Environment plays an underrated role in the songwriting process. Look around you at your surroundings in a given moment, and then start penning a song. Chances are, the end result will be unique to that setting and whatever it evoked in you. Certainly, that was the case with The Decemberists’ “January Hymn”, a pretty, reflective piece found on their 2011 album The King Is Dead. The band’s frontman, Colin Meloy, looked out at a winter wonderland and delivered a bittersweet ode to the month with the harshest weather.
Videos by American Songwriter
A Stormy Success
The Decemberists built their reputation by exploring the boundaries of folk music. If there was a bizarre contemporary story to tell or an obscure folk tale to reference, Meloy and company were up for it. That they managed to make that stuff relatable to folks living ordinary lives was their special skill.
After the 2009 album Hazards Of Love, a concept album involving forest monsters and evil queens, Meloy decided that he wanted to return to a bit of songwriting normalcy, at least relative to their past stuff. He also yearned for a return to more traditional American sounds after borrowing from British folk traditions on previous records.
At the same time as he was writing the record, Meloy and his family moved to land north of Portland, Oregon. The pastoral setting couldn’t help but influence the music on the record. As it turned out, the weather would as well.
One winter day, a massive snowstorm settled into the region. Meloy and family were homebound for more than a week due to impassable roads. As he explained in an interview with The Guardian, this triggered memories and inspired “January Hymn”:
“Portland alone shuts down when there’s any snow, but up here we just don’t get touched. We hardly get any services up here anyway, so when the snow came, we were stranded for 10 days with no garbage, no mail. It was awesome. So that song is just about shoveling snow, and thinking about all the snow I shoveled as a kid.”
Exploring the Lyrics of “January Hymn”
Even though he begins it in the present tense, you can sense that “January Hymn” is triggering memories for the narrator. “On a winter Sunday I go,” Meloy begins. “To clear away the snow/And green the ground below.” He wonders if he’s wasting his time. “Is this the better way to spend the day?” he asks.
He then recalls youthful moments out on frozen ground. “And all my teens in tow,” he says, bunching up the years into one wintry span. “Stuffed in strata of clothes.” In the last verse, he suggests that romance was in that frigid air. “Wandering the gray memorial park,” he sings. “A fleeting beating of hearts.”
In the pre-chorus, Meloy hints at some missed connection that still haunts him. “What were the words I meant to say before you left?” he wonders. “When I could see your breath lead where you were going to.” “Maybe I should just let it be,” he shrugs. “And maybe it will all come back to me.”
The King Is Dead also contains a song called “June Hymn”, allowing Meloy to wax rhapsodic on the summer as well. As for “January Hymn”, it perfectly evokes that icy time of year: crisp, scenic, and naturally melancholy.
Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images
Leave a Reply
Only members can comment. Become a member. Already a member? Log in.