The Decemberists - Sons & Daughters

"We'll make our homes on the water."

Album: The Crane Wife [4th album]
Genre: Indie Folk, Folk
Recorded: 
Release: October 3rd 2006
Length: 5:13
Producer: Tucker Martine & Chris Walla
Vocalist: Colin Meloy
Label: Capitol Records & Rough Trade Records

Official Audio


Live in Sydney from 2010

Charts, Streams & Sales

Spotify: Over 20 million
YouTube Music: Over 2 million
NPR Best Albums of 2006: #1

Instruments

Accordion, bass [upright], bouzouki [greek instrument], drums, glockenspiel, guitar, piano, organ

Details

• The album, 'The Crane Wife', is inspired by the Japanese folk story 'Tsuru no Ongaeshi', which is a cautionary tale about greed.
  
• 'Sons & Daughters' is an uplifting song about the apocalypse. Singer Colin Meloy said it's about humanity coming together as one and was inspired to write it after the American wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
  
• Colin Meloy rates this song as one of the bands best.
• The band are heavily influenced by Morrissey and The Waterboys.
  
  
• The Decemberists make heavy use of storytelling in their music. In their live shows they incorporate elements of call and response, which makes the crowd feel like they're a part of the band, for a while at least, because they actively contributed to the music on the night. The fans then feel a genuine rapport with the band, which creates a strong sense of loyalty, AKA customer retention, kerching!
  
  This blurring of lines between the performer and the audience also matches the lyrical content of 'Sons and Daughters', which is about people coming together as one. The song is sung with the pronouns "we" and "our", instead of "I" or "your", which works in tandem with the call and response in order to create a sense of unity. It allows the audience to feel the song viscerally, instead of only hearing it.
  
  Adding to this cumulative effect is the songs marching rhythm, which, as well as conjuring a peoples army vibe, also makes the image of humanity in a world without borders feel like the inevitable march of progress. "Hear all the bombs they fade away." After the wars and conflicts are over, people, even if it's only a few people, will still be here and we'll come together again, as it was when the human race began.
  
  
• 'Sons & Daughters' only has two chords.
  
• Tucker Martine, the co-producer, is married to the singer Laura Veirs. Veirs also features on the album. The other co-producer, Chris Walla, is from Death Cab for Cutie.
  
  
• The Decemberists take their name from the failed revolutionaries who lauched a military coup in 1812, as an attempt to reform the Russian Empire into a liberal state.
  
  
• The song's about people emerging from hiding after a catastrophic war "we will arise from the bunkers" and coming together to build a new world from the ashes of the old. "We'll make our homes on the water" refers to the part of the Earth that isn't scorched, as well as showing a resolute spirit determined to thrive under any circumstance. The image of water is used as a unifying motif to connect the disparate strains of humanity with one another.
  

Artwork