The band's name derives from banjoist Leonard Podolak's earlier band Scruj MacDuhk (pronounced Scrugg MachDuke). MacDuhk was a warrior chieftain who fought with William Wallace, resisting English occupation of Scotland, during the reign of King Edward I. The entire name is a wordplay on the Disney character Scrooge McDuck created by Carl Barks.
In March of 2007 lead singer and budding songwriter Jessee Havey left the band to pursue other interests. Singer Sarah Dugas joined the band in July of 2007 and is on the road with The Duhks.
In late 2007, percussionist Scott Senior left the band to spend more time with his family, as his partner, Tara Beckta, was expecting their second child. Christian Dugas, Sarah's brother and a former bandmate of Leonard Podolak, has since joined The Duhks. Other members are fiddler Tania Elizabeth and guitarist Jordan McConnell.
In October 2007 The Duhks Sustainability Project http://www.greenduhks.com was launched to raise awareness about ways to live a more economically-viable and ecologically-sustainable lifestyle. In April 2008, The Duhks performed a post Earth Day benefit in Nederland, Colorado.
In spring 2016, the band announced that they would no longer be touring. They have not released any new music since 2014.
http://www.duhks.com
Mists of Down Below / Meghan Hayden's
The Duhks Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
To the mists of down below
I'll be flyin' come September day
With no borders in my way
You'll find me home until the May sun burns
The heavy mists of down below
I see the rivers floodin' strong
Free for anywhere they want to go
When they pray they can look to the sky
And they'd see me as I pass by
Headin' to the mists down below
Without fields a-ripe from rain
There is no way to feed my pain
Until I fly to mists of down below
But down below is not my fate
There is no land from where I came
Not even mists of old Mexico
I see the rivers flooding strong
And people wishing they belonged
Free for anywhere they want to go
And when they pray they can look to the sky
And they'd see me as I pass by
Heading to the mists of down below
So I looked hard at reasons for
The drifters goin' door to door
Dreamin' of the mists of down below
But I'm sure they'd go anywhere they could
If wings became their neighborhoods
And there'd be nowhere they wouldn't know
I see the rivers flooding strong
And people wishing they belonged
Free for anywhere they want to go
And when they pray they can look to the sky
And they'd see me as I pass by
Heading to the mists of down below
Headin' to the mists down below
The lyrics of The Duhk's song "Mists of Down Below" are poetic and evoke a sense of longing for a place that is unknown and otherworldly. The singer of the song desires to escape the confines of their current life and travel to the misty land of Down Below, where there are no borders or limitations. The idea of this mythical place is introduced in the first few lines, with the singer asking the wild wind to take them home to the mists of Down Below. They yearn to be flying in September with no obstacles in their path until the May sun burns heavy mist of Down Below.
The second verse describes a world in chaos, where people are searching for a place to belong and are free to go wherever they please. The singer sees this and feels a sense of wanderlust, wishing to escape to the misty world where they belong. The third verse speaks about the difficulty of living off the land when it is ravaged by floods and how the singer's pain can only be sated by trips to Down Below. The song ends on the note that even though the singer wishes to escape to Down Below, they understand that it is not their fate and they have no real connection to it other than as a distant dream.
Overall, the lyrics of the song convey the sense of longing and desire to escape that is a common human experience. The idea of a mythical land that is free of borders, limitations, and troubles is a powerful one, and the song expresses this feeling through beautiful imagery and a haunting melody.
Line by Line Meaning
Wild wind, take me home
I want the wind to take me back to where I belong
To the mists of down below
To a place where everything is mysterious and unknown, but feels like home
I'll be flyin' come September day
I will leave and go on an adventure in September
With no borders in my way
I will not let any physical boundaries stop me from exploring
You'll find me home until the May sun burns
I will stay in my safe haven until the summertime
The heavy mists of down below
The thick fog of the unknown land
I see the rivers floodin' strong
I see the powerful streams overflowing
And people wishing they belonged
And people yearning for a place where they belong
Free for anywhere they want to go
Free to go wherever they desire
When they pray they can look to the sky
When they ask for guidance, they look up to the heavens
And they'd see me as I pass by
They might see me flying past, on my way somewhere else
Headin' to the mists down below
On my way to the unknown and mysterious land
Without fields a-ripe from rain
Without fertile fields nourished by the rain
There is no way to feed my pain
I cannot satisfy my hunger without fertile land
Until I fly to mists of down below
Until I reach the mysterious land where I envision my destiny
But down below is not my fate
The mysterious land is not where I come from
There is no land from where I came
There is no place that I truly call home
Not even mists of old Mexico
Not even the familiar fog of Mexico, which I have visited before
So I looked hard at reasons for
So I examined the motivations behind
The drifters goin' door to door
The people who wander aimlessly from place to place
Dreamin' of the mists of down below
Yearning for the mystical land that I seek
But I'm sure they'd go anywhere they could
But surely they would take any opportunity to move on
If wings became their neighborhoods
If they could travel by flying, they would have no fixed home
And there'd be nowhere they wouldn't know
And there would be no place that they could not explore
Writer(s): dan frechette, leonard podolak
Contributed by Harper S. Suggest a correction in the comments below.