White Winter Hymnal - Song Interpretation

Catholic Living Popular Media
#1

Lyrics and music link below… Catholic interpretation? Or any interpretation. I say Catholic because Pentatonix chose to include this song on their Christmas album and Fleet Foxes chose to name the song ‘White Winter Hymnal’.

I think the song title and the choice to include it on a Christmas record change the interpretation because there was intent by the artist with the title and with the cover band to include it on a Christmas album. It’s interesting. But… Why?

So… what do you think?

Fleet Foxes - White Winter Hymnal (covered recently on Pentatonix’ latest Christmas Album)

I was following the
I was following the
I was following the
I was following the
I was following the
I was following the
I was following the
I was following the
I was following the pack
All swallowed in their coats
With scarves of red tied ‘round their throats
To keep their little heads
From fallin’ in the snow
And I turned 'round and there you go
And, Michael, you would fall
And turn the white snow red as strawberries in the summertime…

I was following the pack
All swallowed in their coats
With scarves of red tied ‘round their throats
To keep their little heads
From fallin’ in the snow
And I turned 'round and there you go
And, Michael, you would fall
And turn the white snow red as strawberries in the summertime…

I was following the pack
All swallowed in their coats
With scarves of red tied ‘round their throats
To keep their little heads
From fallin’ in the snow
And I turned 'round and there you go
And, Michael, you would fall
And turn the white snow red as strawberries in the summertime…

youtube.com/watch?v=o10drRI3VQ0

#2

Interesting song, I love Pentatonix version of it. To me it just sounds like a nursery rhyme and makes the same kind of sense. I googled Fleet Foxes and the song and found this page where the lead singer confirms that it’s pretty meaningless.

#3

He says something different here…

songmeanings.com/songs/view/3530822107858711972/

Every time he’s asked about it he has a different answer… like I suspect many of us do every time we give it any thought.

Plus, who knows where the words and music comes from… it seems God loves music and appears to play a not so insignificant role in it…

Am I saying this is divinely inspired… no… am I saying the composer chose his words and melody carefully, thoughtfully and deliberately over the course of a period of time and was subject to many influences including things as basic as time, meter and rhyme… yes… and yet this was the final result and I find the whole thing quite intriguing… and then the title… why call it a hymnal… and why include it on a Christmas record…

#4

I didn’t see where the songwriter said anything on the page you linked to. Except for the one poster who said the songwriter said it was meaningless, all the other posts were personal interpretations. Why would you assume any kind of Christian interpretation, just because the word Hymn is in the title?

#5

Because Pentatonix included it on a Christmas album.

And the title was not random. Someone gave it some thought. Why did they choose to call it a hymnal.

And there are a lot of interpretations of this song on various song interpretation websites, this was just one. And you need to look at ‘most recent’ as opposed to ‘most replied’ to find the lead singers comments. And if you check it out, but it is unnecessary since I already did, the writer has given several different answers/comments.

But still they seem inadequate to me. My point is that I think there is more to discuss here. If you don’t want to that’s fine. Maybe others will… maybe not… whatever…

The beauty of poetry and music is there is no “right” answer (regardless of what the writer/composer says)… only postulations… some good and some not so good… I think there are a lot more good postulations of this song’s meaning out there…

Poetry is about being provocative… And what does it provoke… Thoughts and emotions.

#6

So what does it mean to you?

#7

I don’t know… a lot of things… related and unrelated… I did find it thought provoking and emotive. Sad and happy. Challenging and inspiring. An emotional truce. Content but edgy. Palliative but anxious.

first line repeats 8 times… 8 notes in an octave… 7 days a week with the 8th repeating the first… time, seasons, in this case winter… the days are short… Advent…

Embedded words and associated imagery or word associations, metaphors:

I, eye, (receiving) voyeur, spying, surveillance, big brother, paranoia… or (giving) oversight, panorama, power, insight, knowledge, special…

wing - lift, flight, birds

pack - pack of dogs, pack of wolves, flock of birds, gang

swallow - bird… gulp… fear…

swallowed - eaten by another creature, nothing scarier than being eaten alive unless it’s being eaten alive by your own… consumed, weighted down, burdened, limited mobility, limited range of motion…

coat - coat of arms, self defense

coats - animals with coats… in packs… reliance on nature, fragility… hunting, taxidermy

scarves of red - colors, symbols, gang

tied round their throats - birds with red stripe around their necks, gang wearing their colors, uniform, tribal

little heads - small minded, immature, uninformed, unaware, ignorant, but… innocent

snow - frozen water, water is life, life is cold, on hold, freeze frame, snapshot… pure, beautiful, unique, crystalline… cocaine, heroin, methadone, ice… inhibiting, shuts you in, keeps you home, won’t let you out…

turn 'round - mother, brother, family, teacher, mentor, guardian, guardian angel…

there you go - repeat offender, dreamer, reckless, creative, non-conformist, suspect…

