The song "Red Right Ankle" by The Decemberists tells the story of companionship in war through metaphor. The red ankle refers to both love and blood, while also representing how soldiers support one another like ankles support the body. The different verses discuss wartime camaraderie, the desire to know lost family, and how those who served are still remembered in the heart. "Shoes" by Chris Volpe is about using constant movement to escape one's troubles, which are too painful to confront. "While You Were Sleeping" by Elvis Perkins may see God as having created the world and then gone to sleep, with verses like "you grew your power garden" representing biblical references from a potentially De

1. Deadweight on Velveteen – Jose Gonzalez
Deadweight on velveteen
It's retained emptiness
It's not what it seems
Uncover the mystery
Tell everyone what you see
It's not what it seems
Vulgar when brought to light
Betray the image
There's nothing between the sheets
It's not what it seems
But deadweight on velveteen
Vulgar when brought to light
Vulgar the lie

2. The Predatory Wasp of The Palisades is Out to Get – Sufjan Stevens
Thinking outrageously, I write in cursive I can tell you, I love him each day
I hide in my bed with the lights on the floor Though we have sparred, wrestled and raged
Wearing three layers of coats and leg warmers I can tell you, I love him each day
I see my own breath on the face of the door Terrible sting and terrible storm
I can tell you
Oh, I am not quite sleeping
Oh, I am fast in bed
There on the wall in the bedroom creeping
I see a wasp with her wings outstretched
North of Savanna we swim in the Palisades
I come out wearing my brother's red hat
There on his shoulder my best friend is bit seven times
He runs washing his face in his hands
Oh, how I meant to tease him
Oh, how I meant no harm
Touching his back with my hand, I kiss him
I see the wasp on the length of my arm
Oh, how I meant to tease him
Oh, how I meant no harm
Touching his back with my hand, I kiss him
I see the wasp on the length of my arm
Oh great sights upon this state, hallelu-
Wonders bright, and rivers, lake, hallelu-
Trail of Tears and Horseshoe Lake, hallelu-
Trusting things beyond mistake, hallelu-
We were in love, we were in love
Palisades, Palisades
I can wait, I can wait
I can't explain the state that I'm in
The state of my heart, he was my best friend
Into the car, from the backseat
Oh, admiration in falling asleep
All of my powers, day after day
I can tell you, we swaggered and swayed
Deep in the tower, the prairies below
I can tell you, the telling gets old
Terrible sting and terrible storm
I can tell you the day we were born
My friend is gone, he ran away

3. Question – Old 97's
She woke from a dream
Her head was on fire
Why was he so nervous?
He took her to the park
She crossed her arms
And lowered her eyelids
Some day somebody's gonna ask you
A question that you should say yes to
Once in your life
Maybe tonight I've got a question for you
She'd had no idea
She started to cry
She said in a good way
He took her by the hand
Walked her back home
They took the long way
Some day somebody's gonna ask you
A question that you should say yes to
Once in your life
Baby tonight I've got a question for you

4. Red Right Ankle – The Decemberists
This is the story of your red right ankle
And how it came to meet your leg
And how the muscle, bone, and sinews tangled
And how the skin was softly shed
And how it whispered, "Oh, adhere to me
For we are bound by symmetry
And whatever differences our lives have been
We together make a limb"
This is the story of your red right ankle
This is the story of your gypsy uncle
You never knew because he was dead
And how his face was carved and ripped with wrinkles
In the picture in your head
And remember how you found the key
To his hideout in the Pyrenees
But you wanted to keep his secret safe
So you threw the key away
This is the story of your gypsy uncle
This is the story of the boys who loved you
Who love you now and loved you then
And some were sweet and some were cold and snuffed you
And some just laid around in bed
And some, they crumbled you straight to your knees
Did it cruel, did it tenderly
Some, they crawled their way into your heart
To rend your ventricles apart
This is the story of the boys who loved you
This is the story of your red right ankle

5. Shoes – Chris Volpe
I’m running madly
I don’t really know from what
I’ve been living my whole life like some phrase at
the tip of my tongue
Don’t really know how to say it
It’s always just out of reach
I say it’s locked in my larynx along with my
freedom of speech
I’ll use the rubber on my shoes to erase all that I’ve
done
And if I just keep adding miles and miles to the
soles I can erase all that’s gone wrong
Some people write their stories with ink and a ball
point pen
But I’ll use the rubber on my shoes 'til streets and
rivers end
I roam alone and restless
A ghost through the alley ways
Preyed upon by no one but loved by just the same
You might feel my touch
A cold breeze against your skin
But you’ll just unroll your shirt sleeves end shiver
and move on your way again
I’ll use the rubber on my shoes to erase all that I’ve
done
If I just keep adding miles and miles to the soles
I can erase all that’s gone wrong
Some people write their novels with ink and a
fountain pen
But at dawn it’s on the streets I’ve donned my
words with my shoes in hand

