bedouin dress.
fleet foxes - bedouin dress [lyrics]
I have no intention of creating an album - or song, for that matter. And I definitely don’t suffer from a broken heart or relationship. At least not with Al. Maybe with my former self.
I was so enthralled with Fleet Foxes when their debut album was released in 2008. I was a sophomore in college. I listened to the album on repeat for a month straight. No shit - nothing else but “Sun It Rises” to “Oliver James” over and over in my Subaru Forester. I was traveling to the PNW frequently, certain that I’d move there after graduating.
I keep getting these nods and tugs back to 2008-2012 and the person I was then. The things that fulfilled me and the people that surrounded me. Most have faded. Others I’m clawing back to right now, as I feel this strong pull back to that time period when all I was concerned with was writing and photographing. Hence, I find myself here. And now.
This song came on my Favorites shuffle today. The need to get it out of my head & onto “paper” was so visceral. I’ve learned I have to pay attention, now, to these times - something, somebody somewhere is trying desperately to tell me something of great import. Today, it’s this:
If to borrow is to take and not return
I have borrowed all my lonesome life
And I can't, no I can't get through
The borrower's debt is the only regret of my youth
And believe me it's not easy when I look back
Everything I took got soon returned
Just to be at Innisfree again
All of the sirens are driving me over the stern
Just to be at Innisfree again
All of the sirens are driving me over the stern
One day at Innisfree
One day that's mine there
In the street one day I saw you among the crowd
In a geometric pattern dressed
Gleaming white just as I recall
Old as I get I will never forget it at all
Gleaming white just as I recall
Old as I get I will never forget it at all
One day at Innisfree
One day that's mine there
While creating Helplessness Blues, Pecknold broke up with his then girlfriend of five years.
Pecknold told Q magazine:
We ended up breaking up because of the record, it took all of my attention and my capacity for being present in the moment."
The break-up is reflected upon the lyrics of the song. Pecknold further explained to Q magazine:
‘Bedouin Dress’ is about how in relationships I’ve felt that I’ve had a lot of capacity to give back. And sometimes that’s because I’ve been so focused on music. If I wasn’t really driven to make records, I don’t even know if I would have those thoughts. It’s a weird self-fulfilling prophecy."