Michael - the Archangel, defends us in battle, the realization there is good and evil and there is a battle being waged, elevates the song to a higher level, another realm, the spirit world, the supernatural, the heavens

fall - fall behind, fall out, the fall, fall in, fall back, fall over… changing season… transition…

white - contrast, pure, opaque, glaring, blinding

snow - see above…

red - texture, blood, pain, suffering, inevitable and avoidable, who’s turn is it to be Jesus today?

strawberries in the summertime - life goes on, as good or better than ever, freeze frame is over, snapshot is over, can’t pause and reflect forever… breezy, pleasant, green and blue, heavenly, salvific…

That’s all for now… I will try to take all this imagery, etc. and conjure up a summary later…

Regardless of the writers intent, which we don’t really know, I am enjoying thinking and expounding on it. I hoped others would too. I wanted to hear what others think so I could continue adding to and revising my thoughts.

#8

Crickets…

#9

My first thought was it was about snowmen. I was following the pack (a packed snow ball) and because it takes many pushes to make the packed snowball, "I was following " repeats lots to make the body. All swaddled in their coats (coats of snow) with scarves of red tied around their throats (it’s what snowmen do) to keep their little heads from falling on the ground (what a kid would think a scarf does) and I turned around (spin and bumped into the snowmen) and there you go (reaching for a carot nose) and Michael (the name of the snowman) you would fall (head fell off) and turn the white snow red as strawberries in the summertime (scarf fell too … Also describing how frustrated the maker is at the snow mans head falling off —summer=hot —strawberries=sweet). Then the round continues as the snow man maker has to follow the pack to make another head … To which the snow isn’t perfect snowmen snow. … And the head falls off again.

However, a friend said it was about a school walking through the snow and it’s about how a student (Michael) fell and died (eecks)

Then someone else said the poem is about Michael (the archangel) and came up with some interesting analagy about religon (which was over my head so I can’t retell it).

#10

Okay… I’ve waited more than enough… It’s almost worn me out…

I think the use of the hymnal in the title is intentional and significant.
Why would you title the song a hymnal? There had to be a reason and there could be a plausibly “hip” reason in that it was provocative if nothing else and/or that could be masking the fact that it was legit.

***I was following the pack… ***(repeated 8 times)

I was following the pack that was being followed by the eye. I was eyeing the pack. The pack was eyeing something, everything, anything… ME… Michael… The omnipotent “eye” was following the pack… and me… and everything… and I was following the omnipotent eye… and the eye was following me… and everyone is following everyone… sometime or another but you never know when… except always… someone…

We all see somethings… if we could put it altogether we would see everything but we can’t because we are all members of different packs and still unique individuals… we struggle between being individuals and members of groups. We appreciate both. And we hate both. Usually we’re right… but sometimes we’re wrong… (about when and when not to ‘follow the pack’). Who can be right all the time… No one… but what a price to pay when we’re wrong… it’s not fair… that challenges our senses…

If we could put all the right things we see altogether we could see all the right things but we can’t because we all just see glimpses at various times and we are all so different and a lot of us really don’t like many of us… and vice versa…

All swallowed in their coats, with scarves of red wrapped round their throats…

We are defined by our time and space… which determines our coats… we choose sides… “red rover red rover send Michael on over”… Our stuff that defines us materially and otherwise is a our coat… our scarves are our colors. Our necktie. Our flag… Our banner… we define ourselves by association whether we really intend to or not…

To keep their little heads from falling the snow…

If you choose the right pack you can do well… if you choose the wrong pack you can die… arbitrarily… if you have no choice… you have to choose anyway which can be a be a no win situation…

***And I turn round and there you go… ***

  1. I turned 'round… back where we started… I have eyes… why did I turn round? Either I knew from experience, worry, concern, that Michael would “go”… or the “eyes” tipped me off…
  2. And there you go… like it’s no surprise and may have even been anticipated… why did I turn 'round before so… either Michael was to naïve or innocent or trusting to believe that after he had come so far he could “go” without consequence… or… he accepted the risk and consequence to make a statement… and it was foreseen which explains why I turned 'round before he went…

And Michael you would fall, and turn the white snow red as strawberries in the summertime…

I think the use of the name Michael is significant… anytime I hear the name used in music or poetry whether intended or not it takes it to another level… a spiritual level… I am obviously not literal… but combining the “hymnal” from the title and “Michael” in the lyrics conjures up the images, sense and feeling of the “heavens”… the spiritual world… a world way beyond ours…

Turning the white snow red as strawberries in the summertime is disturbing on the one hand in that we have gotten so calloused that we can dismiss the gory aspect of it… yet we have to because immediately following it we are overwhelmed with the image and feel of a bountiful summer… peculiar but not unrealistic given our world, our day and age… and the promised land…

There could be more to say about relationships, time, seasons (winter, fall, summer… is spring in there somewhere?)

The beauty of time and space, the fragility of life, the relentless pursuit of perfection. The search for God… and ultimately the meaninglessness of time and space… Everything is everything and everything is nothing without God… and God is Love and Love is all there is…

#11