Wednesday's Song of the Week

Look who's finally keeping track of the days this week. That's got to count for something right? I'm not going to tell you about how my alarm didn't go off this morning and I missed my run and I ran out of coffee and then got stuck in traffic for an hour and a half. I'm just going to go with the fact that I remembered that it's Wednesday and we're going to call that a win.

While sitting in traffic this morning I decided to pop The Decemberists' "The Crane Wife" album. It's been a while since I've sat down and had a really good Decemberists listen and I forgot how happy this band makes me. I seemed to have forgotten exactly how soothing Colin Meloy's voice is. It's kind of like a warm sweater on a rainy day. And being as it's raining in Boston again this morning, I really needed that sweater.

There was barely a day that went by the second half of college that I didn't have a Decemberists album spinning on my iPod. When I was in New Zealand, I listened to The Decemberists when I missed B. This might be why I'm still comforted by them today.

Their songs are conceptual. They all tell a story and are spun with such poetry that it amazes me just as much on the 100th listen as it did on the first. They tell stories that take place hundreds of years ago. Of love lost during the Civil War and revenge sought out on giant wooden ships at sea and pistols and sabers and old, quiet love. It's all just so ... adventurous and romantic and poetic and gah it just makes me mushy inside.

And I know I just went on this tangent about how soothing The Decemberists are and how much they settle my heart and blah blah blah but I just majorly stressed myself out trying to find my favorite song to highlight here. I just can't decide. Should I give you "The Bachelor and the Bride," the one I would listen to on repeat while drifting to sleep in New Zealand when I missed B so much it hurt my chest? Or "Red Right Ankle," the song I would always turn to on long road trips through winding hills? Or what about "The Sporting Life," the song I'd always include on my mixes for jogging through the streets of Baltimore? Or what about "Eli, the Barrow Boy," the very first Decemberists song I fell in love with? Oh wait, no, that was "The Engine Driver." Ugh ugh ugh ugh I just can't decide.

So what I'm gonna do is just go with the video that makes me happiest at this moment because I'm sitting in front of my new happy lamp and this video reminds me of something Wes Anderson would whip up and that just makes me happy. It's not the most romantic or the most soothing or the best, but it does make me happy and that counts for something. So enjoy. Be happy.

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