On Valley Maker’s second full-length album, Rhododendron, songwriter Austin… Read Full Bio ↴On Valley Maker’s second full-length album, Rhododendron, songwriter Austin Crane sings about movement – from one kind of belief to another, from place to place, through time. This new record from Crane, a Seattle-based musician and PhD student in Human Geography, reflects both the rootedness and rootlessness that shapes his songwriting on the precipice of his third decade. Like his noted inspirations Jason Molina, Bill Fay, and Gillian Welch before him, he speaks to the strange and transitory ways we mark time through our lives. Years pass and fold in his cosmic American songs.

Crane formed Valley Maker in 2010 with a self-titled collection of songs written for his undergrad thesis project at the University of South Carolina, tracing existential questions around biblical origin narratives, as embedded in his spiritually-infused Southern upbringing. Similar themes shade his vision on Rhododendron, which follows 2015’s When I Was A Child. Prophetic and apocalyptic language shapes Crane’s lyrics, but his outlook is not bound by dogma. Instead, he uses the metaphors of faith to explore the ineffable and to navigate the intersection of belief, time, place, and the political present. Much of the album was written leading up to the 2016 US presidential election and in the months after as Crane was traveling for his PhD research on migration, borders, and humanitarianism. Tellingly, it grapples with what it means to share space with others as popular political discourses veer towards exclusion.

The First
Valley Maker Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

So then there's the world
under the sea. And then

there's your man,
under the tree.

Who put you there?
Who put you there?

Oh, open eyes!
Oh wicked hands!

Oh crooked.
Oh fallen man, understand

who put you there.
Who put you there?

So now we can kill, tangled
in our weeds. Watch them grow

all around the tree. Oh, wicked
thirst, from the first... Who put you there?

Who put you there?
Oh smell of death

over the Earth; taste
of curse over the ground;

evil sprouts- oh wash them
out; a blessed sign

in the sky, who put you there?
Who put you there?

Who put you there?
Who called you fair?

Who judged you fair?

Overall Meaning

Valley Maker's song The First is a thought-provoking and contemplative song that explores the concept of humanity's origin and the flawed nature of mankind. The opening lines of the song set the tone for a conversation between two entities, the world under the sea and a man under the tree. The repeated question of "who put you there?" suggests a search for answers to our existence and purpose. The lyrics evoke a sense of confusion, frustration and despair with phrases such as "oh wicked hands" and "oh crooked, oh fallen man, understand".

As the song progresses, it delves deeper into the flawed nature of humanity and its destructive tendencies. The imagery of weeds growing around the tree, and the wicked thirst for power, paints a gloomy picture of humanity's potential for destruction. The haunting lines "Oh smell of death over the Earth; taste of curse over the ground; evil sprouts- oh wash them out; a blessed sign in the sky" highlights the dark side of humanity, the consequences of our actions and the hope for redemption.

Overall, The First is a soulful song that reflects on the state of human nature, and the search for answers to life's most profound questions.

Line by Line Meaning

So then there's the world under the sea. And then
There's a whole new world beneath the sea, and then there's another world that we live in.

there's your man, under the tree.
There's a man sitting under the tree.

Who put you there? Who put you there?
Who made the man sit under the tree and why?

Oh, open eyes! Oh wicked hands!
The man has opened his eyes, but his intentions are wicked.

Oh crooked. Oh fallen man, understand who put you there. Who put you there?
The man is flawed and has fallen from grace, but he needs to understand who put him there under the tree.

So now we can kill, tangled in our weeds. Watch them grow all around the tree. Oh, wicked thirst, from the first... Who put you there?
The man is now surrounded by weeds, which are growing around the tree. He is thirsty for something wicked, and he still doesn't know who put him there.

Who put you there? Oh smell of death
Whoever put the man there has left a smell of death behind.

over the Earth; taste of curse over the ground;
The ground has been cursed and the taste is bitter.

evil sprouts- oh wash them out; a blessed sign in the sky, who put you there?
Evil is growing all around, but there is a sign from the sky. The man still needs to know who put him there.

Who put you there? Who called you fair?
He's still waiting for answers to these questions: who put him there, and who called him fair?

Contributed by Camden L. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

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