I was introduced to Okkervil River’s music by a few friends of the neo-folk influence. The first song I heard was “Red.” I listened to it for months. I listened to it a hundred times. In that song is one of the most haunting lyrics I have ever heard:

She said “I know it’s easy to have me, but I have seen some things that I can not even tell to my family pictures,” and “I’m full of fictions and fucking addictions” and “I miss my mother.”

Despite the greatness of “Red,” I did not get into Black Sheep Boy (the album “Red” is on) or any of Okkervil River’s earlier stuff. However, they recently dropped a new album. It is quite good. The final song is the reason for this post. Halfway through the last song, which is just as melancholy as “Red,” the band breaks into an amazing rendition of “Sloop John B” (off the legendary Pet Sounds album by the Beach Boys).

Okkervil River – John Allyn Smith Sails

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