The Decemberists - On the Bus Mall (from Picaresque)

[@RyanMurphy-wv4xc]

Don’t think The Decemberists ever outdid themselves after this one. Masterpiece

[@greenwave819]

of their many many wonders, you know this one is special to them

[@greenwave819]

They dont shy away from telling us that matching blue raincoats are a true rarity

[@ProfessorChomsky]

The crux of the song for me: "As four in the morning came on, cold and boring We huddled close In the bus stop enclosure enfolding Our hands tightly holding" Fucking beautiful xx

[@auto_5]

Straight blue collar guy here. Yep.

[@greenwave819]

it's like our human bond can and is the greatest force on this planet named Earth

[@jph4889]

Maybe not everyone has this reaction to this song, but it makes my cry every time I hear it. I listen to it maybe once every year or so. It's just too evocative.

[@irritableperson6568]

literally me too

[@Vanedis]

Me too, figuratively.

[@fangeve5560]

me too literally

[@jillian3047]

i watched them perform this live last night. there were tears. you're not alone.

[@djagaming2469]

I listen to it every day. I love sad music. It makes me feel happy for some reason. Sleepless by The Decemberists made me cry the first time I heard it.

[@toilnblood]

It's always raining in this song for me. The ride cymbal to me is just 'rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain' .

[@KidCorporate]

This song accurately describes Portland Oregon, so that makes sense.

[@yesithabatepola]

So I was so in love with a girl back in 2011. We went out for some time and broke up because she moved to another country for studies. The months leading up to her departure and the break up that happened as a result of my own immature behaviors, was an emotional turmoil in my life. It was a tough year for me. Anyway, one of the songs in my playlist that really kept me going was this song - along with 'Ocean Spray' by The Manic Street Preachers. This song and a dozen more was always on my phone wherever I went to, keeping me accompanied, be it reminiscing moments, drunk times, exam times or eventual times I had a smoke. This song was always there to remind me that this life is just a bus mall and we're here temporarily for the bus to come to depart for the next stop. Fast-forward to 2018, the same girl I mentioned above came back to me and we're now happily married. Not that all the times we spend together are all equally great and amazing. We do fight, argue and get angry each other. It just makes the relationship a sacred task to always keep nurturing. Anyway, sorry for spilling my guts out here, it's just that I have a huge emotional attachment to this song in my life and I sure do hope someone else also will find composure and consolance in it. Cheers guys! Lest we meet up in the bus mall!

[@jessilucas]

:)

[@MasterOfPuppet714]

This very song hits me right in the feels every time. My relation of 3 years, to the love of my life, ended abruptly without warning 2 months ago. She left me for another man. The emotional and physical pain was unbearable... something I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemy. My world came crashing down all around me. My soul was stagnant and numb. I gave every ounce of my heart and soul to her from the day I laid eyes on her. I wasn't perfect, but I loved her unconditionally. I had faults and screwups. I think every relationship does. Nothing is perfect. You have to work at it everyday. Don't give up on each other. See the good in each other. Compromise and communicate. If you truly love someone, cherish every single second you have with them....because in the blink of an eye it can be over and gone. Work on being a better person everyday. Love yourself first, before you try and love another. If for some crazy reason, you read this monica....I just want you to know that I will never, ever stop loving you. You're the love of my life, and I'll feel that way about you until I draw my last breath on this earth. I miss your laugh and your smile the most. You haunt my dreams every night. And yes she went to her higher studies abroad and left me behind. i feel you brother. Dont give up !

[@iliaspergantis7031]

Fucking hell man, why do you have to bring tears to my eyes like that

[@graventyIer]

Yesitha Batepola that’s beautiful man. Thank you for sharing, makes a young man like me excited for love.

[@thomasbruinsma]

I didn't know the comment section had mirrors these days..

[@logank386]

"you left without leaving" has always stuck with me from this song. Deep meaning for me there

[@stevewalsh5479]

It makes sense when you read the whole line: "You left without leaving a note for your grieving sweet mother."

[@NeptuneCheeseCake]

@@stevewalsh5479 honestly, I think it’s both. Yes, it makes sense when taking into account the full line, but “left without leaving” itself is a very powerful phrase - it implies a sudden departure, a lack of closure, a tragedy - and I think Collin would have been aware of that when he wrote the song.

[@JBinOtown]

Best thing they ever did. Impossibly nostalgic, romantic, crammed with feeling. Looking back at the days of youth

[@aethrya]

This brings back so many memories of me and my partner hitchhiking around the country back in 2011. We were young and free and full of wonder and curiosity about the world. We met so many amazing people, had some really tough times, and really amazing times. This song will always bring me right back to sleeping on the side of freeways, hitching rides, meeting other travelers, and seeing all that we did.

[@matthewmitchell5262]

I don't know how this song managed to make me look back on my years spent turning tricks fondly... but it did...

[@mobleymouse]

Matthew Mitchell even our lowest points can sound beautiful through the voice of Colin Meloy. I'm right there with you.

