American indie rock band The Decemberists 2006 song ‘Sons & Daughters‘ was featured on the latest episode of Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger this week — Thursday, July 12th, 2018, Season 1, Episode 7, “Lotus Eaters“.
The track was played as Ivan is on a helicopter going to work, as Ty and Tandy investigate Ivan’s past by going into an alternate reality, and as Ivan and his daughters are united.
‘Sons & Daughters‘ is from the band’s fourth studio album The Crane Wife. It was their first release on Capitol Records, and was based on a Japanese folk tale.
A folk tale about a poor man who finds a badly injured crane, so he nurses it back to health and then releases it. Soon after, a woman appears on the man’s doorstep with whom he falls in love.
The couple eventually marry, and the woman tells the man she can make the most beautiful clothing that he can sell at the market. The only thing he has to agree to is to never watch her weaving the clothes. He agrees, the clothes sell well, but the man becomes greedy and insists his wife weave more and more.
One day, the man walks into the room where his wife is weaving and sees not her, but a crane. The crane is sitting at the loom, plucking out its own feathers and then weaving them into cloth. When the crane sees the man, it flies away. The man loses everything he ever cared about as neither the crane, nor his wife ever return.
‘Sons & Daughters’ is the final track from the 10-track album. An album that was voted ‘Best of the Year’ by the listeners of National Public Radio, and is still one of the biggest hits The Decemberists have ever had.
Listen to The Decemberists’ ‘Sons & Daughters’ in the video below. It and the album were produced by Tucker Martine and Chris Walla, former band member of Death Cab for Cutie.
Related: Listen to Fleurie’s gorgeous track ‘Turn You Into Stone‘ from Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger