The chorus of the Decemberists' "Don't Carry It All" includes the line "Let the yoke fall from our shoulders." The band's website renders this as "Let the yolk fall." Yes, here's a song about bearing a "neighbor's burden," and the chorus references eggs rather than a device used for pulling heavy loads. Uh-huh. (Though the image of fried eggs pinned on like epaulettes is somewhat amusing to me.)
Thus, a poll:
Oh, and speaking of music polls, I never identified the songs in last month's lyrics poll.
So let me do that now, with links to listen (YouTube unless otherwise noted).
- This uneven situation, I don't need 'cause I take things on the chin. Smelling salts to ease sensation, a losing man who takes his shots to win. — Tammany Hall NYC, "Coffee and Cake," MySpace.
- They told me that I couldn't come back here again, took me for some kind of fool. Said I was doing things that never should be done, but I don't care about their rules. — The Eels, "Rock Hard Times".
- I've been taking off and landing, but this airport's closed, and how much thicker this fog is gonna get, well God only knows. — John Hiatt, "Buffalo River Home".
- Sit back, matter of fact, teasing, toying, turning, chatting, charming, hissing, playin' the crowd. — Ok Go and Bonerama, "A Million Ways".
- I broke free on a Saturday morning, I put the pedal to the floor. Headed north on Mills Avenue, and listened to the engine roar. — The Mountain Goats, "This Year".
- L.A. proved too much for the man, too much for the man. He couldn't make it, so he's leaving the life he's come to know. — "Midnight Train to Georgia", originally by Gladys Knight & the Pips; the version on my playlist is a cover by the Indigo Girls with Gail Ann Dorsey guesting.
- I walk along the city streets you used to walk along with me, and every step I take reminds me of just how it used to be. — "Always Something There to Remind Me", which, huh, is also a cover, I did not know that; the version on my playlist is by the Naked Eyes.
- Song came and went, like the times that we spent, hiding out from the rain under the carnival tent. — Bruce Hornsby, "Mandolin Rain".
- Well I'm lost, I'm a frayed rope tying down a leaky boat to the roof of a car on the road in the dark and it's snowing. — The Weakerthans, "Reconstruction Site".
- We crossed the line, who pushed who over? It doesn't matter to you, it matters to me. — U2, "So Cruel".