{"id":1936,"date":"2013-04-16T21:12:10","date_gmt":"2013-04-17T04:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/billchapin.net\/allthecitylights\/?p=1936"},"modified":"2015-01-12T09:31:49","modified_gmt":"2015-01-12T17:31:49","slug":"the-annotated-decemberists-no-11-odalisque","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/billchapin.net\/allthecitylights\/2013\/04\/the-annotated-decemberists-no-11-odalisque\/","title":{"rendered":"The Annotated Decemberists No. 11: Odalisque"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Perhaps no band\u2019s lyrics better lend themselves to pseudo-academic analysis than those of The Decemberists.\u00a0The Annotated Decemberists<\/a>\u00a0is an attempt to puzzle through the Portland, Oregon, group\u2019s entire catalog song by song\u2014examining all the obscure vocabulary, historical references and poetic subtext\u2014or go crazy trying.<\/em><\/p>\n

As we shall see, from the title, we can gather that this is a song about a concubine, or at least a woman treated like a metaphorical concubine. Few other clear details are provided. There are indications that the woman understandably does not appreciate her status as a sex slave, and that she came to her station by way of being born into ramshackle poverty. Her situation does not improve by the end of the song. It is a more serious, consequential and therefore less problematic take on a subject explored in the album’s previous song, “A Cautionary Song<\/a>.” Musically, it is also the first indication that the band was capable of some epic prog-rock, the sort that The Decemberists would begin to really explore on The Crane Wife.<\/em><\/p>\n