The Fiery Furnaces signed with the Rough Trade Records music label in 2002, and recorded their debut album in the same year.
Gallowsbird's Bark, released in the autumn of 2003, garnered critical praise for its clever wordplay and original songwriting.
Anybody who thought they had the band pinned at that point was quickly proven wrong with the 2004 release Blueberry Boat, a rock-operatic album whose track lengths were often six minutes long or longer.
While some critics adored the album for its vast complexity, others found it all a little too overwhelming.
After releasing EP in 2005 (considered a full-length album because of its 41 minute play time, but is "officially" an EP) the band then released two further albums - Rehearsing My Choir (2005), a radio-dramaesque concept album about the Friedbergers' Greek grandmother; and Bitter Tea (2006), which is a comparably more conventional album built on still-bent song structures, but with more pop-oriented stylings.
In October 2007 the band released their fifth full-length album, Widow City.
Trivia
- Their name is both a reference to the film "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968)" and to the book of Daniel in the Bible.
- Matthew Friedberger has also released two solo albums simultaneously.
- Eleanor Friedberger is rumoured to be in a relationship with Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand, because the song "Eleanor Put Your Boots On" from their second album is about her.
- Due to the garage blues elements of the band’s sound and the fact that the band members are siblings, The Fiery Furnaces was often compared by the press to The White Stripes (The White Stripes sometimes promote themselves as siblings, though they are not).
Official Website: www.thefieryfurnaces.com
Spaniolated
The Fiery Furnaces Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I walked home from the TCBY each night with no fear.
One particular starry 11 o'clock
I went down by the water;
An old man with a burlap bag
Said How you doin' my daughter.
He put me the hole of his old rusty crawler
Learned me the rosary and made me pray to Santiago:
I wish I wish I was back in Chicago.
Up the river to Seville I was rowing and strumming
On my portable guitar my fair lady a humming
The pain, the pain, in Spain falls mainly on me.
The pain, the pain, in Spain falls mainly on me
In The Fiery Furnaces's song Spaniolated, the lyrics open with a young girl who is just 18 years old, and she is living in a new place where she walks home every night with no fear. One night, she went down to the water where she met an old man carrying a burlap bag. The old man made conversation, calling her "my daughter," which was unusual for her to hear. The man then invited her onto his old, rusty crawler and began to feed her three pills a day, which were intended to prevent her from growing taller. He also taught her the rosary and made her pray to Santiago, urging her to wish to be back in Chicago.
The lyrics then shift as the girl takes us on a journey from the river to Seville, rowing and strumming her portable guitar with her fair lady humming along. The chorus repeats with her singing, "the pain, the pain, in Spain falls mainly on me." The lyrics are somewhat cryptic, and part of the song's charm is that it appears as though the listener is filling in gaps of the story with their imagination, as there is no resolution or clear sequence of events.
Line by Line Meaning
I was 18 years old just a research volunteer;
At age 18, I volunteered for a research study.
I walked home from the TCBY each night with no fear.
I felt safe walking home from the TCBY every night.
One particular starry 11 o'clock
One specific, starry night at 11 o'clock.
I went down by the water;
I went down to the water's edge.
An old man with a burlap bag
I encountered an elderly man carrying a burlap bag.
Said How you doin' my daughter.
He greeted me with the words 'How you doin', my daughter?'
He put me the hole of his old rusty crawler
He placed me in the compartment of his old, rusty vehicle.
And fed me three pills a day to keep me from getting taller.
He gave me three pills daily to prevent me from growing taller.
Learned me the rosary and made me pray to Santiago:
He taught me the rosary and instructed me to pray to Santiago.
I wish I wish I was back in Chicago.
I longed to return to my hometown of Chicago.
Up the river to Seville I was rowing and strumming
I rowed and played my portable guitar up the river towards Seville.
On my portable guitar my fair lady a humming
I played my guitar as my fair lady hummed along.
The pain, the pain, in Spain falls mainly on me.
I am suffering greatly while in Spain.
The pain, the pain, in Spain falls mainly on me.
I am experiencing a lot of pain while in Spain.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Downtown Music Publishing
Written by: MATTHEW FRIEDBERGER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind