Anchored by vivid songwriting and eclectic instrumentation, The Acorn produce an original brand of experimental, popular folk music that effortlessly marries modern and traditional forms. Inspired by the natural beauty of the Outaouais region, and with his principle projects all on hiatus, Rolf Klausener started writing under the moniker The Acorn in the summer of 2002.
Initially an excuse to teach himself home-recording, these furtive experiments quickly started eating up the majority of his free time. These early musings would eventually become The Acorn’s first full-length release, The Pink Ghosts. A mellifluous, mostly-instrumental tribute to the Ottawa region, The Pink Ghosts was by released in July 2004 on Jon Bartlett’s proudly independent community-based label, Kelp Records. By this time, The Acorn had grown to include the talents of guitarist Jeff Debutte, visual artist and guitarist Howie Tsui and drummer Jeffrey Malecki.
In the fall of 2005, they released Blankets! , a more melodically focused effort showcasing the bands emerging synthesis of experimental folk and pop. Blankets! earned the band notable praise from CBC radio, independent media, and campus radio stations across the country. Inspired by the road and the communities they discovered beyond their sleepy capital city, The Acorn made every effort to travel the country, touring independently and as often as they could. Throughout 2005, they forged ties with a new, burgeoning independent Canadian music scene which grew to include Ohbijou, We’re Marching On, Snailhouse, Elliott Brood, Montreal’s People for Audio and many more.
A genealogical quest in late 2005 would prove to be the bands most challenging and sprawling project to date. Having lost his father to cancer at the age of 16, Rolf began conducting interviews with his Honduran-born Mother, Gloria Esperanza Montoya, to help form a more complete picture of his family. These interviews, both harrowing and awe-inspiring, would push Rolf to apply for several arts grants to produce a song-cycle based on them. In the spring of 2006, The Acorn was awarded an Ontario Arts Council grant and City of Ottawa music grant to produce Glory Hope Mountain. The immensity and scope of the project triggered an insurmountable bout of writers block, forcing Rolf to spend his time poring over his recorded interviews and researching Honduran native music and culture. Taking a break from the album, the band called up Montreal friend, pianist Keiko Devaux, and booked three days at Ottawa’s legendary Little Bullhorn Prods (Kathleen Edwards, Wooden Stars, Howe Gelb, etc.) to document some older material. It might have been the nausea-inducing heat, or the clock on the wall, but the band squeezed out three new songs as well, and walked out of the studio that weekend with a new six song EP titled Tin Fist.
Tin Fist was released on Toronto’s Paper Bag Records (Woodhands, Laura Barrett, Deadly Snakes, Tokyo Police Club, etc.) in late 2006 to glowing reviews. The band followed with their first headlining tour. With the unerring expertise of Little Bullhorn’s Jarrett Bartlett and a lot of borrowed equipment, The Acorn spent the first seven months of 2007 finishing Glory Hope Mountain in a rented house in Ottawa’s Centretown.
Not quite biography nor musical folk tale, Glory Hope Mountain, harbours the triumphs, discoveries, sorrow and life-affirming adventures of a life both remarkable and happily modest. Armed with drums, gut-strings, ukuleles, marimbas and the collective’s best songwriting to date, The Acorn created a stirring musical document. Since the release of Glory Hope Mountain, The Acorn have graced the cover of Canada’s National music magazine, Exclaim, garnered innumerable rave reviews across Canada, the United States, and abroad, both online and in print, and were nominated to the 2008 Polaris Award long list.
free EPs available at the band's web site: http://theacorn.ca
http://www.myspace.com/theacorn
Oh Napoleon
The Acorn Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The one I found so hard to find.
Mosquito stuck in amber mine.
Don't want my body trapped in time.
As I wait for skies to clear,
Don't seem to mind if I shed a tear.
From time to time, I'm swallowed whole,
Will I follow you home again.
How's it feel to disappear.
Like seriously, just disappear.
And take a stab from papa's spear.
