¤ milky moon ¤

a cover
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60UA5WOH ... el&list=UL

is the person who did this on the forums?

I confess. It's me. Oh, wait a minute! You've met me. Never mind.

My first thought was an image from Mary Renault's "The Bull From The Sea:" Theseus first seeing the Bull of Marathon. The image is hazy. It has been a long time since reading it.

had a real craving to listen to this today, it's so beautiful! I think I like this track more than the other one we've heard so far. The melodies are gorgeous.

I hadn't listened to The Diver's Wife in weeks, but on reading Weirdelves' post above, I was minded to do so, and I have to agree! It's delicious and so perfectly suited to her harp.

I think I can settle some lyrical questions after seeing Joanna play this tonight!

A diver is my love
And I am his, if I am not deceived
Who takes one breath above for every hour below the sea

Who gave to me a jewel
Worth twice this woman's life
Though it cost her less
Than laying at low tide to see her true love phosphoresce

And in an infinite regress
Tell me why is the pain of birth
Lighter borne than the pain of death?
I ain't saying that I loved you first
But I loved you best

I know we must abide
Each by the rules that bind us here
The divers and the sailors and the women on the pier

How do you choose your form?
How do you choose your name?
How do you choose your life?
How do you choose the time you must exhale and kick and rise?

And in an infinite capsize
Like a boat tearing down the coast
Double hulls bearing double masts
I don't know if you loved me most
But you loved me last

The cold word you gave
To count your way across the depths of this arid world
Where you will yoke the waves that lay a bed of shining pearls

I dream it every night
The ringing of the pail
The motes of sand dislodge the shucking, quick and bright
The twinned and cast-off shells reveal a single heart of white

And in an infinite backslide
Ancient boulders sink past the west
Like a sword at the bearer's fall
I can't claim that I knew you best
But did you know me at all?

A woman is alive, a woman is alive
You do not take her for a siren
An anchor in the storm, alone, unfaceted and fine

And never will I wed
I'll hunt the pearl of death
To the bottom of my life
And ever hold my breath 'til I may be the diver's wife

See how the infinite divides
And the divers are not to blame
For the rift spanning distant shores
You don't know my name
But I know yours

Thank you, Claire!

I still hear "Recall the word you gave" and "An anchor on a stone" on this recording. Are you pretty sure of what you heard live?

Do you really trust your memory of how it sounded more than multiple recordings of it? I can clearly hear the "th" sound. She'd have to be saying "The colduh word" and giving "duh" its own syllable/note in the song.

I don't mean anything insulting by what I said, it's always possible, but I really don't hear it at all

Hey all,

I think I have a correction for one of the lines in this song that I figured I would put out there before we all get our definitive lyrics. I've been hearing it this way ever since the recordings from Pitchfork came out, and for some reason I thought others had heard it the same way and put it out in this thread, but I guess not. Anyway:

"An anchor on a stone" --> "In nacre on a stone"

Nacre (nay-ker), aka mother of pearl, composes the inner shell layer of some mollusks, and the outer layer of pearls. Pearls are commonly assumed to be formed around grains of sand or small stones to protect the soft tissues of the mollusk from damage.


This interpretation makes total sense to me. I also recall reading an article about the upcoming album that used the phrase "layers of instrumental nacre", or something to that effect, and this likely came from someone with an advance copy of the album.

Excellent thought, Kev23! I gotta admit, I've heard it the same way, but didn't think to look up whether it was a word, or how it is spelled. Thanks! Makes perfect sense.

It only ever occured to me because I learned the word a long time ago from a documentary on pearl diving, haha

"Divers" video! That's going to be unusual:
http://www.dragcity.com/news/2015-10-06 ... he-theater