When the War Came Lyrics
To cultivate, to make us strong
And hidden here behind the walls
Are shoulders wide and timber on
'Til the war came
'Til the war came
A terrible autonomy
Has grafted onto you and me
Our trust put in the government
They told their lies as heaven-sent
'Til the war came
'Til the war came
[Chorus]
And the war came with a curse and a caterwaul
And the war came with all the poise of a cannonball
And they're picking out our eyes by coal and candlelight
When the war came, the war came hard
We made our oath to Vavilov
We'd not betray the solanum
The acres of asteraceae
To our own pangs of starvation
When the war came
When the war came
With all the grain of Babylon
With all the grain of Babylon...
About
The song is the sixth track off the Decemberist album ‘Crane Wife’. It was inspired by actual events that happened in Russia during WWII and a book that told the story of botanist who protected the botanical institutes seeds and plants from the starving population of Leningrad during it’s siege.
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
Colin Meloy told Pitchfork: “After reading the book (Hunger by Elise Blackwell), and starting to work on the song, it didn’t even occur to me that "When the War Came” could mean anything other than what it was, the inner monologue of a botanist at an institute in Leningrad. But then immediately when the record came out and we started doing interviews, people assumed it was some scathing criticism of the Iraq war. And I think that certainly is an interpretation you can take. Living in war, and being a wartime band, which is essentially what we are– we started right when we were invading Afghanistan– I don’t think there’s any way that can’t somehow influence the songwriting.“ -Colin Meloy
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