What do you think Mykonos means?

Fleet Foxes: Mykonos Meaning

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Album cover for Mykonos album cover

Mykonos Lyrics

The door slammed loud and rose up a cloud of dust on us
Footsteps follow, down through the hollow sound, torn up.

And you will go to Mykonos
With a vision of a gentle coast
And a sun to maybe dissipate
Shadows of the mess you made

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  1. 1TOP RATED

    #1 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
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     Jun 24th 2011 !⃝

    Mykonos interpretation:

    His inspiration for singing is in a folk sense and as a folk singer often displays that influence, by relating the subject to a mystical-beauty idea. For example Robin chooses to portray Mykonos pronounced Mi-ken-os, a beautiful luxurious island part of the ancient country Greece. It was once poor but later became very lucrative among places now, and this compared to anywhere—in the present—in itself is a fallacy. Not necessarily in a negative way, though. Although in Folk music it may seem like every song is a paradise, but it’s then infused in a combination of paradise in reality; like a path we didn’t choose to make. Therefore bringing the song to the main point of a land of beauty, peace, tranquility, and harmony.

    Stanza 1:
    The first line, “The door slammed loud and rose up a cloud of dust on us”, the people (himself and his brother) denied help (or food, shelter, etc.) on a winter night (or day) and the dust signifies the time of their arrival which was too late. This represents the feeling throughout the song foreshadowing and yet already obvious: betrayal to both himself and Robin Pecknold.
    “Footsteps follow, down through the hollow sound, torn up”, this complete sentence describes the path in which the two travel down. “Hollow sound” is the view of a dark, saddened, wood and the forest in winter is usually dead, empty, and with the wind, it howls.

    Chorus:
    The main point relates now to what Robin is singing about. Mykonos, the traditional/tall-tale-folk-inspired paradise is where his brother travels to. “With a vision of a gentle coast”: hoping to find what he is looking for without any trouble. “And a sun to maybe dissipate, shadows of the mess you made” Dissipate means to “disperse, scatter”, and Robin uses this to describe how a new life could help him forget his past (“Shadows of the mess you made”) Also, he is escaping his past which can relate to “the sun to dissipate shadows of the mess you made”.

    Stanza 2:
    “How did any moles in the snow-tipped pines I find”, moles are usually considered pests, “hatch in from the seeds of your orphaned mind, all night” and “hatch in” to gather or to be brought about, “from seeds of your orphaned mind” his virgin mind to reality and what he did. So little things are starting to add up to his current situation, creating a mess he cannot fix.

    Stanza 3:
    “Brother you don’t need to turn me away”, Robin forgives him and he still offers his support. “I was waiting down at the ancient gate”, he continues his wait for his brother to come to Paradise [Mykonos]
    And the ancient gate is referring to the entrance into this fantasy.

    Chorus 2:
    “You’ll go wherever you go today, you’ll go today” his brother will still leave him (betrayal) no matter what, and he isn’t sure where he will go.

    Stanza 4:
    “I remember how they took you down” ‘they’ could be referring to anyone whether it’d be his family, or a community, but “they took you down” clearly tells how he was brought to justice/caught.
    “As the winter turned the meadow brown”, keep in mind this song is taking place in the winter therefore creating a perfect mental photograph of a beautiful meadow aging and presentable to the damage winter can do (this can be analogized with beauty destroyed by time [punishment for being late, disrespectful, a deep-thought compared with Nature])

    Stanza 5:
    “When I’m walking brother, don’t you forget”, he wants his brother to understand what he was trying to offer him and why he was doing so…“It ain’t often that you’ll ever find a friend” he tells him that it’s going to be a long time before he finds a friend (probably until death). Robin speaks out to him, telling him not to forget that Robin was always there for him, offering advice and support, for just being a close friend, but now that his dear friend is leaving, Robin feels he himself should leave. “When I’m walking brother”, he is going to turn his back on his brother leaving him on his own, to seek his own destiny alone, maybe to feel the pain of others in his past, or just to learn a moral in general.

  2. anonymous
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     Sep 28th 2018 !⃝

    It’s most likely about a bear, two crows and a hen going on holidays to Mykonos. If you read between the lines....

  3. anonymous
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     Jul 24th 2014 !⃝

    Stanza has too much time on his hands

  4. anonymous
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     Apr 7th 2012 !⃝

    I think it is about the singer's brother who might have passed away, and i think the line is a "And a son to maybe dissipate," but I'm not sure.

  5. anonymous
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     Aug 24th 2011 !⃝

    It's 'animals,' not 'any moles'


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