History Music / TheDecemberists

* AlbumIntroTrack: ''Prelude''.

* AlbumIntroTrack: ''Prelude''

* AlliterativeTitle: '''''D'''racula's '''D'''aughter''

Colin Meloy, Chris Funk, Jenny Conlee, Nate Query, and John Moen form the band's current rotation, with Meloy, Funk and Conlee being the only original members remaining in the band (the band's best known former member is drummer/vocalist Rachel Blumberg who was a member of the band between ''Her Majesty'' and ''Picaresque''). The songs, penned and sung by Meloy, vary from quirky, introspective pop about filicide to rollicking ballads about pirates and gypsies. (There is a disproportionate amount of drowning.) Meloy often employs the narrative form, creating baroque tales from the perspective of lovers, soldiers, and sailors.

As of 2011, Colin Meloy has added novel writer to his list of accomplishments, having written the young adult novel ''WILDWOOD'' and its sequels, '' Under WILDWOOD'' and ''WILDWOOD Imperium''. In February 2017, Colin announced a new book tilted ''The Whiz Mob and the Grenadine Kid'' set to be released October the same year. The band also appeared live with Wilco and Letters to Cleo in the sixth season finale of ''Series/ParksAndRecreation''. The band also performed the first of ''Music/TheHamildrops," "Ben Franklin's Song," which was released in December 2017.

* AfterTheEnd: "Calamity Song."

* AlbumTitleDrop: "California One[=/=]Youth and Beauty Brigade" has the line "We're lining up the light-loafered and the bored bench warmers / ''Castaways and cutouts'', fill it up."

* AnthropomorphicPersonification: The Queen in ''The Hazards of Love'': "My feet are the trunks... My head is the canopy high... My fingers extend to the leaves."

** "16 Military Wives," primarily during the "la-di-da"s.

** "Billy Liar," during the "ba-ba-da-ba" part.

* BawdySong: The punchline of "The Chimbley Sweep". Also, "Billy Liar", "A Cautionary Song", and possibly "The Landlord's Daughter."

* IntercourseWithYou: "Oceanside," and possibly "Of Angels and Angles."
* InTheStyleOf: You might make a case for a song here or there, but the only song where they've explicitly copped to this is "Down By The Water," which is their tribute to Music/{{REM}}.
* ItsAllMyFault: At the end of ''The Hazards of Love,'' William mourns to Margaret that "I pulled you, and I called you here," probably referring to how if it hadn't been for him, she would never have come to the forest.

* OhCrap: Discussed in "The Mariner's Revenge Song," where the eponymous mariner is ''very'' pleased about the villainous whaler slowly realizing more and more how completely '''screwed''' he is in that he's been SwallowedWhole by a MonsterWhale, and the only person he's stuck with is the child of the woman whose life he once ruined and for whom he's been seeking bloody vengeance ever since.

** From "Clementine": "You slept in your overalls[=/=]after the wrecking ball[=/=]bereft you of house and of home[=/=]and left you with sweet fuck-all."

* ProtestSong: "16 Military Wives," complete with a video that skewers UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush and features a Roleplay/ModelUnitedNations conference gone whack.

* SillyLoveSongs: Subverted in "Yankee Bayonet". Played straight in "Oceanside". Played straight, if rather unconventionally in "The Bandit Queen."

* TickertapeParade: The band use this term in their song ''The Perfect Crime #2."

** Depending on your interpretation, "The Culling of the Fold" could be this, given the violent imagery its singer urges their target to fulfill: "Dash her on the paving stones/It may break your heart to break her bones/But someone's got to do the culling of the fold..."

* ExcitedShowTitle: "July, July!", "O Valencia!", "The Hazards of Love 3 (Revenge!)", "All Arise!".

* ADateWithRosiePalms:
** "Billy Liar." "Decked by a Japanese geisha with a garland of pearls," indeed...
** The narrator of "Philomena" tells the eponymous lady that "I'll be your candle and I'll be your statuette". Picture those objects and use [[BawdySong the nature of the song]] to deduce what use she might've been getting out of them.

* ProtestSong: "16 Military Wives," complete with a video that skewers UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush and features a LARP/ModelUnitedNations conference gone whack.

Most bands write songs about [[SillyLoveSongs How Much I Love You Babe]], songs that go verse-verse-chorus-verse-chorus with nice [[ThreeChordsAndTheTruth regular chord structures]], maybe throw in a neat guitar solo in the middle and a fade-out ending, [[WebAnimation/HomestarRunner you know, something like that]].

* DeathOfAChild: There are at least six songs about dead children ("Leslie Ann Levine", "The Infanta", "The Rake's Song"/"Revenge!", "The Chimbley Sweep", "The Bachelor and the Bride"), and possibly more based on interpretation (such as ''Dear Avery'' and ''Burying Davy'').

* GeniusLoci: The Annan Water in ''The Hazards of Love''.
* GodSaveUsFromTheQueen: ''The Hazards of Love''.

