Eli The Barrow Boy

So...I'm not sure if I got the idea for Eli's name from this song or not. I can't remember. It wouldn't surprise me if I did. Either way, I really like the Decemberists, and especially their song "Eli The Barrow Boy". It's a perfect lullaby, but it's a bit dark. It's basically a song about a guy who pushes a cart selling odds and ends. He's never made enough money to buy his love a nice robe, and now she's dead. Later he drowns in a river and haunts the town trying to sell his odds and ends to buy the gown. I think it's a great picture of how life can be terribly tragic, but there's always a redeeming factor in it. In this case it's his love for this woman and his willingness to go to any lengths to show her, specifically unrest in his death.

I kinda relate this story to this parenting thing like this: Eli will most likely have to go to counseling because of the way we raise him (pretty much no matter what), but the beautiful part is that we'll mess him up with the best of intentions. Maybe he'll realize that after a few sessions....

Anyway, here's the lyrics to the song and a link to it if you want to hear it. Just don't tell the police.... eli the barrow boy

Eli, the barrow boy
Of the old town
Sells coal and marigolds
And he cries out
All down the day

Below the tamaracks
He is crying:
“Corn cobs and candle wax for the buying”
All down the day

“Would I could afford to buy my love a fine robe
Made of gold and silk Arabian thread
But she is dead and gone and lying in a pine grove
And I must push my barrow all the day
And I must push my barrow all the day

”Eli, the barrow boy
When they found him
Dressed all in corduroy
He had drowned in
The river down the way

They laid his body down in a church yard
But still when the moon is out
With his push cart
He calls down the day

“Would I could afford to buy my love a fine gown
Made of gold and silk Arabian thread
But I am dead and gone and lying in a church ground
And still I push my barrow all the day
Still I push my barrow all the day”