They were among the second wave of groups to emerge from The Elephant 6 Recording Company and the group has a style that is typical of many Elephant 6 bands due to their interest in combining musical experimentation with the basic tenets of pop i.e. catchy melodies and sing-along choruses. The band’s style has been influenced by conventional indie pop, psychedelic music, vaudeville and music hall on their earlier releases and by afrobeat, funk, krautrock and reggae on their recent releases.
The band’s style has been known to change between albums. At first, the band embraced a more simple, quirky, lo-fi indie pop sound, which occasionally bordered on twee pop. The band was created by Kevin Barnes and named after a failed romance with a woman from Montreal, though the story changes in various interviews. Barnes was the only member of the “group” prior to his relocation to Athens, Georgia. There, he met Derek Almstead, later of Circulatory System, M Coast, Elf Power etc., and Bryan Poole, who also performs as The Late B.P. Helium.
Together, they recorded their first album, Cherry Peel, as well as The Bird Who Continues to Eat the Rabbit’s Flower and The Bedside Drama: A Petite Tragedy.
A number of singles and a re-release of The Bird Who Continues to Eat the Rabbit’s Flower occurred before the release of the band’s third album, The Gay Parade in 1999. With contributions from several members of the Elephant Six collective at the time, it also featured artwork from Kevin’s brother David Barnes, who would continue to do artwork for future albums.
This album marked that the band had moved to a fuller sound, which is also found on its follow-up, Coquelicot Asleep in the Poppies: A Variety of Whimsical Verse. These two albums contain more narrative lyrics, as opposed to the rather personal lyrical matter of those preceding it, and often imitating the style of old 1950s radio plays.
After production on The Gay Parade began in 1998, Poole left the band to focus on his duties with Elf Power, another Elephant Six band from Athens. Barnes also recruited Jamey Huggins and Dottie Alexander, who had been performing together as Lightning Bug vs. Firefly, to play various instruments. Derek moved from drums to bass. The band was joined soon after by Marshmallow Coast’s Andy Gonzales.
Following the release of The Gay Parade, the band signed with Kindercore Records, who would release a number of singles and compilations. It wasn’t until 2001 that Coquelicot Asleep in the Poppies: A Variety of Whimsical Verse would be released as a new album with original material. The album again featured contributions from across the Elephant 6 spectrum.
In 2002, Aldhils Arboretum was released, with a slightly different sound than its predecessors, as the songs were more directly structured. This album marks the beginning of the change in of Montreal’s sound, with more danceable rhythms than ever before, especially on the album’s closer, “Death Dance Of The Omipapas and Sons For You”. A successful tour ensued, including of Montreal’s first trip to the UK, along with a tour-only EP.
Kindercore Records would fold shortly after the release of Arboretum, and of Montreal’s status was also threatened. Kevin got married, and Andy and Derek left the band. Barnes, being uncomfortable with the unrest, as well as some divisions within the band, took to writing and performing their 2004 album Satanic Panic in the Attic mostly by himself. Released by Polyvinyl Records, it became one of their more successful efforts to that point. The 2004 tour saw The Late B.P. Helium (Bryan Poole) rejoin the band, with some bass played by Kevin’s partner Nina Barnes. The album marked a shift to something more electronic with traditional structures, to be further advanced in later albums and new songs. In their most recent releases and concerts, the band has fully embraced a sort of techno-pop glam image, with little of their previous incarnations surfacing. This style is featured in singles such as Disconnect the Dots. The style would continue to evolve into 2005’s The Sunlandic Twins, which was even more a Barnes solo effort. Recorded in Athens, with the exception of one track recorded in Norway, it was a much more pronounced electronic album. The album became a success, mostly due to the singles “So Begins Our Alabee” and the MTV clip for “Wraith Pinned to the Mist (and Other Games)”.
The band released several collections of singles in early 2006. Barnes recorded most of the band’s 2007 release, Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?, by himself while living in Norway and Athens, Georgia. The switch to autobiographical themes of suicide, depression and isolation of the album was a direct product of his troubled personal life during that period.
of Montreal released Skeletal Lamping on October 21, 2008 followed by False Priest on September 14, 2010, Paralytic Stalks on February 7, 2012, and Lousy with Sylvianbriar on October 8, 2013. Aureate Gloom is scheduled for release by Polyvinyl Records on March 3, 2015.
Lyrically, their style has changed dramatically throughout the years. In the beginning, many songs were narratives of personal or humorous situations, such as “Tim, I Wish You Were Born A Girl”, from Cherry Peel. This style, however, changed with The Gay Parade, where many songs involve small narratives surrounding invented characters (in songs such as “Jacques Lamure”, “The Autobiographical Grandpa”, “Mimi Merlot” and “Rose Robert”). Others act as extracts from fictional conversations (“Advice From a Divorced Gentleman to His Bachelor Friend Considering Marriage” and “Good Morning Mr. Edminton” as examples). With Aldhils Arboretum came a slight return to the previous writing style, except following more poppy, classical lyrical structures (such as the use of choruses, which are generally absent in the Gay Parade/Coquelicot years). This style continued throughout Satanic Panic and The Sunlandic Twins to some extent. On the album Hissing Fauna: Are You The Destroyer? the lyrics are much more personal than previously used, with songs detailing emotions within the speaker.
