Marissa Nadler is an American dream folk musician and singer-songwriter. Sh… Read Full Bio ↴Marissa Nadler is an American dream folk musician and singer-songwriter. She plays six string guitar, 12 string guitar, piano, ukelele, banjo, and voice.
Nadler studied painting at the Rhode Island School of Design, where she began her performing career after writing songs for many years.

The foundation of her sound is her haunting mezzo-soprano, and a delicate 6-string acoustic guitar, often accompanied by a variety of instruments, including electric guitar, theremin, and piano. Nadler writes strange, yet classic, melancholy songs. Her voice is often bathed in a wash of reverb and space echo and creates a ghostly, atmospheric feeling to the music.

She has American Gothic leanings; her songs often take place in an imagined, idealistic time with a cast of characters of her own creation.

Official Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Marissa-Nadler/300932499775
Bandcamp: http://marissanadler.bandcamp.com/

Annabelle Lee
Marissa Nadler Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

(words by Edgar Allan Poe)

It was many and many a year ago
In a kingdom by the sea
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabelle Lee
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me

I was a child and she was a child
In this kingdom by the sea
But we loved with a love that was more than love
I and my Annabelle Lee
With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
Coveted her and me
And this was the reason that, long ago
In this kingdom by the sea
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabelle Lee
So that her highborn kinsman came
And bore her away from me
To shut her up in a sepulcher
In this kingdom by the sea

It was many and many a year ago
In a kingdom by the sea

That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabelle Lee

Overall Meaning

Marissa Nadler's interpretation of Edgar Allan Poe's "Annabelle Lee" is a hauntingly serene rendition of the classic poem. The song captures the tale of a maiden named Annabelle Lee who lived in a kingdom by the sea, and her love affair with the singer. The statement “many and many a year ago” acts as an indication of the passage of time between the present and the time when this tale was unfolding. The couple loved each other passionately and intensely with a love that was “more than love.” The reference to the “winged seraphs of heaven” insinuates that even the divine beings coveted their love.

However, fate intervened in a cruel manner, and a chilling wind blew out of a cloud, killing the singer's beloved Annabelle Lee. The alliteration in the line “chilling, My beautiful Annabelle Lee” heightens the sense of impending doom. Annabelle’s highborn kinsman seized her and shut her away in a sepulcher in the kingdom by the sea. The poem suggests that even death could not part the couple's love, with the final lines implying that Annabelle Lee’s memory lives on.

Nadler's powerful voice, subtle instrumentation and wistful lyrics converge to create a haunting, melancholic atmosphere reminiscent of Poe's underlying themes of melancholia, obsession, and the inevitability of death.

Line by Line Meaning

It was many and many a year ago
A long time ago

In a kingdom by the sea
In a place close to the ocean

That a maiden there lived whom you may know
There was this young girl that you might be familiar with

By the name of Annabelle Lee
Her name was Annabelle Lee

And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Her only intention in life

Than to love and be loved by me
Was to love and be loved by me

I was a child and she was a child
We were both young

In this kingdom by the sea
In this place near the ocean

But we loved with a love that was more than love
Our love was beyond the ordinary

I and my Annabelle Lee
Annabelle Lee and I

With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
Our love was so strong