Iron and Wine - "The Creek Drank The Cradle", Classic or Dud?

It was also the album of the year for Byron Coley, which I was not expecting.

I think it's very, very beautiful. "Upward Over the Mountain" actually made me tear up the firdt couple of time through. No kidding.

I'll concede 'Bird Stealing Bread' might be classic as far as song's go.

Classic. As much as I like Beam's new, more robust sound, there's a Southern charm and melancholy here that he's never repreated.

And Bird Stealing Bread is a devestatingly sad song (I can never figure out if he's singing to a former love or a dead child).

Classic. As much as I like Beam's new, more robust sound, there's a Southern charm and melancholy here that he's never repreated.

The truth. Creek is still his best record.

Daniel, ar eyou the one who mentioned that as a possible reading of Bird Stealing Bread elsewhere on ILM? Ever since I read someone posit that was what it was about (a dead child) I can barely listen to that song, it is unbearably sad to me now. Even though I don't think it's actually about that.

Daniel, ar eyou the one who mentioned that as a possible reading of Bird Stealing Bread elsewhere on ILM?

Yeah, that was me.

Sorry I messed up the song for you. It's an amazing piece of art (especially in light of how relatively simple it is), but -- especially with that interpretation -- the song can be hard to listen to.

The Blue Sky Project: A Clorox Charity Collection

Lion's Mane is the opening track from Iron & Wine's 2002 release, The Creek Drank The Cradle. It evokes the innocence of youth and was used in a Clorox Disinfectant Wipes commercial called "Touch Me," in which dirty surfaces call out to the eager hands of young children.

This album really does hold up well, Clorox notwithstanding.

I don't see how "Bird Stealing Bread" can be about a dead child at all. I mean, maybe particular lines in isolation might be resonant, but when you get to a line like "Do his hands in your hair feel a lot like a thing you believe in" -- that seems so obviously directed to his ex about her new beau. Who is the "his" and who is the "your" otherwise?

''He'' may be God and ''your'' may be the dead child.

that's a stretch.

It's one of two ways I always interpreted the song (and, BTW, not based on that isolated lyric, but based on the lyrics overall). I don't think it's a stretch. As I say, I wasn't trying to hear the song that way, I just did. Now, admittedly, the fact that I'm the father of a then-two or three year old girl (I can't recall when I first heard the song) may have something to do with how I heard it, but -- like many, if not most, people -- I often hear and understand lyrics in the context of their own life, experience, hopes and fears.

Sorry, ''in the context of my own life, experience, hopes and fears,'' is what I meant to say.

Damn typos.

perfect album for a miserable dreary ny afternoon in april

totally. you know what this record is not good for? driving. my wife and i were listening to it in the car, and something about the mix makes it just sound like scratching on guitar strings and muttering, no matter what volume. this might be a problem with our soundsystem/loud car, though.

^ haha. This album is great, but way too sleepy to be heard while driving.

the new album is way underrated

man, i just cannot get into it

It really is great.

im still struggling with it too.

new ep is very pleasant

Only heard the one song with Fiona Apple so far, which I really liked, but it's a full album, no?

yep sorry x

No problem, wondered if maybe there was something else recently too!

This guy hasn’t excited me in a long time, but I still hold this album dear. It has a very specific intimacy. Smells of dirt and blood and a girl I used to know in South Carolina. And Upward Over The Mountain is a special song.

Smells of dirt and blood and a girl I used to know in South Carolina

your secret is safe with us

Fucking hell, when you put it like that. Yikes.

(She lives in Detroit now, presumably very well)

you put it like that! lol

I loved Shepherd's Dog at the time but it was kind of a turning point i never bothered keeping up with. So i get what you're saying.

I met Sam in the Spain around 2004. He’s a South Carolinian as well. One of the nicest guys

a special record