[@huntingtonsdiseaseawarenes850]

we all learn from the same mistakes and make light of it somehow

[@inkoinfinity2]

I'm not judging but...what did I just read?

[@Justin-wz9pr]

Comfortably within my top 10 favorite songs of all time.

[@inkoinfinity2]

Great avatar,cool album

[@greenwave819]

what other songs can come on wet and cold at 4 in the morning? Hovel and fuse like a family? this song is more real than last nights diner which I didnt eat

[@kris10g737]

I just re-discovered this song during quarantine. I used to be obsessed with it in the early 00s and haven’t heard it since then. It’s bringing me an odd sense of peace. Like you can find and appreciate love in the most dire circumstances. It resonates right now.

[@Sunjamaa]

This song is aging gracefully by my side ❤️

[@duhglass]

This whole album is just so well crafted. One of my favorites. It will never get old.

[@greenwave819]

A pillar for us to better ourselves by and by which to commemorate

[@Chernobog34]

This is one of the only Decemberists songs I'll sing out loud in my car. Even with other people with me.

[@dickbates1886]

Great song from a great time in my teenage years. It helped me feel detached in such s way that only a runaway might seek. Three cheers to Colin and the rest of the band, they're incredible.

[@the9thanthology]

I think it's so cool how everyone thinks about their past when they listen to this song. Truly a hauntingly beautiful song. :')

[@greenwave819]

I was once young enough to think about my future while hearing this masterpiece. still smiling

[@greenwave819]

I always think of my future. like walking outside from a Trader Joes!

[@haileytollner658]

I plan on listening to this to keep from getting homesick. I doubt it will work. I love you, Portland.

[@jtech4]

This song feels so free. No matter what they went through they were free.

[@LuigyEstrella]

Way back when, maybe like 2008ish, there used to be a cover of this song on KZbin. A guy playing it on his 12 string and singing. I think about it a lot...I'd give anything to find it again for nostalgia, but alas. So many amazing song covers over the years that aren't here anymore for whatever reason.

[@daniell5618]

In matching blue raincoats Our shoes were our show boats We kicked around From stairway to station We made a sensation With the gadabout crowd And oh, what a bargain We're two easy targets For the old men at the off-tracks Who've paid in palaver And crumpled old dollars Which we squirreled away In our rat trap hotel by the freeway And we slept-in Sundays Your parents were anxious Your cool was contagious At the old school You left without leaving A note for your grieving Sweet mother, while Your brother was so cruel And here in the alleys Your spirits were rallied As you learned quick to make a fast buck In bathrooms and barrooms On dumpsters and heirlooms We bit our tongues Sucked our lips into our lungs 'til we were falling Such was our calling And here in our hollow we fuse like a family But I will not mourn for you So take up your makeup And pocket your pills away We're kings among runaways On the bus mall We're down On the bus mall Among all the urchins and old Chinese merchants Of the old town We reigned at the pool hall With one iron cue ball And we never let the bastards get us down And we laughed off the quick tricks The old men with limp dicks On the colonnades of the waterfront park As four in the morning came on, cold and boring We huddled close In the bus stop enclosure enfolding Our hands tightly holding But here in our hollow we fuse like a family But I will not mourn for you So take up your makeup And pocket your pills away We're kings among runaways On the bus mall We're down On the bus mall We're down On the bus mall We're down Down on the bus mall Oh ooh oh

[@johnnyboy5491]

One of my favourite songs of all time. And I like some songs!

[@allisoncollins9178]

as four in the morning came on cold and boring, we huddled close in the bus stop enclosure enfolding. our hands tightly holding. that lyric will always be about you and I, Amber.

[@JennRighter]

It will always be about Kelli and I. It wrenches my heart to this day.

[@Mbains]

My Absolute Favorite of ALL their songs 🎵 💗

[@stevewalsh5479]

This song always gives me chills. No, I can't relate to being male-prostitute runaways, but it's poingant and just brilliant songwriting nonetheless.

[@greenwave819]

I think the song is more about his significant other being a prostitute. or at least that is how it has sounded to me. either would seem unfathomable.

[@quinncaldwell1846]

this song reminds me so much of my own private idaho

[@utubeleo5037]

This makes me think of (and miss, and appreciate) a lost friend.

[@secondconflict570]

This song never fails to make me cry a little.

[@DangerAaron21]

I plan on this song playing for my funeral service. One of my all time favorites ❤️😁👍🏻👍🏻🍩

[@rosewater3]

My favourite song by them! I call it my bitter sweet tune ✌️💙✨

[@professorplum3858]

This song always makes me think of my wife back when we were just friends out of high school. I really do love that lady.

[@madisonhernandez7245]

When I was a freshman my color guard instructor would always play this song when we were stretching. My sophomore year we found out she quite the day before the first day of band camp because she got a job offer up North. Our new instructor was incredibly mean and made a bunch of girls quit, some who were seniors and had been doing color guard since their freshman year. I’m a senior now and still thinking about her listening to this song.

[@xXDJllamap3tt3rXx]

This song was always playing on the college station here around the time I got my current job. I look back at this time period with a lot of nostalgia.

