Currently the best song is “Grace Cathedral Hill” on the album Castaways and Cutouts by The Decemberists. You can download it here (scroll down), where you can also buy it. In other songs (though not this one), the band uses such words as gunwales, boatswain, stevedore, and even mˆsallied. Nineteenth-century nerds will not be able to resist. Nor will anyone else because they are very, very talented musically as well as lyrically. Currently the best line in a song is
An ocean’s garbled vomit on the shore
Los Angeles, I’m yours
which is from their album Her Majesty the Decemberists. And here is the band’s website and here is the fansite. You see how lost I am.
i know this post is a few months old now, but i must agree. the decemberists are the most amazing band. i just saw them in cambridge and must say that it was the most inspiring show i've seen all year.