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.
The World in 1984
Shearwater Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
When my mother and me take the drive into town, I can't tell if she's lost in thought or lost where we are. She turns the radio to 92 Star, where Ronnie Milsap sings what he would not have missed it for, and she says, "What do you think you're gonna do with your life?" And I say, "You've got to teach me to drive." She just laughs at that, and musses my hair, and says, "Kid, you're lucky to be alive."
The lyrics to Shearwater's "The World in 1984" offer a poignant reflection on the fleeting nature of life experiences and the precariousness of our existence. In the first verse, the singer's father reflects on the transience of the moment and the intangibility of human memory. Despite the profound impact of their actions, the father and his comrades realize that their experiences will never be fully understood or appreciated by those who did not share in them. The father's words suggest a sense of regret or longing for a world that is now lost, forever beyond their grasp.
The second verse turns to a more personal conversation between the singer and her mother. The mother's question about what the singer plans to do with her life highlights the uncertainty that accompanies growing up and the difficulty of making meaningful choices in an unpredictable world. The mention of Ronnie Milsap's song suggests a generation gap, a symbolic marker of a different cultural moment that has long since passed. And yet, despite the changes and challenges of life, the mother expresses a sense of gratitude for the simple fact of being alive.
Line by Line Meaning
When our column advanced, and we saw what we'd done, we were sure that we could never tell the folks back home,
Despite seeing the destruction and chaos that their actions caused, they still believed that they couldn't share it with the people back home.
said my father to me, I had just turned sixteen, and we were walking from my school to his apartment alone.
The conversation mentioned was between father and son while walking alone on their way home.
And he said, 'You'd think the world you're in would always remain, but some worlds can just disappear.
He uttered that some things that seem permanent are not, and can easily vanish without a trace.
Some worlds you enter just for seconds at a time, and some last until you're forgiven.
Father explains that some events that occur in life are so fleeting that they only last for a few moments, while some linger until you are absolved of the errors of the past.
When my mother and me take the drive into town, I can't tell if she's lost in thought or lost where we are.
The singer is puzzled about whether his mother's silence during their drive is that of deep thought or of her getting lost.
She turns the radio to 92 Star, where Ronnie Milsap sings what he would not have missed it for,
During the drive to town, the mother turned on the radio to 92 Star where Ronnie Milsap was singing about what he could never regret.
and she says, 'What do you think you're gonna do with your life?'
The mother then asked her son the question of what he intends to do with his life.
And I say, 'You've got to teach me to drive.'
The son saw the opportunity to ask his mother to teach him how to drive.
She just laughs at that, and musses my hair, and says, 'Kid, you're lucky to be alive.'
The mother laughed at his response, playfully ruffled his hair, and said that he should always be grateful for his life.
Contributed by Reagan K. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@angv88
i love this song
@KanwarAnand
first listen, what a song
@CptCwolf
When my mother and me take the drive into town, I can't tell if she's lost in thought or lost where we are. She turns the radio to 92 Star, where Ronnie Milsap sings what he would not have missed it for, and she says, "What do you think you're gonna do with your life?" And I say, "You've got to teach me to drive." She just laughs at that, and musses my hair, and says, "Kid, you're lucky to be alive."
@DeniseInChains
beautiful
@metagrunge
"When our column advanced, and we saw what we'd done, we were sure that we could never tell the folks back home," said my father to me, I had just turned sixteen, and we were walking from my school to his apartment alone. And he said, "You'd think the world you're in would always remain, but some worlds can just disappear. Some worlds you enter just for seconds at a time, and some last until you're forgiven.
@mrpuffypantsV
nope