[@greenwave819]

These lyrics!!

[@soakedbootcuts]

This song is so soothing

[@g33fer94]

Great acoustic guitar track. Love the Decemberists

[@NationalParkMysteries]

RUSTY ESMUS! My ex... and this song. I'm married to someone else now. But I still have memories with my ex driving down the freeway listening to this cd. -Bill V.

[@PokeMetro]

'we're kings among runaways'

[@cliftonb]

Thirteen years ago today. The greatest thirteen years of my life thus far.

[@wojakjames_9266]

good god this is insufferably beautiful. fucking goosebumps and likely tears too in a bit

[@ColinKillick]

One of the most hauntingly beautiful queer love songs ever written. I don't know if Colin Meloy found this story or invented it, but dear god does it ring true.

[@jamesporter5468]

I don't think the song is necessarily queer but it's a great song whatever helps you enjoy it

[@PalisadePeryton]

​@@jamesporter5468How did you interpret this as not being queer? The narrator is a man singing about his relationship with another man

[@pcgreen]

This reminds me of a wonderfully dirty Portland Oregon......Good days.

[@KidCorporate]

We Portlanders all know this particular bus mall, some of us too well.

[@e7thstar]

You guys need to stay in Portland and stop spreading your disease...don't compare this beautiful music to your drug ridden town

[@KS-bo5bg]

@@e7thstar hey idiot? The band is FROM Portland

[@e7thstar]

@@KS-bo5bg did you Wikipedia that? No shit. Portland is still trash

[@KS-bo5bg]

@@e7thstar Only trash I see around here is you.

[@moricwilson]

When I hear this one I always think of my best friend from years past, who I never got to express my love for. Hits hard man. Edit: Finally told him after nearly a decade of keeping it a secret. He was understanding and supportive.

[@kyleallen1858]

Such a damn good song

[@oceanside8034]

bless this song

[@toilnblood]

This is basically "Here's Where the Story Ends" with different lyrics. (and I still love this song anyway .. well, I love both songs so I guess that makes sense)

[@peptobismol2735]

this is so Alyssa and James and it makes me cry

[@ProfessorChomsky]

Just magnificent x

[@Tareadetonto]

Que recuerdos!!

[@spiral8003]

Thanks StumpleUpon and RIP kinda.

[@SuperDJD96]

Cmaj7 hits like a ton of bricks

[@capslockcapable1719]

I don't know why, because the lyrics don't at all sustain it, but this song reminds me of Jill Paton Walsh's novel, Fireweed. It was, to preteen me, what The Far Pavilions would be in my teenage years, an impossibly chaste vision of adulthood. I don't know why I prize these memories so highly.

[@may-hs7iu]

i just wanna be fucking loved. i wanna be shown off by someone, and i want that someone to be proud to call me theirs. hey you, if youre that someone... _iloveyou_

[@Ally_77777]

Damn good song.

[@luna-tm6ni]

the song i listen to, nervous for the day my best friend and i are gonna run away

[@JennRighter]

This song makes me remember when my best friend and I did run away, back in the mid nineties. This song wrenches my heart like almost no other song. It’s so reminiscent of that time.

[@inkoinfinity2]

@@JennRighter how'd that go?

[@raoulduke8170]

❤

[@greenwave819]

music beyond our ability to hear

[@bensgoogle]

It's hard for me not to whistle the melody from Avett Brothers' "At the Beach" during the I-IV alternating chords in this song.

[@elaaphos]

Hey, I love the avett brothers!

[@dellbrandstone7426]

Anyone else feel like this would have fit in nicely into the soundtrack of Life is Strange ?

[@LaBlueGrrl]

Before the Storm bonus track, definitely

[@greenwave819]

Connecting pong to an old TV?

[@TheHSIHP]

Got a Pink Floyd Animals feel

[@ryandooner1440]

Sounds kind of like Oasis to me.

[@juuhmorais3550]

[@CyberCriminal777]

a song about some teen's who ran away then became prostitutes but a good song.

[@Trazynn]

The rejected Coldplay song.

[@luna-tm6ni]

gift to the gays

[@JadeEliot]

gay anthem

[@clottedscream]

Lup and Taako

[@kayliehutson02859]

YES

[@VarnasL]

Elliot Smith's cover ripoff, tell me it wasn't their idea...

[@Genny-Zee]

These bands songs sound all the same. Tried to get into them cuz they are from Portland but all their songs sound samey whiny

[@meowkittenface]

Disagree. Explore them more.

[@ICECREAMASSASSIN]

In New Orleans a random stranger and I connected for a short while. This song makes it fanciful to my heart altering my memories for delightful recollection. I choose to enjoy fiction based on my experiences. My dreams torture me with the best that could have been. Fun fact destroyed by the local government: In the French Quarter there was a light pole and metal frame around an old public phone that when touched hand to hand individually or together caused a weird electrical frequency that caused pleasure. The special uniqueness is an exceptional experience in the past. Not trying to be exclusive...yet it's a beautiful isolated reality that only a few of us have had.