I was listening to Okkervil River’s Black Sheep Boy the other day while driving on a lonely stretch of Route 9J, and the the song “Black” immediately jumped out at me. I was already pretty fond of the song; it’s bouncy intro drew me in immediately. But yesterday, alone in my car, I finally listened to the lyrics and was taken aback by how shockingly intense and raw they are.
The narrator of”Black” recounts his girlfriend’s abduction and abuse and the shock of his first hearing the brutal details. Then, he imagines a violent revenge, trying in some way to right the wrongs of the past:
“But if I could tear his throat, and spill his blood between my jaws, and erase his name out for good, don’t you know that I would? Don’t you realize that I wouldn’t pause, that I would cut him down with my claws if I could have somehow never let that happen? Or I’d call, some black midnight, fuck up his new life where they don’t know what he did, tell his brand-new wife and his second kid. Though I tell you, like before, that you should wreck his life the way that he wrecked yours.”
Ultimately, he realizes nothing he does can change the past and he resigns himself to simply being a presence:
“And it’ll never be the way it was before, but I wish that you would let me through that door.”
“Black” reminds me a bit of “No Children” by The Mountain Goats in the way that the music acts as a cover to the lyrics beneath. (The comely and witty Barstoolio has touched on the juxtaposition of the lyrics and music in “No Children” before, go there for an excellent live version). Both songs take crushingly personal subject matter and wrap them in innocent sounds, hiding the rawness beneath.
Okkervil River’s new album The Stage Names drops on August 7th, but leaked copies are out there if you look under the right rock.
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