Mildred from Expeditions by Decajoule

Mildred is about the difficult hike to Mildred Lakes in the Olympic Mountains. I’ve completed this route as a day-hike three times. In addition to the steepness, the trek seems to present new challenges each time. I know people who were actually there during a landslide. Hornets, losing the trail, and hiking in the dark are all real experiences. There are zero major chords in the verse and chorus. The bridge, on the other hand, has all major chords but mode weirdness keeps the mood fitting for the subject. The chorus has a D(add b5). This dissonant chord (or D augmented) can also be found in Wake Up (Rage Against the Machine) which is played at the end of the first Matrix movie, and also in the bridge of Waiting for Our Time (Styx).

Tracklist

8.	Mildred	5:39

Lyrics

She’ll kick your teeth in and slash your head
She’ll twist your ankles, leave you for dead
She’ll send the hornets throughout the grind
She’ll bring the blisters, mess with your mind

Oh Mildred, oh Mildred
She gives you a wry smile sipping her tea
So polite but wicked tenaciously

She’ll bring the gut punch and scrape your knees
She’ll bring the windstorm and make you freeze
She’ll start a landslide and hide the trail
She’ll ice the log bridge, pelt you with hail

Oh Mildred, oh Mildred
She always makes you look like a weak fool
She has special ways to be deeply cruel

Sweet mother of Treebeard, come save us
For Mildred is master of our doom
Her snakes and her serpents are coming
We’re climbing a mountain of her gloom

She’ll bring a rainfall that feels like tears
Bring you a darkness that stirs your fears
She’ll make your friends doubt, stab you with thorns
She mocks your journey, no time to mourn

Oh Mildred, oh Mildred
She gives you a wry smile sipping her tea
So polite but wicked tenaciously
Oh Mildred, oh Mildred
She always makes you look like a weak fool
She has special ways to be deeply cruel
She’s so cruel

If you can return to your homeland
Then Mildred will offer a priv’lege
You’ll drink to survival and triumph
And she will remember your courage

Credits

from Expeditions, released February 17, 2025
Words, music, production, and instruments are by John Eric Klemesrud. Vocals are by Christopher Galen of Colorado.

License