Over nine full-length albums, The Decemberists have consistently wowed the critics and their fan base. With so many great records in their rearview, it’s hard to pick out one that stands out as the best. But the consensus would probably put their 2011 album, The King Is Dead, at or very near the top. It’s a pretty-much-flawless collection of songs, including the picture-perfect album closer, “Dear Avery.”
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It’s a beautiful song with a touching message. But what is the meaning of that message? And what was it about that song, and the others on that record, that made many fans feel like it was a return to form? Find out all the answers as we look back on one of the finest individual tracks from this one-of-a-kind band’s probably-best album.
Long Live the King
Based on their first four albums, The Decemberists had made it clear they weren’t afraid of ambitious musical exercises. Picaresque (2005) contained a nearly nine-minute track (“The Mariner’s Revenge”) that had more in common with polka than rock, and told the story of vengeance from within the belly of a whale. And on The Crane Wife (2006), the title track retold a Japanese folk tale and unfolded over three parts and 15 minutes.
The band’s fifth album, The Hazards of Love (2009), took those ambitions to another level. Frontman Colin Meloy penned a piece of work where every song contributes to an overarching narrative. It was an allegorical story told by the band and guest stars like Jim James (My Morning Jacket) and Robyn Hitchcock, but the otherworldly elements and dark themes left some fans baffled.
The Hazards of Love was daring and contained some breathtaking individual moments, but Meloy came out of it looking to make a change for the band’s next record, which would be entitled The King Is Dead and would be released in 2011. “I think I was working out some demons,” Meloy told The Current about the transition from The Hazards of Love to The King Is Dead. “I came out the other end of that with a completely different perspective. I remember thinking as I was working on songs for The King Is Dead, like, I just want to write some songs that are nice to listen to, you know? That are good folk—going back and not trying to mine the depths of my anguish. Instead try to find the joy.”
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There’s a definite shift in The King Is Dead. No song is longer than five and a half minutes, and there aren’t any ventures into myth or mystery. Instead, it’s just a stellar collection of literate, melodic songs played by a band with impressive chemistry built up over the years. “Dear Avery” epitomizes this aesthetic; it’s a song about an eternal concern constructed and performed with understated grace.
What Is “Dear Avery” About?
In an interview with Spin magazine prior to the release of the album, Meloy explained the motivation for “Dear Avery.” It was inspired by the worry parents felt for children fighting in the Iraq War. “I imagine it being a letter sent from a mother to a soldier,” Meloy explained. “I was reading a lot about soldiers and the war and their parents back home. Having a kid myself, it just made me really mindful of that relationship.”
Meloy doesn’t go into the details of the battle; in fact, the word “war” is never even mentioned. Instead, “Dear Avery” comes from the perspective of a parent feeling helpless that they cannot in any way have an impact on the fate of their child. The thoughts that pass through the narrator’s head are devastating: Were you dead on the vine / Oh Avery, to think of you lonely.
Throughout the song, Meloy keeps returning to the phrase, I could just grab you by the nape of your neck. In other words, there was a time when it was that simple, when this person could physically restrain their child from getting into any harm. Memories of innocent times keep returning: Headstrong, you and your long arms / Listing lazily on the cusp of your teens.
The music of “Dear Avery” is mostly confined to Meloy’s dreamy acoustic guitar and the piercing steel guitar of Chris Funk, while special guests Dave Rawlings, Gillian Welch, and Laura Veirs add emotional backing vocals. In the refrains, the narrator tries to hand out a warning to their child across the miles: There are times life will rattle your bones / And shake your limbs.
The final lines of the chorus really bring the heavy emotions to the fore. After mentioning those winds might cause the boy to shake at the frame, Meloy signs off with the following: Don’t you shake alone / Please, Avery, come home. Of course, the parent can’t possibly make that happen, no matter how much they might wish it. Which is what makes “Dear Avery” such a lovely heartbreaker of a song.
Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images
