Lead singer, Colin Meloy, told NPR’s World Cafe that this was their attempt at a disaster song.
The music video is noteworthy for being a dramatisation of scene from David Foster Wallace’s 1996 novel Infinite Jest (pp. 321-342). In the scene, several students of an elite tennis academy in Massachus...
[Intro]
(You and me in the war)
[Verse 1]
Had a dream
You and me in the war of the end times
And I believe
California succumbed to the fault line
We heaved relief
As scores of innocents died
[Chorus 1]
And the Andalusian tribes
Setting the lea of Nebraska alight
Till all that remains is the arms of the angels
[Verse 2]
Hetty Green
Queen of supply-side bonhomie bone-drab
You know what I mean
On the road
It's well advised that you follow your own bag
In the year of the chewable Ambien tab
[Chorus 2]
And the Panamanian child
Stands at the Dowager Empress's side
And all that remains is the arms of the angels
And all that remains is the arms of the angels
[Hook]
Ah ooh
Ah ooh, ooh, oh
Ah ooh
Ah ooh, ooh, oh
[Bridge]
And you've receded into loam
And they're picking at your bones
We'll come home
We'll come home
[Verse 3]
Quiet now
Will we gather to conjure the rain down?
Will we now
Build a civilization below ground?
And I'll be crowned the community kick-it-around
[Chorus 1]
And the Andalusian tribes
Setting the lea of Nebraska alight
'Til all that remains is the arms of the angels
'Til all that remains is the arms of the angels
[Hook]
Ah ooh
Ah ooh, ooh, oh
Ah ooh
Ah ooh, ooh, oh
Ah ooh
Ah ooh, ooh, oh
Ah ooh
Ah ooh, ooh, oh
Calamity Song was written by Colin Meloy.
Calamity Song was produced by The Decemberists & Tucker Martine.
The Decemberists released Calamity Song on Fri Jan 14 2011.