Philomena

Album: What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World (2015)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This song finds Decemberists vocalist Colin Meloy imploring the titular lady to "let him go down, down, down." Meloy wrote the track before the film of the same name came out. He told The Sun: "It's a fictional name. I'd written it, and then, a short while later, I thought it was ruined forever because of the Judi Dench movie."

    "But I thought I would just go with it anyway. It's sort of about sexual fumbling and bumbling."
  • The song features a retro Phil Spector's sound. Meloy told The Sun: "I wanted to build arrangements for two backing vocalists and it just seemed like the kind of tongue in cheek, over the top song that you could kind of give a Spector approach and still have a song survive."
  • Meloy's chief inspiration was Leonard Cohen, who got Phil Spector to produce his 1977 album Death of a Ladies Man. "I was on a Leonard Cohen kick," he said. "I had the idea of using backing vocalists and having them being an element that ties things together as well as using strings."

    "Then it became more of a big pop sound, which I think sits well with some of our earlier stuff."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Rickie Lee Jones

Rickie Lee JonesSongwriter Interviews

Rickie Lee Jones on songwriting, social media, and how she's handling Trump.

Cheerleaders In Music Videos

Cheerleaders In Music VideosSong Writing

It started with a bouncy MTV classic. Nirvana and MCR made them scary, then Gwen, Avril and Madonna put on the pom poms.

Experience Nirvana with Sub Pop Founder Bruce Pavitt

Experience Nirvana with Sub Pop Founder Bruce PavittSong Writing

The man who ran Nirvana's first label gets beyond the sensationalism (drugs, Courtney) to discuss their musical and cultural triumphs in the years before Nevermind.

Sarah Brightman

Sarah BrightmanSongwriter Interviews

One of the most popular classical vocalists in the land is lining up a trip to space, which is the inspiration for many of her songs.

Mac Powell of Third Day

Mac Powell of Third DaySongwriter Interviews

The Third Day frontman talks about some of the classic songs he wrote with the band, and what changed for his solo country album.

Director Mark Pellington ("Jeremy," "Best Of You")

Director Mark Pellington ("Jeremy," "Best Of You")Song Writing

Director Mark Pellington on Pearl Jam's "Jeremy," and music videos he made for U2, Jon Bon Jovi and Imagine Dragons.