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I do not know the original artist Colin Mehoy of the Decemberists covers here, but still this song is one of those gems that lurk very quietly while gently worming their way into your ears over time.

Both Colin's and Carson Ellis' ( album illustrator for the Decemberists) voices are at the very least - unusual. Here however, they are perfect for the gangly folksy tune that I'd like to think mysterious and wild gypsies dance to around a campfire as faint embers wisp upwards towards the bright moon. Although I have never met a real gypsy before. Heh look it's just a romantic sterotype brought on by authors like Gaiman and the like so leave me alone.

It is songs like this that make me constantly try to dig up music from anywhere, as you never know when one might surprise you just like that, and you find yourself in love with something you never heard before...gently pointing you in another direction you once overlooked.

COLIN MELOY - CHARLIE

i am the heart that you call home

A discovery thanks to a friend, and the Decemberists have been lurking in my playlists ever since. How can they not? I cannot think of any who surpasses them as masters of wistful poetic yearning that somehow manages to be both theatrically exuberant yet melancholically autumnal at the same time. An American ' indie band', Colin Meloy leads a motly crew of five, and that coyingly mysterious vocalist you hear echoing in the background is Jenny Conlee who plays the accordion too. Together, they fashion a sound that evokes an unforgettable world of victorian swashbuckling adventures and ladies and eye patched pirates. With an exception. The protaganist is a simple travelling minstrel, not a high and honourable hero everyone so loves.

" The Engine Driver" rises to the occasion of driving passionate heartbreak I have never heard finer done before. Starting with a few simple strums that widens, growing more beautiful as the song progresses, and swelling to a blooming crest about a minute and a half in. Wait for that bit when the xylophones come twinkling in, and that is the sound of a searing heart that at once recognizes it's imploring her to let it go, because he realizes he cant do the same thing he asks.

The Decemberists - The Engine Driver

a link to their site, if only to vist a fine place where the design reflects The Decemberist's sound:

get their latest album picaresque too, available at most good ( and maybe not so good) music retail shops out there! And listen to " The Mariner's Revenge Song".