"BarrowBoy marked this as a stretch"

December 14, 2021 7:55 AM

"Child transcribed twenty verses, and a twenty-first got added later (and is included here for some unknown reason—I keep writing to the Lyricsplainer mods to get someone to delete it or include it as a separate entry, but nobody responds, and all they’ve done is put brackets around it. Sometimes I hate this site.)" "Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather" by Sarah Pinsker, published this year, is a short fantasy story in the form of a lyrics website page about a folksong, and the accompanying discussion thread. Plus a recording of the song.
posted by brainwane (9 comments total)

I enjoyed this, thanks (the story - haven't been able to listen to the song yet).
posted by paduasoy at 9:36 AM on December 14, 2021 [1 favorite]

I really like this one; it was fun to find my way through the whole thing.
posted by Four Ds at 11:15 AM on December 14, 2021 [1 favorite]

This was a lot of fun, thanks!
[mild spoiler?]
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So what do other people think happened in the lyrics and to Rydell and Martyn?
posted by indexy at 12:23 PM on December 14, 2021 [1 favorite]

Sarah Pinsker previously. I'm a huge fan of her work, and this story is another banger from her. I like the way she evokes the fun of reading a good comment thread, while the implication of what happened to Rydell (and what is about to happen to Martyn) gives the story an undercurrent of horror. And reading through it again reveals a lot of Chekhov's guns being set up to go off later on (footnote 6, for example). Excellent stuff.
posted by Cash4Lead at 1:05 PM on December 14, 2021 [3 favorites]

I like the way the comments aren’t really sequential, with #46 containing the Jamesian wallop, as it were.
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:10 PM on December 14, 2021 [1 favorite]

I really liked this one. Poor, poor Henry (and Mark too, I guess).
posted by Literaryhero at 7:58 PM on December 14, 2021

I just liked the username Rhiannononymous
posted by MtDewd at 4:35 AM on December 15, 2021

That was amazing. Love that vibe of Shirley Jackson meets The Wicker Man.
posted by Beethoven's Sith at 10:07 AM on December 15, 2021

Splendid!
posted by inexorably_forward at 8:24 PM on December 15, 2021