6. While You Were Sleeping – Elvis Perkins
while you were sleeping while it rained in all the colors of the night
the babies grew I watched the TV's
the stars shined and the shadows moved memories
time flew, the phone rang championships
there was a silence when the kitchen sang vanished to sea
its songs competed like kids for space could it be, my honey between you and me
we stared for hours in our maker's face so I waited for the riddled sky
they gave us picks to be solved again by sunrise
said go mine the sun and I've made a death suit for life
and go gold and come back when you're done for my father's ill widowed wife
while you were sleeping did you have that strangest dream before you woke
you tossed, you turned cos in your gown you had the butterfly stroke
you rolled your eyes as the world burned did it escape you like some half told joke?
the heavens fell, the earth quaked when you reached for your plume of smoke
I thought you must be, but you weren't awake it'll haunt you, my honey bee
no, you were sleeping anyone who is anyone has that same dream
you ignored the sun were you falling
you grew your power garden were you flying
for your little ones and were you calling out
and you found brides for them on Christmas eve or were you dying
they hung young Cain from the Adam trees thank god you're up now
and danced let's stay that way
while you were sleeping else there'll be no mornings
I tossed and I turned and no more days
'til I closed my eyes cos when we're dreaming
but the future burned our babies grow
through the planet turned a hair gray the sun shines
as I relived the day and the shadows flow
while you were sleeping time flies
the money died the phone rings
machines were harmless and the earth sighed there is a silence
through the wind you slept sound and everybody tries to sing
and gravity caught my love around
the ocean rose, sang about decay
while witches flew
and the mermaids stayed
full of dreams, you overslept
and keeping with quiet, through the walls I crept
I walked on tiptoe, sent darkness swirling over all the
kitchen in the early morning
I'll never catch up to you
who sleeps so sound
my arms are useless
my heart beats too loud to go to sleep
my mind's too proud to bow out
while you were sleeping
the time changed
all your things were rearranged
your vampire mirrors face to face

7. they saw forever out into space
and found you dreaming in black and white
Song For You - Alexi Murdoch
So today I wrote a song for you And all of this life
Cause a day can get so long Moves around you
And I know its hard to make it through For all that you claim
When you say there's something wrong You're standing still
You are moving too
So I'm trying to put it right You are moving too
Cause I want to love you with my heart You are moving too
All this trying has made me tight I will move you
And I don't know even where to start
Maybe that's a start
Cause you know its a simple game
That you play filling up your head with rain
And you know you are hiding from your pain
In the way, in the way you say your name
And I see you
Hiding your face in your hands
Flying so you won't land
You think no one understands
No one understands
So you hunch your shoulders and you shake your head
And your throat is aching but you swear
No one hurts you, nothing could be sad
Anyway you're not here enough to care
And you're so tired you don't sleep at night
As your heart is trying to mend
You keep it quiet but you think you might
Disappear before the end
And it's strange that you cannot find
Any strength to even try
To find a voice to speak your mind
When you do, all you wanna do is cry
Well maybe you should cry
And I see you hiding your face in your hands
Talking bout far-away lands
You think no one understands
Listen to my hands

