What do you think White Winter Hymnal means?

Fleet Foxes: White Winter Hymnal Meaning

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Album cover for White Winter Hymnal album cover

White Winter Hymnal Lyrics

I was following the,
I was following the,
I was following the,
I was following the,
I was following the,
I was following the,
I was following the,
I was following the,
I was following the pack,
All swallowed in their coats
With scarves of red...

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  1. anonymous
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     Jan 1st 2020 !⃝

    I agree that it may be about the revolution though I always thought it was about hanging people.

  2. anonymous
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     Dec 24th 2019 !⃝

    I just thought it was like an Alice and wonderland scenario where if the kids took of their scarf they’re head would fall off. So the blood would turn or red... this makes more sense though

  3. anonymous
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     Dec 23rd 2019 !⃝

    Although it may have been written one way with a meaning in mind the art transcends and comes to mean other things. Ansgogical.

  4. anonymous
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     Dec 21st 2019 !⃝

    I have always thought this song was talking about kids playing along with each other, and a kid named Micheal a child who had on a red scarf. Fell down and his head started to bleed, and when it said to keep their little heads from falling in the snow was just figuritive language, but anyway his head started to bleed and turned the white snow red.

  5. anonymous
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     Dec 20th 2019 !⃝

    I think it’s about red birds be happy people.
    I’m

  6. anonymous
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     Dec 18th 2019 !⃝

    I always pictured a pack of young foxes playing in the snow, and one of them clumsily leaps into a big pile of snow

  7. anonymous
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     Dec 16th 2019 !⃝

    I thought this was about the Soviet revolution and the execution of the people who opposed. Hence the red scarves round their throats the let people know that they supported the revolution. Also the coats thing, as they needed their fur coats to keep warm. Finally I think the snow red like strawberries in the summertime was like the people being killed and painting the snow red.

  8. anonymous
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     Dec 14th 2019 !⃝

    I think it is about robins with their feathers fluffed up (coats) . Can look like their heads are stuck on buried in their feathers.
    Michael falls backwards in the deep snow exposing his chest , looking like a strawberry .

  9. anonymous
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     Dec 9th 2019 !⃝

    You all are idiots. The singer explained the meaning of the lyrics back in 2009. Go to the Song Facts website. It's basically about growing up with the same people and watching them taking different, wretched paths.

  10. anonymous
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     Dec 5th 2019 !⃝

    It’s about goats.

  11. anonymous
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     Dec 5th 2019 !⃝

    I thought at first Michael fell into another dimension, but when I kept listening I thought when it said ”with scarves of red tied round their throats...” it meant they had scarves around their necks to keep their heads from falling off.

  12. anonymous
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     Dec 4th 2019 !⃝

    I don't know if this is correct, but my friend told me that this song was about a kid named Michael who was playing in the snow. Then suddenly he saw a pack of dogs so he went chasing after them, and slipped on ice. When he slipped, he hit his head on a rock and started bleeding so the white snow turned red as strawberries in the summertime. However, I thought something completely different. I heard this song and the only phrase I was focusing on was, "And Michael, you would fall and turn the white snow red
    As strawberries in the summertime." So, I thought why would the snow turn red if he just fell? Well, it answers my question when it says, "With scarves of red tied 'round their throats To keep their little heads from falling in the snow." This can mean various different things, but the one, in my opinion, that makes the most sense would be that Michael could be one of the many prisoners who are supposed to be executed, and they didn't have a place to hold their heads so they had scarfs on so the executors could hold them in place. Sadly when it was Michaels turns his head fell into the snow, like the rest, and the blood turned the snow red.

  13. anonymous
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     Dec 4th 2019 !⃝

    i think this song is about the sacrificing of lambs like in the bible

  14. anonymous
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     Dec 4th 2019 !⃝

    To me it sounds like children are dying playing in the snow

  15. anonymous
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     Nov 20th 2019 !⃝

    I always thought this song was about a fox hunt. At least that's what my friend told me. The hunter is "following a pack" of foxes. "All swallowed in their coats" I interpreted to mean that they were in their fluffy winter coats and they had fluffy fur on their necks that were interpreted as scarves. When the hunter has "turned 'round," to try to shoot the foxes, they run, leaving the man (Michael). Then, when he tries to chase the foxes, he trips on a low lying branch, landing on the ground with a scraped knee that bleeds through his pants. That's what turns the snow "red as strawberries in the summer time." This isn't about decapitation, people, because, for starters, why would you call a group of French a pack? And why would a beautiful song like this have such a wretched meaning??? You know you're ruining the beauty for me???? Anyway, just think about the fact that no one dies. The foxes get away, and Michael only gets a scrape.

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