Just for Fun: A Panoply of Song

I've heard plenty of people cast aspersions on creative writing degrees. "What are you going to do with that? Almost nobody makes money with a creative writing degree!" However, the lead singer of The Decemberists, Colin Meloy, turned a creative writing degree into a mountain of highly literate and literary songs with the help of his bandmates. How could I not devote a "just for fun" post to this band?

For instance, look at the title of this post: "a panoply of song" come from the song "June Hymn," off the band's most recent album - The King is Dead. (In case you're curious, "panoply" means "a group or collection that is impressive because it is so big or because it includes so many different kinds of people or things," according to Merriam-Webster. Yes, I did have to look it up.) I mean, come on! Who uses words like that in a rock-n-roll song? The Decemberists, that's who.

Here are some more of their songs:

By the way, "The Crane Wife" is based on a fairly famous Japanese fairy tale.

Don't you just dig the cinematic awesomeness? Gorgeous stuff.

Rhyming "legionnaire" with "disrepair"? Seriously? How cool is that?

So how about you? Are you a fanboy or fangirl? If not, what do you think? You going to give this amazing band a chance?