Lyrics The Crane Wife 1, 2 & 3 - The Decemberists

The Crane Wife 1, 2 & 3

It was a cold night and the snow lay 'round
I pulled my coat tight against the falling down
And the sun was all, and the sun was all down
And the sun was all, and the sun was all down
I am a poor man, I have not wealth nor fame
I have my two hands and a house to my name
And the winter’s so, the winter’s so long
And the winter’s so, the winter’s so long
And all the stars were crashing 'round
As I laid eyes on what I’d found
It was a white crane, it was a helpless thing
Upon a red stain with an arrow in its wing
And it called and cried, it called and cried so
And it called and cried, it called and cried so
And all the stars were crashing 'round
As I laid eyes on what I’d found
My crane wife, my crane wife
My crane wife, my crane wife
And how I helped her and I dressed her wounds
And how I held her beneath the rising moon
And she stood to fly, she stood to fly away
She stood to fly, she stood to fly away
And all the stars were crashing 'round
As I laid eyes on what I’d found
My crane wife, my crane wife
My crane wife, my crane wife
La la, la la la…
PART TWO
My crane wife arrived at my door in the moonlight
All star bright and tongue-tied, I took her in
We were married and bells rang sweet for our wedding
And our bedding was ready, when we fell in
Sound the keening bell and see it’s painted red
Soft as fontanelle, the feathers in the thread
And all I ever meant to do was to keep you
My crane wife, my crane wife, my crane wife
We were poorly, our fortunes fading hourly
And how she avowed me she could bring it back
But I was greedy, I was vain, and I forced her to weaving
On a cold loom in a closed room, with down wove
Sound the keening bell and see it’s painted red
Soft as fontanelle, the feathers in the thread
And all I ever meant to do was to keep you
My crane wife, my crane wife, my crane wife
There’s a bend in the wind and it rakes at my heart
There is blood in the thread and it rakes at my heart
It rakes at my heart, heart, heart, heart
Heart, heart, heart, heart, heart, heart, heart, heart, my crane wife
PART THREE
And under the boughs unbowed
All clothed in a snowy shroud
She had no heart so hardened
All under the boughs unbowed
Each feather, it fell from skin
Till threadbare as she grew thin
How were my eyes so blinded?
Each feather, it fell from skin
And I will hang my head, hang my head low
And I will hang my head, hang my head low
A gray sky, a bitter sting
A rain cloud, a crane on wing
All out beyond horizon
A gray sky, a bitter sting
And I will hang my head, hang my head low
And I will hang my head, hang my head low
And I will hang my head, hang my head low
And I will hang my head, hang my head low
And I will hang my head, hang my head low
And I will hang my head, hang my head low, low, low