In the Headlights: The Crane Wife, 1 & 2

The Crane Wife, 1 & 2

More beautiful music from The Decembrists: The Crane Wife 1 and The Crane Wife 2

The Crane Wife 1

It was a cold night and the snow lay 'round
I pulled my coat tight against the falling down
And the sun was all
The sun was all down

I am a poor man, I haven't wealth or fame
I have my two hands and a house to my name
And the winter's so
The winter's so long

But all the starts were crashing 'round
As I laid eyes on what I found

It was a white crane, it was a helpless thing
On a red stain with an arrow in its wing
And it called and cried
It called and cried so

Chorus

And how I helped her and how I dressed her wounds
And how I held her beneath the rising moon
'Til she stood to fly
She stood to fly away
My crane wife, my crane wife

The Crane Wife 2

My Crane wife
Arrived at my door in the moonlight
All star-bright and tongue-tied
I took her in

We were married
And bells rang sweet for our wedding
And our bedding was ready
When we fell in

Sound the keening bell
And see it's painted red
Soft as a fontanel
The feathers in the thread
When all I ever meant to do was to keep you
My crane wife

We were poorly
Our fortunes fading hourly
And how she vowed me
She could bring it back

But I was greedy
I was vain and I forced her to weaving
On cold loom in closed room
With down wove

Chorus

There's a bend in the wind and it rakes at my heart
There is blood in the thread and it rakes at my heart
Rakes at my heart

* * * *

The songs are based on a Japanese folk tale in which a man finds a wounded crane and nurses it back to health. After he releases the crane, a woman appears at his door, with whom he falls in love. They are poor, but she offers to weave clothes that they can sell at the market, as long as he agrees never to watch her weave. (Aha--typical folk fodder.) They do well, but one day, the man looks in at his wife (she is nowhere to be seen and he is worried). He sees a crane at the loom, almost bare of feathers, which she has woven into the cloth. When she realizes she has been seen, the crane flies away.

[Image and story from Tsuru no Ongaeshi]

March 26, 2007 in Entertainment, Music | Permalink