiguity to allow the audience to find meaning in a way that the artist never intended. Grace Cathedral Hill, at different times of my life, meant very different things. When I became melancholic, as is often customary for someone who suffers too readily the slings and arrows --- even if fortune is less than outrageous ---, I always returned to this song, to think on the different possibilities, as a way to tease out what sort of sad I am.

[@DelaTorreRebelFuture]

WOW... Knight Fu this is so beautiful. I have always connected in similar ways to this song. It can certainly bring me to tears... before reading your account I thought the pair was a boy and a girl. The green eyed girl and the boy pursuing her... after your reading I can't help wonder if they lost a child, perhaps a miscarriage, and whatever hope they had for their future has vanished. The candle is them mourning the dead. So here they are this beautiful pair moving through a beautiful city on the eve of a night that for many represent the shiny possibilities of the future... and their future is gone. Can their love survive?

[@The_LotionMan]

Blake Allyn well lyrics are subjective, what connects with some people may not connect with others

[@Biverix]

"But I am more sophisticated than most" lmao get a load of this ass

[@tarrasque419]

@@Biverix DUDE listen to his music.. you will shit your pants laughing

[@tarrasque419]

@The Burns Band how they fuck did you mean to write it then, you pretentious dick?

[@maryannslatteryburrows7228]

This song means so much to me. I just wrote a comment but it was too long to be accepted. A day of awakening to give up my bonds of codependency and freeing myself from service to sick and suffering damaged partners....I'll try to add my story and the impact Colin had on me. XO stay safe all.😷

[@ProfessorChomsky]

I repeat - this is the best of beautiful poetry, simply wonderful x

[@ProfessorChomsky]

A most beautiful, poetic, wonderful song that brings out all emotions in oneself - timeless beauty xx

[@maryannslatteryburrows7228]

Oh my the words you write are so true....I just spent an hour trying to express my thoughts on this song- powerful life story. I once had an English professor who focused on Poet's, especially Bob Dylan, changed my then young mind about music and meaning.. I will gladly share my story with anyone interested....xo stay safe in these uncertain times. 😷😎

[@nanothestrange]

i'm trying to learn this song on the guitar and the rhythm is just killing me. Damn you Colin Meloy

[@luisfersotelo7242]

Same with Here I dream I was an architect hahaha. Hope you were able to get it by now :)

[@ProfessorChomsky]

A revisit here although I listen to this song regularly - it's just such a beautiful poem added to wonderful music - a masterpiece xx

[@JesusFerbrando]

This song... i listen to while I ride around the city... and I want to feel better about pretty much anything else in the whole wide world, because I live in San Francisco and ride.

[@werds1392]

you might like the song "san fransico" by the mowglis if youre into hometown feels.

[@Nightshade_Rose]

My dad sings this song, it always puts me to sleep.

[@ChristinaLGtz]

This song will always make me think of you.

[@diegoberumen9357]

I had so much here.

[@kafkaOTS]

Perfection.

[@Tommy_1979]

Is perfect :')

[@sneekapeek707]

Did Ben send you here too?

[@jerrywolfram9014]

This song seems like a companion song to “on the bus mall”

[@ourladyoflourdes4068]

love that song, that one and this song just brings tears to my eyes

[@SportsFan0027]

Adam Savage sent me here from his scabbard video on 25/1/23

[@CaseyGoff]

Just here to hear Adam Savage's choice in work music. He's making a sword scabbard and requested this song from Alexa.

[@carsoncooper2682]

[@emmaarmstrong4443]

.

[@TheSabado215]

Ayno :/