coolenough2's blog post

OK, here's a song for you. Not written by me, but by Colin Meloy of The Decemberists. It has a lot of numbers, and I don't know the significance of that. It also seems to be critical of, simultaneously, the war in Iraq and the Hollywood stars who criticize it. I've just been curious about this song, because The Decemberists are not typically political. Maybe the cannibal part is the only reason it really exists. I'm also bored and can't sleep. so humor me.

Sixteen military wives
Thirty-two softly focused, brightly colored eyes
Staring at the natural tan
of 32 gently clinching, wrinkled little hands.
Seventeen company men
Out of which only 12 will make it back again.
Sergeant sends a letter to five
Military wives, his tears drip down from 10 little eyes.

Cheer them on to their rivals

(chorus)
'Cause America can, and America can't say no
And America does if America says it's so
It's so.
And the anchorperson on TV
Goes la-di-da-di-da

Fifteen celebrity mimes
Leading their 15 sordid, wretched, checkered lives.
Will they find the solution in time?
Using their 15 pristine, moderate, liberal minds?
18 Academy chairs,
Out of which only seven even really cares
Doling out a (goldy? [like an Oscar?]) to five
Celebrity mimes,
They're humbly taken by surprise.

Cheer them on to their rivals

(Chorus, with la-di-da-di-da-da-diddy-dada-da added, and repeated, not that it matters)

Fourteen cannibal kings
Wondering blindly what the dinner bell will bring
Fifteen celebrity mimes
Served on a leafy bed to 16 military wives

Cheer them on to their rivals ... etc.

What I'm really wondering is who the cannibal kings represent. Is it the administration? Is the song just a whimsical way to skewer the left and right at the same time? Or are the cannibal kings the ones who want to kill all of us, including our celebrities? There are a lot of ways to look at it, I realized as I listened to it just now.

p.s. Colin Meloy is American