Decemberists – Burial Ground

They’ve undid the aerialTore down the merry-go-roundThis world’s all wrongSo let’s go where we belongPack up the stereo, meet at the burial ground

***I’m slipping this in today because my business trip was moved up a day so I won’t be posting until next Friday or Saturday. Have a great week next week!***

Jangle…CHECK… Harmonizing…CHECK…Overall power pop sound…CHECK. I love the sound of this band. Put them in 1965 and they would fit…place them on the alternative scene of the 1980s…and they would fit like a glove.

I usually don’t get super excited at newer music but this band I’ve liked everything I’ve heard. I always check out eclecticmusiclover (Jeff…it’s where I found this), christiansmusicmusings (Christian),  and albumreviews (Graham) sites for newer music. They do the work so I don’t have to… by tracking these bands/artists down and I appreciate it.

This is some wonderful power pop. It has a nice Byrds/Jayhawks/Big Star sound. I could listen to this music all day and night. The Decemberists formed in 2000. They have released a total of 9 different albums since 2002. They are classified as an indie band but have had a number 1 Billboard album on the charts with The King Is Dead in 2011.

I’ve started to listen to their back catalog and along with power pop they blend in a lot of Americana with that. This American band was formed by Colin Meloy after he moved to Portland from Montana. He initially joined forces with Nate Query (bass), Jenny Conlee (keyboards, accordion), Ezra Holbrook (drums), and Chris Funk (guitar). The lineup has changed through the years, but Colin Meloy remains the main singer/songwriter with them.

Burial Ground is on their new album As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again released on June 14, 2024. The song has already charted on the Billboard Alternative Chart at #2. This song features James Mercer…a singer/songwriter for The Shins on backup vocals.

Check this band out…if you like power pop/Americana you should like this.

Colin Meloy:  “‘Burial Ground’ is in that time-honored pop song tradition, a paean to hanging out in graveyard. The melody hook came to me in a dream and I hummed it into my phone on waking. Most dream-songs are bad; this was the exception.”

Burial Ground

Oh, Len, come downAnd meet at the burial groundThey’ve undid the aerialTore down the merry-go-roundThis world’s all wrongSo let’s go where we belongPack up the stereo, meet at the burial ground

Here among the fallen leavesAre we alone, the ones that dare to breathe?Throw your worries down, they’re oh so gravely heldYou have carried them so well

Ooh, woahOoh, woah

Oh, Len, come downAnd meet at the burial groundThey’ve undid the aerialTore down the merry-go-roundThis world’s all wrongSo let’s go where we belongPack up the stereo, meet at the burial ground

You laid down below a stoneSaying, “Wherever they have gone, I long to goSomewhere out beyond these maladies in my head.”At least, I think that’s what you said

Oh-whoa, oh-whoa

Oh, Len (oh, Len) come down (come down)And meet at the burial ground (meet at the burial ground)They’ve undid the aerialTore down the merry-go-roundThis world’s (this world’s) all wrong (all wrong)So let’s go where we belong (let’s go where we belong)Pack up the stereo, meet at the burial ground

Oh, Len (oh, Len) come down (come down)And meet at the burial ground (meet at the burial ground)They’ve undid the aerialTore down the merry-go-round (merry-go-round)(Tore down the merry-go-round)This world’s (this world’s) all wrong (all wrong)So let’s go where we belong (let’s go where we belong)Pack up the stereo, meet at the burial ground

It’s a contract malarial, meet at the burial ground

Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player.

48 thoughts on “Decemberists – Burial Ground”

    1. Jeff…I have listened to this song probably 30 times…it really resonates with me…and I like their early music as well…I really appreciate it.

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      4. I have 13 on Spotify…. I’ve posted the complete album from Spotify on there Lisa now.

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      5. Now that’s interesting! I clicked on the title of your playlist and only 4 songs are showing up. Will have to do some investigation to see why Spotify edited it for me! I pay monthly to have it ad-free so the whole thing should show up.

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      6. Because I am an idiot! I even had the wrong name somehow…I don’t know how….but it’s correct now I think.

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  5. Keepin’ us on our toes with the Weekend Come Early post, LOL! I hope you’re getting some nice overtime for all this special added work you’re doing.
    Good find ! I had one friend in Ontario – and I think only 1 – who was really an ‘ear to the ground’ type guy and I remember he liked the Decemeberists back then. Listening to this song, no wonder. I like it. The song works and the guitar reminded me of Peter Buck or a subdued Johnny Marr circa 1986.