* MafiaPrincess: The heroine of "O Valencia!" comes across this way, given the framing of modern-day violent warfare between gang-affiliated families that results in even her father going "all unhinged" when he learns of her romantic involvement with the hero.

** "The Rake's Song", which tells of the title character remorselessly murdering his children after the death of his wife so he could go back to a life without obligation.
** "The Culling of the Fold", if nothing else, ''urges'' the listener to murder when they "Could use a little space/When the radio crackles/And the in-laws cackle".

* MyBelovedSmother: The Forest Queen in ''The Hazards of Love''.
* MyCountryTisOfTheeThatISting: "Sixteen Military Wives".

* QueerRomance: "On The Bus Mall" is about two drug-addicted male prostitutes falling in love. Also [[WordOfGay confirmed in interviews]] to be the subject of "The Soldiering Life".

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Gz7QGmy_Zg "The Hazards of Love 3 (Revenge!)"]]

* StarCrossedLovers: The lovers in "O Valencia!" are very much this - their situation is described as a straight-up ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet'' situation between disapproving families. This can also be one interpretation of "We Both Go Down Together" - if it ''isn't'' sung by an UnreliableNarrator and everything said in it can be taken at face value, though there's emphasis on ''if'', then it's about a couple DrivenToSuicide by classism.

* MafiaPrincess: O Valencia!

* MurderBallad: "The Mariner's Revenge Song", "The Rake's Song", "The Culling of the Fold".

* NotSoSafeHarbor: A few of their more maritimal shanties count: the antagonist of "The Mariner's Revenge Song" ruined his lover's life by blowing all his money on booze, gambling, and brothels and then leaving her to shoulder his debts before going on to become the abusive captain of a whaling ship, the woman's son following him into the mariner's life on a privateer ship in ruthless pursuit of vengeance; "Shanty for the Arethusa" paints a portrait of hedonistic sailors heading out from their places of indulgence back to sea, urging the people of the town to "tell your daughters do not walk the streets alone tonight"([[JustForFun/XMeetsY plus there are ghosts!]]); and "A Cautionary Song" tells of a woman working as a prostitute on a harbor, her sailor clientele illustrated as... quite a bit less than than gentlemanly with her time.

* {{Gorn}}: "Culling of the Fold".

* NotSoSafeHarbor: A few of their more maritimal shanties count: "The Mariner's Revenge Song", "Shanty for the Arethusa" ([[JustForFun/XMeetsY with ghosts!]]), and ''A Cautionary Song''.
* OhCrap: Discussed in "The Mariner's Revenge Song," where the eponymous mariner is ''very'' pleased about the villainous whaler slowly realizing more and more how completely '''screwed''' he is in that he's been SwallowedWhole by a MonsterWhale, and the only person he's stuck with is the child of the woman whose life he once ruined and has been seeking bloody vengeance ever since.

* PrecisionFStrike: "Clementine." "You slept in your overalls[=/=]after the wrecking ball[=/=]bereft you of house and of home[=/=]and left you with sweet fuck-all."
** One of three in their ''entire discography'' ([[ClusterFBomb not counting live performances]]). The other two, both from The Perfect Crime #1: "I got the mob boss bought, got a letter from the DEA[=/=]I got a mockup of the lockup where they stock up all their fuckin' change"; and "So we ran around town with the cops stepping on our tails[=/=]Because we'd rather break depth than a French fuck in county jail[=/=]To pull [[TitleDrop the perfect crime]], this is the perfect crime!"

* RoaringRampageofRevenge: "The Mariner's Revenge Song," if you couldn't tell by the title.

* ShortRangeLongRangeWeapon: in the video for "Why We Fight" the bow and quiver of arrows the guy with the red scarf is holding is still not shot by the time the video ends with the older kids are almost upon them.

* SophisticatedAsHell: "Los Angeles, I'm Yours"

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The heroine's pregnancy drives the action in "The Hazards of Love" -- up until track seven. The baby's never mentioned after that, and it's presumably [[spoiler:left orphaned and alone at the end]].
** Actually, the entirety of "The Hazards of Love" (after Margaret runs into the woods) takes place over the course of about two days, and WordOfGod confirms she's still pregnant at the time of ''[[IntercourseWithYou Isn't It a Lovely Night]]'', so [[FridgeHorror it's safe to assume ]][[spoiler:[[FridgeHorror the baby dies as well]]]].
*** Which brings up further FridgeHorror: She was not only pregnant, but ''showing''. Now consider [[RapeAsDrama the Rake's role in Act II]], and the glee with which he approaches it. Dude's messed up.
** The Forest queen is as interested in getting William's illegitimate unborn child out of the picture as she is his lover, and instructs The Rake (who, like Colin Meloy, is no stranger to infanticide) to render Margret "rift and defiled," so it's likely her brutal rape was also accompanied by a miscarriage or an forced abortion.

* ContinuityNod: Possible in the case of "Leslie Anne Levine". "We Both Go Down Together" is [[EpilepticTrees considered by some]] to be the mother of the title character. "The Chimbley Sweep" also may or may not be narrated by a minor character from "Leslie Anne Levine" - [[WildMassGuessing but no one can say for sure]], as "Leslie Anne Levine" has a verse where the singer tells of having made an acquaintance with a chimney sweep, which is unlikely to be true unless OurGhostsAreDifferent is in play since the first verse already said she was a stillborn.

