The band was formed by two members of Okkervil River, back-up vocalist and accordion/keyboard player Jonathan Meiburg and singer and guitarist Will Sheff, so they could write quieter songs. Beginning in 2005, Sheff lessened his role in the band, leaving Meiburg as the band's songwriter from Palo Santo on.
Band members today include Jonathan Meiburg, Thor Harris, Kim Burke, Lucas Oswald, with many contributions from others. The touring band in 2012 featured producer/drummer Danny Reisch and guitarist/vocalist Mitch Billeaud of The Lemurs and Christiaan Mader of Brass Bed.
To date, Shearwater has released nine full-length albums The Dissolving Room, Everybody Makes Mistakes, Winged Life, Palo Santo, Rook, The Golden Archipelago, Animal Joy, and Jet Plane & Oxbow as well as EPs Thieves and The Snow Leopard, and a split LP with Okkervil River entitled Sham Wedding/Hoax Funeral, as well as an album of covers of former touring partners, Fellow Travelers, released in November 2013.
As an ornithologist and writer, Meiburg has a unique perspective. The songs of Palo Santo were partly written at the Galápagos Islands in the footsteps of Charles Darwin. Rook was influenced by studies in the Falklands Islands and by the current mass extinction we are living through. The Golden Archipelago examined the destruction of island cultures in the 20th century and beyond. Animal Joy returned to more personal concerns; Meiburg stated repeatedly in interviews that the foundational idea is that life is most real when "the blood flows fastest and closest to the surface." Fellow Travelers started as a small home EP and expanded into a full album celebrating relationships with the other bands they've met along the way.
Nobody
Shearwater Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Your little eyelid
The iris dilates while the heart implodes
And when he comes
And you're dreaming
His mouth still denies what your heart just knows, oh no
Nobody would ever have known
How you would reply
When the bombs finished falling
And ashes were drifting along the roads
Little child, how you lifted your eyes to the air
And the ancient shapes of crows
Nobody would ever have known
No hand and no eye could have shown
How you would reply
Nobody would ever have known
No light in the darkness would have shown
How you would reply
The lyrics to Shearwater's song Nobody describe a moment of emotional vulnerability and connection between two people. The phrase "His little hook, your little eyelid" paints a picture of two individuals entwined in a moment of intimacy. The heart-wrenching contrast of the iris dilating while the heart implodes cleverly evokes the experience of falling in love, an overwhelming and all-consuming feeling that can leave a person feeling vulnerable.
The chorus of the song, "Nobody would ever have known, no light in the dark would have shown, how you would reply," suggests that this moment of intimacy is hidden, secret. It is a moment that was never meant to be seen or shared with others, something that was only meant to be experienced between these two individuals. The lyrics speak to the power of a shared secret and the importance of these moments in shaping our relationships and identities.
Overall, Nobody is a powerful exploration of intimacy and the hidden moments of vulnerability that shape our lives. It speaks to the profound impact that these moments can have on us and the value of being true to ourselves and our emotions.
Line by Line Meaning
His little hook
Referring to the man's charm or lure
Your little eyelid
Referring to the woman's innocent or vulnerable state
The iris dilates while the heart implodes
The woman's physical reactions to the man's charm, while her emotions are in turmoil
And when he comes
When the man appears in the woman's life
And you're dreaming
The woman may be fantasizing about a romantic future with him
His mouth still denies what your heart just knows, oh no
The man may not reciprocate the woman's feelings, despite her intuition telling her otherwise
When the bombs finished falling
Referring to a catastrophic event or experience
And ashes were drifting along the roads
The aftermath of the catastrophe
Little child, how you lifted your eyes to the air
The child's innocent curiosity or hopefulness, despite the bleak situation
And the ancient shapes of crows
Referring to omens of death or bad fortune
Nobody would ever have known
Nobody else can fully understand or relate to the feelings or experiences being described
No light in the dark would have shown
There is no hope or reassurance in the midst of despair
How you would reply
The woman's or child's reaction to difficult circumstances is unpredictable or unexpected
Contributed by Luke W. Suggest a correction in the comments below.