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    1. Nope…I’m on salary of course!
      It sounds like a lot of different people which is really cool…their old stuff is very good also. I really like this one a lot.

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  6. Didn’t know they had a new album out. YAY! I also love this band. If you haven’t checked out, “Offa Rex,” a collaborative album with Olivia Chaney, please do. It’s different than their usual but oh man is it good.

    Sorry to hear they are cracking that whip on you at work, Max. No rest for the wicked, and I forgot the 2nd half of that saying 😉

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    1. Oh cool you know them!
      Well that phrase fits lol…well unknown to them…we got a giant house in a rich neighborhood …an Airb&B so we are staying there in style…. The price was comparable to a nice hotel so that part is great.

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      2. You are probably the place I heard of them first! I will be going through their catalog.
        Talking about work…look what I just replied to obbverse….yes that happened.

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  8. They’ve got you sweating by the sound of it Max. Make the ol’ firm proud- put in those hours, fly that red-eye flight, lift that spread-sheet, tote that lap-top, work work work. You DO know every moment spent will be deeply appreciated by the grateful Boss…

    Seriously, this is really nice. The writers did a fine job, the lyrics have- I don’t know the technical term, but its where a sound is close enough to echo another, but not to rhyme? Hope that makes sense. I’ll check the band out further.

    Now back to work, Unit 365, these upgrades wont update themselves and you’re on the clock! Run, Max run!!!

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    1. Oh don’t you know….he will be full of thank yous! We just loaded a van and some “executives” didn’t get up to help…so I went by them and waved and said “thanks a lot fellows!”
      Now…we are about to turn the internet off….just for the hell of it as we walk out the door. I’ve told them before….you don’t f*** with IT…we bite back.
      I really like this song and band obbverse… I really like those lyrics and I know exactly what you mean. I also like when writers will use the same word to rhyme but in a different way.

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      1. Yes, the more I look at lyrics the more I can see the craft hidden underneath, at least in some of the top shelf. I was listening and reading Pink Floyds ‘Mother’ a few nights back and realised just how much better it was than I first thought, and that was pretty high up there. Even the bane of my life, that ol’ syrupy sounding Old Country can be pretty dang poetic- in a good way- when you strip away the schmaltzy sobbing gitars and ‘oh wo wo woes’ of the gals singing back up. It’s taken me a while to simply read them lyrics and not weep at the music.

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      2. I love your last line there!
        I do read most of the lyrics and I do like when they leave things up in the air cleverly… it might mean something to you and doesn’t mean the same to someone else.

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      3. Ob, I love your comment here. I also feel ‘Mother’ is brilliant with real wisdom, as is the rest of The Wall. Didn’t realize Old Country was the bane of your life. It’s where the elbows meet the bar and the cheaters cry after gittin caught one more time.

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      4. p.s. what are your thoughts on the original Pink Floyd vs Roger Waters The Wall: Live in Berlin, with Sinead singing it Mother? I loved Roger Waters and the guest performers. One of those concerts on my TMBL.

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  9. Thanks for the shoutout, Max. Shockingly, I’m 100% with you!

    “Burial Ground” is great power pop. I never get tired of a jangly guitar sound, and their harmony singing is pretty neat. I also like the horn action – not something you hear frequently in jangle power pop!

    Good luck with your business trip and hope you stay cool!

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    1. Thanks a lot Christian….I couldn’t remember if you posted them before on Saturday or not… I love their back catalog as well.
      Thanks Christian…it’s going to be a long long week….but hopefully everything will go good.

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      1. That was Jeff, as part of his weekly top 30, which The Decemberists topped last week with that neat song!😀

        Again, good luck for next week. Hope you’ll travel and work reasonably cooled. This heat wave is crazy!

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      2. I’ve heard of these guys before…thats why I thought you might have posted something by them…not this song.
        I actually found it in his top 20 before that one…it was number 2 I believe…I love it.
        Yes it’s really hot here…but this is normal here…and Atlanta is always worse.

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  10. p.s. Just listened to the 4 tracks in the spotify playlist, and in “Joan in the Garden” there is a clear ripoff of Pink Floyd’s Have a Cigar riff in there! Over and over again.

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    3. I’m not hearing an overwhelming similarity myself, but hey, vive la difference!

      On The Wall/O’Conner, I do like it but I still stick with the original. But wow, she hits the high notes, in all meanings of the word.

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