"The Infanta" was the first song of theirs that grabbed me and I remember thinking, "This is completely new. I've never heard anything like this." Colin's lyrics are so strange, so story-like, full of false history (and real history sometimes), and so intelligent. He uses words you normally would never hear on the radio and sometimes words you have to look up. For instance, an "infanta" is a female royal child. "The Mariner's Revenge Song" is a 8 minute epic about a boy whose mother was ruined by a debauched sailor and the son spends the rest of his life searching for him and finally confronting him at sea, while they're both in the belly of a whale. This is an amazing song performed live--led by Chris Funk, their guitarist, several members of the band come out in a whale costume. "We Both Go Down Together" is about a rich boy and poor girl who commit suicide so they can be together. It's really very sweet while having a lot of darkness underneath. "The Sporting Life" is about a boy playing soccer, badly, while his "girlfriend" and father and coach all look on sorrowfully. It's a very fun, upbeat song about the misery of being uncoordinated in a sporty world. Hopefully you're getting the idea of the variety and oddity of The Decemberists' songs. I know I can't properly convey their genius, but maybe I've piqued your curiosity enough to get you to take a listen.