Getting drunk on rotten air.
Bite my tongue, I taste your blood.
Never thought that I could bite hard enough.
Eyes of fire in your skull.
You've got the kind of eyes that burns goose flesh off.
Oh your charm is getting old.
This kind of love ain't bought or sold.
I know you tried if truth be told,
But I still cast you to a bed of coal.
Will I follow you home again.
Bite my tongue, I taste your blood.
Never thought that I could bite hard enough.
The Acorn's song Oh Napoleon is a deeply introspective and reflective track about the singer's struggle to find peace of mind. He begins by saying how hard it has been for him to achieve peace of mind, and likens himself to a mosquito trapped in amber, unable to move forward or backward. He doesn't want to be trapped in time and space - he wants to move on with his life.
As he waits for the skies to clear, he doesn't seem to mind shedding a tear from time to time. He feels like he's swallowed whole and then spat out on the floor in a wink. The singer seems to be grappling with a sense of isolation and lack of control, as he asks if he will follow the addressee home again, indicating that he doesn't feel like he has a say in the matter.
He then describes the addressee disappearing and taking a stab from his father's spear - perhaps a metaphor for being rejected or criticized by authority figures. The singer then bites his tongue and tastes the addressee's blood, surprised by how hard he is biting down. He describes the addressee's eyes as burning goose flesh off and acknowledges that while she had charm initially, it has gotten old.
Overall, the song seems to be a rumination on a relationship that has gone sour, and the singer's own struggle to move past it and find peace of mind.
Line by Line Meaning
Talk about your peace of mind.
Let's discuss how you achieve inner calm and tranquility.
The one I found so hard to find.
I struggled to attain that same sense of peace myself.
Mosquito stuck in amber mine.
I feel trapped and preserved in time like an insect in amber.
Don't want my body trapped in time.
I don't want to be held captive by the past or stuck in one moment forever.
As I wait for skies to clear,
While I wait for better days to come,
Don't seem to mind if I shed a tear.
I'm not afraid to show my vulnerability and cry if need be.
From time to time, I'm swallowed whole,
Occasionally, I feel consumed and overwhelmed by life's challenges.
And in a wink spat on the floor.
Other times, I feel discarded and dismissed just as quickly as I was taken in.
Will I follow you home again.
Am I destined to fall under your spell and go after you once more?
How's it feel to disappear.
What's it like to vanish completely from someone's life?
Like seriously, just disappear.
I mean, to disappear without any explanation or trace.
And take a stab from papa's spear.
And endure the pain and punishment from societal expectations and norms.
Getting drunk on rotten air.
Losing oneself in vices and harmful habits despite the negative consequences.
Bite my tongue, I taste your blood.
I have to restrain myself from lashing out at you, causing both physical and emotional harm.
Never thought that I could bite hard enough.
I never knew I had the capacity to be so aggressive and violent.
Eyes of fire in your skull.
Your intense and passionate gaze sends shivers down my spine.
You've got the kind of eyes that burns goose flesh off.
Your eyes have such a powerful and intimidating effect on me.
Oh your charm is getting old.
Your previously alluring and captivating personality is now starting to wear thin.
This kind of love ain't bought or sold.
True love cannot be obtained through material possessions or transactions.
I know you tried if truth be told,
I acknowledge that you put in effort, to be honest.
But I still cast you to a bed of coal.
But I still reject and denounce you harshly.
Will I follow you home again.
Despite everything, will I still be drawn to you and pursue you?
Bite my tongue, I taste your blood.
Once again, I must restrain myself from causing you harm even though it may feel satisfying.
Contributed by Chloe V. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Josh Benson
I really really like this song !!! Great job !! I'm in a band called the 5ive seasons . We have one song on YouTube and I wish we could compete with this ! Well done !
Tytus Murphy
This is an astonishingly beautiful song.
John Halsey
What happened to this song?? I used to have it in my Amazon music library, bought and paid...but now it's nowhere to be found