The Bloomington, IN, group Early Day Miners is a self-described "musical co… Read Full Bio ↴The Bloomington, IN, group Early Day Miners is a self-described "musical cooperative." The group's core members are Daniel Burton, Rory Leitch (both formerly of Ativin), and Joseph Brumley, but the trio enlists a revolving cast of friends for recordings and live performances. Early Day Miners spin American rural music into richly cinematic, experimental textures that contain a prominent streak of melancholy (and some slowcore tendencies). The combo's first release was the seven-song, 49-minute Placer Found, which emerged in 2000 on Western Vinyl. The 2002 LP Let Us Garlands Bring, on Secretly Canadian Records, boasted richer and more fleshed-out landscapes to underpin the vocals of key member Burton. Early Day Miners continued on with 2003's Jefferson at Rest and 2005's All Harm Ends Here out on Secretly Canadian. The next year, the six-song Offshore, which was originally conceived to be a part of Let Us Garlands Bring and featured the production work of Tortoise's John McEntire, was released.

Official website: http://www.earlydayminers.com/

Return of the Native
Early Day Miners Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Hurricane windswept marsh
A road leading to the sea
A landmark for defeat

Ghost waltz fishing camps
Her prescense and her delta eyes
Stained glass misery

Abandoned boats drift by
Stillness and debris
Security light
A cheap facade
White heat, and misery

Twisted trail of fire
I'm losing you to your desires
In rooms with ocean views
A family in peril
Broken destroyed within
Parades, and worn concrete

Rusted oak and dragonfly
A masquerade ball, a mardi gras mask

A cheap facade
White heat and misery

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of "Return of the Native" by the Early Day Miners evoke images of desolation and melancholy. The song seems to describe a place that has lost its glory and now serves as a marker of defeat. The "hurricane windswept marsh" and "road leading to the sea" set the scene for a place battered by nature's fury. The fishing camps and abandoned boats drifting by paint a picture of a place that used to be bustling with life but is now deserted. The "stained glass misery" highlights the sadness and despair that seem to have settled in the place.

The lyrics also describe the impact of a woman whose "presence and her delta eyes" seem to haunt the place. The song suggests that she has some connection to the environment, perhaps she is a symbol of a lost way of life, or maybe she represents the link between the people and the land. The imagery of "white heat, and misery" emphasizes the intensity of the emotions that the woman brings with her.

The last part of the lyrics describe a "twisted trail of fire" that seems to be leading the singer away from the woman. He is "losing [her] to [her] desires," and it seems to be causing him great pain. The glimpses of happiness that we see in the "rooms with ocean views" and the "masquerade ball, a mardi gras mask" are fleeting and always overshadowed by the sense of desolation and loss.

Overall, "Return of the Native" is a poignant and evocative song that describes a place that has lost its glory and a protagonist who is losing the person he loves.

Line by Line Meaning

Hurricane windswept marsh
The marsh is set ablaze with the force of the winds of a hurricane.

A road leading to the sea
A path that leads to the endless body of water that is the sea.

A landmark for defeat
A significant location that signals the end of an era of triumph.

Ghost waltz fishing camps
Abandoned regions where the ghosts of yesterday's fishing camps still remain.

Her prescense and her delta eyes
Her presence with her eyes resembling the delta region of land where rivers meet the sea.

Stained glass misery
Misery so thick and unbearable that it appears to resemble the shattered and colorful beauty of a stained glass window.

Abandoned boats drift by
Boats left alone to drift aimlessly along the water's surface.

Stillness and debris
A quiet and peaceful calm which is disturbed only by the debris that litters the immediate surroundings.

Security light
A source of illumination meant for protection and detachment from the darkness that surrounds it.

A cheap facade
An outward appearance that betrays the inner truth, something put on for show but in reality is anything but.

White heat, and misery
The intense heat of a white flame that causes immense suffering and pain.

Twisted trail of fire
A pathway consisting of burning flames that are coiled in a twisted manner.

I'm losing you to your desires
I am losing you as your innermost desires lead you astray from the path that we used to share together.

In rooms with ocean views
Inside enclosed spaces with a picturesque view of the endless ocean horizon.

A family in peril
A group of individuals who are in a great state of danger and risk for various reasons.

Broken destroyed within
Shattered and ruined to the core, destruction that has been wrought from the inside.

Parades, and worn concrete
The lively and festive atmosphere of a parade, juxtaposed against the old, worn-out concrete that surrounds it.

Rusted oak and dragonfly
A dragonfly perched on top of a structure made of an old, rusted oak material that has aged over time.

A masquerade ball, a mardi gras mask
A festive ball where everyone is hidden behind the masks they wear, similar to the ones seen during Mardi Gras celebrations.

A cheap facade
An outward appearance that is meant to deceive, yet it is a shallow and easily penetrable masquerade.

White heat and misery
The intense and suffocating heat of a white-hot flame that is accompanied by great pain and suffering.

Contributed by Nora F. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

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