Another unique quality of the band is the fusion of ostensibly gloomy lyrics with bouncy, upbeat melodies and hooks. On Aldhils Arboretum, for example, the lyrics for tracks like “Doing Nothing” and “Old People in the Cemetery” focus on apathy, loneliness or death while being contrasted with cheerful instrumentation. Another example of this tendency is shown in their choice of covers; for example, Yoko Ono’s “I Felt Like Smashing my Head Through a Clear Glass Window” from The Bird Who Continues to Eat the Rabbit’s Flower.
True to the style of most Elephant 6 recording artists, of Montreal’s members have been in a variety of side projects and other bands:
The band itself has performed as the backing band for Marshmallow Coast on record and on tour.
My First Keyboard was the pseudonym used by Dottie Alexander to release the song “The You I Created” on the Kindercore singles club. of Montreal acted as her backing band.
old people in the cememtery
of Montreal Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
What must they be thinking of?
Must be frightening must be scary
To visit the grave of a close friend
Who was the same age as you when they died
There's nothing precious about
Old people in the cemetery
Unprepared to come to terms with
The fact that we're all food for worms
What do they think a prayer
Could make a difference now?
There's nothing sadder than
An old woman in the cemetery
Picking leaves off of her husbands tomb
Knowing that her only wish is
That she will die and join him soon
It's so sad to see them all just wither away,
There's nothing sadder then old people like that
It must be hard to relate
After the world of your youth
Totally evaporates
Old men in the cemetery
Lurking like faint shadows of the dead
Gazing down at mother's plot
And longing to be there instead
It's a dreary fate and
No one should have to be as depressing
As old people like that
The of Montreal song "Old People in the Cemetery" paints a picture of the sadness and loneliness that comes with old age. The song's opening lines, "Old people in the cemetery, what must they be thinking of?" sets the tone for this reflective and melancholic song. The lyrics acknowledge the fear and unease that come with visiting the grave of a loved one who passed away at the same age as oneself. The song suggests that as one gets older, the idea of death and the inevitability of it all becomes more prominent, making it a depressing experience.
The song's chorus consists of the repetition of "There's nothing precious about old people in the cemetery", emphasizing that the experience is a harsh reality that everyone must face. The lyrics describe the older generation reciting bible passages in an attempt to come to terms with death, but the song challenges the idea that prayer can make a difference when the final end is something that awaits everyone. The lyrics are heavy with themes of loss and the passage of time, and the intense desire to be reunited with loved ones at death.
In conclusion, the song's melancholic tones paint a moving yet heavy picture of old age and the inevitability of death. The lyrics are introspective and thought-provoking, as they challenge our beliefs about the purpose of prayer, the meaning of life and our mortality.
Line by Line Meaning
Old people in the cemetery
The aged at the burial ground
What must they be thinking of?
What thoughts are on their mind?
Must be frightening must be scary
It could be daunting and fearsome
To visit the grave of a close friend
To see the tomb of a dear one
Who was the same age as you when they died
Whose age at death matched yours
There's nothing precious about
Nothing invaluable regarding
Old people in the cemetery
The elderly in the graveyard
Reciting bible passages
Chanting biblical sentences
Unprepared to come to terms with
Unable to accept
The fact that we're all food for worms
The reality that we will decompose
What do they think a prayer
Do they believe a supplication
Could make a difference now?
Might affect the outcome?
There's nothing sadder than
Nothing more miserable than
An old woman in the cemetery
Aged lady at the graveyard
Picking leaves off of her husband's tomb
Taking off foliage from her partner's grave
Knowing that her only wish is
Cognizant that her sole desire is
That she will die and join him soon
To pass on and meet him again
It's so sad to see them all just wither away,
It's pitiful to witness their deterioration
There's nothing sadder then old people like that
There's nothing more disheartening than the elderly in that state.
It must be hard to relate
It must be challenging to identify with
After the world of your youth
Following your prime years
Totally evaporates
Completely disappears
Old men in the cemetery
Elderly gentlemen at the burial ground
Lurking like faint shadows of the dead
Lingering like dim phantoms of the deceased
Gazing down at mother's plot
Staring at mother's burial site
And longing to be there instead
And yearning to be there in their place
It's a dreary fate and
It's a sorrowful destiny and
No one should have to be as depressing
Nobody should suffer from such gloominess
As old people like that
As the elderly in such a situation
Lyrics © OBO APRA/AMCOS
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