The Decemberists: "The Hazard of Love" Quiz

Answer: The Prettiest Whistles Won't Wrestle Their Thistles Undone

I sometimes get confused which word comes first, but it's "whistles." In this song, a beautiful and kind woman goes into the forest and meets an injured fawn. Out of kindness, she tries to nurse the fawn back to health. Then the fawn turns into a man. Then they have sex. Then they must part ways. When they do, they both long for each other.

Answer: She's pregnant

The song hints a few times that she is pregnant. "When Wilt Thou Trouble the Water in the Cistern" means "When is your baby due." You do not learn that she is "a river's daughter" until the last song.

Answer: Becky Stark

Becky Stark plays the role of Margaret on "The Hazards of Love". She is a member of a different band so she can't always tour with the Decemberists. But the Decemberists love "Won't Want For Love" so much that they continue to play it live with other singers. Sara Watkins sang it on the "King is Dead" tour. Kelly Hogan sang in on the "What a Terrible World What a Beautiful World" tour. Even Colin Meloy sang it himself on his 2013 solo tour.

Answer: Shara Worden

Shara Worden sings "The Queen's Rebuke" and "Repaid." She is a major reason why this is one of my all-time favorite albums.

Answer: The Rake's Song

The rake is the story's main villain. He's a man who just wants all the sex he can get without any babies. However, babies come along and when the rake's wife tries to give birth to the fourth baby, both she and the baby die. This leaves the rake with no wife and "three little pests" so he kills each of the babies and then finds a new young woman to defile.

The queen is not really a villain. She's just an overprotective woman who cannot stand the thought of her son leaving her for someone younger and prettier. She does however, aid the villain, not knowing she's aiding the one who put her adopted son in the shape he was in when she found him.

Answer: "A Bower Scene" and "The Abduction of Margaret"

"The Hazards of Love" is a concept album. On concept albums, many musical motifs are repeated throughout the album. The motif in these two songs is likely the signal that Margaret is in trouble. The guitar riff of both songs is also found in "The Queen's Rebuke," but "the Queen's Rebuke" is not note-for-note the same as the other two songs.

Answer: The Queen's Rebuke

Shara Worden sings all the lyrics in "The Queen's Rebuke." Perhaps William was asleep when Margaret was abducted.

Answer: He makes a deal with the river

In order to save his true love on the other side of the dangerous river, Colin makes a deal with the river. The river is the calm and let him pass this one time, and then it can kill him when he returns. Sadly, Margaret also turns out to unwittingly be part of this deal.

Answer: Isaiah

William turns out to be Isaiah, the Rake's dead first son. This is hinted in "The Queen's Rebuke" in which Shara sings "he was a baby abandoned and entombed in a cradle of clay." Entombed is another word for dead. Isaiah says that he was "Reduced to ash and buried in an urn." Urns were made out of clay in those days. So we learn that William is Isaiah.

Answer: They both drown

At the end of the album, they both try to cross the Annan river again. However, this time the river holds William to his promise, thereby also killing Margaret because she wants to be with him alive or dead. As long as you're alive you have to deal with the hazards of love. You don't escape them forever until you die.