The Decemberists - We Both Go Down Together

Oh, how dreadfully Shakespearean. We Both Go Down Together is a delicious narrative effort that tells the tale of love and class boundaries and what we can presume is a double suicide (or other transcendent effort, depending on one's interpretation).

Okay, so class boundaries aren't exactly universal, as we live in a world where we like to believe ourselves above them. We proudly note that we believe in social mobility and blah, blah, blah. But at its heart, this song is unapologetic and honest, from its statement of personal differences ("You come from parents wanton/a childhood rough and rotten/I come from wealth and beauty, untouched by work or duty") to the bolder "we fall but our souls are flying" as the two lovers take flight off of a rocky cliff into the ocean below.

It's not just the Romeo and Juliet doomed lovers theme that makes me mention Shakespeare. What comes to your mind when you think of rocky English cliffs, whipping winds and the "untouched Miranda" mentioned in the song? If you said "The Tempest," give yourself ten points.

There is some debate about the nature of the deaths in this song; it's been argued that this is a murder-suicide and not a double suicide. While I could see the validity of the argument were this song a clear reference to Romeo and Juliet (come on, now... ALL of Shakespeare's lovers were doomed!), the fact that it's cast from the mold of The Tempest suggests that it's less a tragedy and more a romance.