8. The Predatory Wasp of The Palisades is Out to Get – Sufjan Stevens
Could be literal, a story about a friend (or lover, sure) that got stung by a wasp and died, and then the narrator thinks about
their relationship after the fact and realizes all the little things that they did (Oh how I meant to tease you) but now seems so
trivial or stupid after the person is gone.
I think the 2nd part of the song is where things get more interesting. A clue from the first part that the song is about religion
is that his best friend is stung seven times. The number seven is a very religiously symbolic number and appears over and
over again in the bible.
Then I think the key to the song is the chant:
"Oh great sights upon this state! Hallelu-
Wonders bright, and rivers, lake. Halelu-
Trail of Tears and Horseshoe Lake. Hallelu-
trusting things beyond mistake. Hallelu-
and the second one is:
Lamb of God, we sound the horn.
Hallelujah!
To us your ghost is born.
Hallelu- "
Here Sufjan talks about the natural wonders of IL, Trail of Tears is a state forest in IL I believe. He says:
"Trusting things beyond mistake"
I think this is a reference to faith in God
Then he says:
"Lamb of God, we sound the horn.
To us your ghost is born."
A Shepard's horn is sounded to gather the sheep. Here Sufjan is saying we are calling out to God, but we get no response,
thus God's ghost is born. More symbolism for someone losing faith in God.
In the second part of the song Sufjan talks about losing his friend. I think that he is talking about losing his faith in God.
Remember in the first part of the song he is trying to fall asleep in his shitty apartment or wherever he is. When he says:
"oh admiration in falling asleep"
in the second part of the song he is talking about admiring the memory of himself as a child, how happy he was at the
palisades, before he lost childhood happiness, carefree attitude and his faith in God. How innocent he was and so on.
I also think that when he says "We were in love", he is talking about he and his brother/friend being in love with life, not
with each other. The terrible sting and storm symbolize growing up, falling out of love with life, losing faith in God
Red Right Ankle - The Decemberists
Hrm. I haven't heard that it was about his girlfriend. To me, it's about war. I'll try to explain myself, though I might sound
like an idiot.
The first verse I see as a metaphor for the companionship of war like described in the song before it. The tangling of the
muscle bone and sinew is from being shot. Then it seems to switch to a reference to "a limb" being humanity, so to say "we
are bound by symmetry. Whatever differences our lives (as people) have been, we together make a limb" refers to how we're
all human and it's silly how we destroy each other like we do.
The second verse makes me think of the feelings that I get to never know an interest family member that I never knew. I
have several of them, and I see pictures of them and you want to know them because they too are part of who you are.
The third verse is about a "company" in the armed services or what-have you "the boys who loved you," since we used to
refer to men in the army like that, such as "bring our boys home." It talks about how they became part of who he was and he

9. felt a sense of comradery with them (which appears in The Soldiering Life as well) and how they still exist in his heart.
i like the symbolism..
red- color of love, color of blood, color of emergency, it is both love and hate. hell is seen as red and filled with fire *not
making this a religious statement, just pointing out that red is seen as both hate and love.
right- this is more complex because the red ankle is controlled by the left side of the brain, and left is seen a divine and
powerful. right could be saying something else, i have not figured it out yet.
ankle- supports the body. you rely on your ankles for walking... without it you would be handicapped.
This song is absolutely gorgeous, it reaffirms and reinstates the intrinsic quality of human nature to nature in general. It
expresses wonder at the serendipity of human experience, at the way life works, and at the place we hold in existence. It
uses synecdoche's and metaphors as a way of sentimentalizing and looking back at the inevitable steps of human life.
However, by red right ankle the author of the song clearly refers to gonoccocal arthritis (red ankle, shed skin). This is the
link between the story of the red right ankle and the boys that loved the individual in the song. Gonorrhea is a sexually
transmitted disease that may cause inflammation of the skin, the tendons and the joint of any articulation, very commonly an
ankle and most commonly in women
Shoes - Chris Volpe
“Shoes,” is a ballad about hiding from one’s misfortunes with lines like, “I’m runnin’ madly. I don’t really know from what.
I’ve been livin’ my whole life like some phrase trapped at the tip of my tongue. Don’t really know how to say it, it's always
just out of reach, stay locked away in my larynx along with my freedom of speech."
Elvis Perkins - While You Were Sleeping
The person that has gone to sleep is GOD. As in he created this world and then went to sleep. This is sort of a Deist
perspective. It seems to me that Deism would be a good rationalization for a writer that has experienced so much pain in his
life via his parents.
The verse that made me think of this the most was:
you grew your power garden
for your little ones
and you found brides for them on christmas eve
they hung young cain from the adam trees
and danced
Power Garden = Garden of Eden
Little ones = Adam and Eve
Song For You - Alexi Murdoch
I listened to this for the first time yesterday and thought it was beautiful right from the start. I had a good session of it on
repeat today which was nice.
I think it's a comforting song. Because I used go through those times frequently when I wanted to disappear or all I wanted
do was cry. Sometimes I still feel that way. And I'd never get anywhere if it weren't for the people that cheer me up a little.
The lyrics sum up the feelings of loneliness really well when it feels like nobody else knows how you feel. But the song is
just about how a person can want to be there for a friend and just listen to what they have to say and make them positive
again.
I would love this sung to me anytime I'm feeling low.