The first song on The King is Dead sets the tone for the rest of The Decemberists’s americana album both musically (with its acoustic guitar and mandolin and especially prominent harmonica, which feature on most of the album’s other songs) and thematically, introducing the motifs of independence and...
Here we come to a turning of the season
Witness to the arc towards the sun
The neighbor's blessed burden within reason
Becomes a burden borne of all and one
[Chorus:]
And nobody, nobody knows
Let the yoke fall from our shoulders
Don't carry it all, don't carry it all
We are all our hands in holders
Beneath this bold and brilliant sun
But this I swear to all
A monument to build beneath the arbors
Upon a plinth that towers towards the trees
Let every vessel pitching hard to starboard
Lay its head on summer's freckled knees
[Chorus:]
And nobody, nobody knows
Let the yoke fall from our shoulders
Don't carry it all don't carry it all
We are all our hands in holders
Beneath this bold and brilliant sun
This I swear to all, this I swear to all
And there a wreath of trillium and ivy
Laid upon the body of a boy
Lazy will the loam come from its hiding
Return this quiet searcher to the soil
So raise a glass to turnings of the season
And watch it as it arcs towards the sun
And you must bear your neighbor's burden within reason
And your labors will be borne when all is done
[Chorus:]
And nobody, nobody knows
Let the yoke fall from our shoulders
Don't carry it all don't carry it all
We are all our hands in holders
Beneath this bold and brilliant sun
And this I swear to all
And this I swear to all
And this I swear to all
To all, to all, to all
Don’t Carry It All was written by Colin Meloy.
Don’t Carry It All was produced by The Decemberists & Tucker Martine.
The Decemberists released Don’t Carry It All on Fri Jan 14 2011.