Couldn't really love you any more
You've become my ceiling
I don't think I love you anymore
Our cave's collapsing
I don't wanna be here anymore
My old man told me
"You don't open your eyes for awhile
You just breathe that moment down"
Forty miles out of East Illinois
From my old man's heart attack
I believed you were crazy
You believed you loved me
I don't wanna bark here anymore
Black Hills, the colly
Wasn't really dangerous for us
We just catch you coughing
What the hell are we gonna do?
A black mile to the surface
I don't wanna be here anymore
It all tastes like poison
Can't open your eyes for awhile
You just breathe that moment down
Forty hours out of Homestake
And I'm trying to translate you again
I believed you were crazy
You believed you loved me
You and me, we're a day drink
So lose your faith in me
~ Andy Hull (for Manchester Orchestra)
In his State of the Union Address on this day in 1848, President James K. Polk confirmed that large quantities of gold had been discovered in California, thus triggering the California Gold Rush of 1849 which, according to PBS, "unleashed the largest migration in United States history and drew people from a dozen countries to form a multi-ethnic society on America's fringe." Twenty-five years later, George Armstrong Custer led a force of 1000 men into Sioux territory in the Black Hills of South Dakota, beginning the Black Hills Gold Rush. And two years after that, in 1876, the discovery of a gold outcropping in Lead, South Dakota, resulted in the creation of the Homestake Mine, which became the backdrop for the HBO series, Deadwood, and the inspiration for this song by Manchester Orchestra, included on their June release of A Black Mile to the Surface. What to take from all of this information? One thing leads to another? Or the things you can learn while writing a blog?
And here's something I learned. "Colly" refers to the soot and grime that accumulates where there is coal dust. Ew. Can't open your eyes for awhile / You just breathe that moment down. If the gold mine is metaphor for a relationship gone bad, it's not too difficult to draw the parallels. Love is the gold, but there's no guarantee you'll find it. And once a relationship's gone bad, it all tastes like poison.
Despite the despair of the song, I like it, especially the slow-motion break for I believed you were crazy / You believed you loved me. We believe what we want to believe; truth be damned. If you believe there's gold in them thar hills, go for it. You won't be the first fool.
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