The Decemberists - Days of Elaine lyrics

Those were the days of Elaine
That was the phrase that she used
To describe to her son
Of the fun she had had

Long before he went away
Long before days of the dole and
The draze and the lull
But the call never came

To say, oh oh oh

Loitering lavender park
Laying about in the day and
The dark of a room while the noon passes by

Always on verge of collapse
Mother would quit and then suffer
A lapse from the drink
You would think she was dead



What to say, oh oh oh she say, oh oh oh oh

And the time that it takes
Will it go so slow?
She laid on the brakes and
She dulled the glow
Now, doesn't it go so slow?
When you build it up to tear it down
You're tearing it down you tear it down
Those were the days
Those were the days of Elaine
The days of Elaine the days of Elaine
A lover like Alain Delon
She followed him blind from saloon to salon
From the hills to the pills he would take

Father had died in the mines
Brother had shown no remorse for his crimes
When they strung him up he got
All hung up on the scaffolding

But he say, oh oh oh he say, oh oh oh oh

And the time that it takes, well
It goes so slow she laid on the brakes and
She dulled the glow
Now, doesn't it go so slow?
When you build it up just to tear it down
You're tearing it down you tear it down
Those were the days
Those were the days of Elaine
The days of Elaine the days of Elaine