* ContinuityNod: Possibly. The woman in "We Both Go Down Together" is [[EpilepticTrees considered by some]] to be the mother of Leslie Anne Levine.
** "The Chimbley Sweep" may or may not be narrated by a minor character from (once more) "Leslie Anne Levine". [[WildMassGuessing But no one can say for sure]].[[note]]"Leslie Anne Levine" has a verse where the singer tells of having made an acquaintance with a chimney sweep; which is unlikely to be true since the first verse already said she was a stillborn.[[/note]]
* CreepyChild: The ghosts of the Rake's children in "Revenge!" Though can you blame them?
** Try listening to the "Yummy Yummy Yummy, I got love in my tummy" song after hearing this song. It's so creepy it makes other songs creepy.
* CrowdSong: "Sons & Daughters" and "The Rake's Song".
** Any of their songs can become this in a live performance.

* ADateWithRosiePalms: "Billy Liar." "Decked by a Japanese geisha with a garland of pearls," indeed...
* DeathOfAChild: There are at least six songs about dead children (''Leslie Ann Levine'', ''The Infanta'', ''The Rake's Song''/''Revenge!'', ''The Chimbley Sweep'', ''The Bachelor and the Bride''), and possibly more based on interpretation (such as ''Dear Avery'' and ''Burying Davy'').

* OffingTheOffspring: "The Rake's Song".

* StarCrossedLovers: "O Valencia!" very much so. Also, one interpretation of "We Both Go Down Together".

* UnusualEuphemism: "The Chimbley Sweep".

* VillainSong: "The Rake's Song". Depending on your interpretation, "The Culling of the Fold" could be this.

* WeAllDieSomeday: "Easy Come, Easy Go". The lyrics recount the accidental death of an acrobat and a popular young woman's death at the hands of an outwardly "stand-up" serial murderer unto the refrain that "You never really know when the whistle's gonna blow", making it clear that the title refers to the fragility of life.

* AwesomeMcCoolName: Chris Funk.

* TheLostWoods: ''The Hazards of Love'' is set in one of these, ruled by the dread Forest Queen.

* NiceHat: Chris Funk likes to wear a trilby.

* LyricalDissonance: Why, yes, I'll have a big fat cauldronful: "The Legionnaire's Lament", the final verse of "Los Angeles, I'm Yours", "16 Military Wives", the end of "The Mariner's Revenge Song" in a rare instrumental example, "O Valencia!", "Culling of the Fold", "A Cautionary Song", "July, July!", "The Chimbley Sweep", "Calamity Song"...

* InfantImmortality: Very, very subverted. There are at least six songs about dead children (''Leslie Ann Levine'', ''The Infanta'', ''The Rake's Song''/''Revenge!'', ''The Chimbley Sweep'', ''The Bachelor and the Bride''), and possibly more based on interpretation (such as ''Dear Avery'' and ''Burying Davy'').

[-[[caption-width-right:302:Left to right: Nate, John, Colin, Jenny, and Chris.]]-]

* 2004 - ''The Tain'' EP (based on the Irish story ''Literature/TainBoCuailnge'' or ''Cattle Raid of Cooley'')

* Myth/CelticMythology: ''[[Literature/TainBoCuailnge The Tain]]'', as well as the general "guitar and accordion rock" flavor of many of their songs.

* DarkerAndEdgier: "The Tain" is downright ''eerie'', which is saying something considering the [[Literature/TainBoCuailnge source material]].

Most bands are not the Decemberists.

* ADateWithRosiePalms: "Billy Liar." "Decked by a Japanese geisha with a garland of pearls," indeed...

* AwesomeMcCoolname: Chris Funk.

* BittersweetEnding - ''The Hazards of Love'': [[spoiler:"And as the waves came crashing down, he closed his eyes and softly kissed her."]]

* InterClassRomance: "We Both Go Down Together" is about a wealthy young man who falls in love with a poor girl. It doesn't end well for either of them.

* RapeAsDrama: "The Landlord's Daughter", "The Abduction of Margaret", "We Both Go Down Together", possibly "The Chimbley Sweep", "Odalisque", "The Bachelor and the Bride". They managed at least one per album until [[LighterAndSofter ''The King Is Dead''.]]

* ShoutOutToShakespeare: Constantly.

I washed my face in the river when you whistled me on]]."

''In this belly of a whale.''\\
''Its ribs are ceiling beams,''\\
''Its guts are carpeting,''\\
''I guess we have some time to kill.''

* RapeAsDrama: "The Landlord's Daughter", "The Abduction of Margaret", "We Both Go Down Together", possibly "The Chimbley Sweep", "Odalisque", "The Bachelor and the Bride". They managed at least one per album until [[LighterAndSofter ''The King Is Dead'']].
* AbductionIsLove: or Rape Is Love: "We Both Go Down Together". Probable UnreliableNarrator.