Lover, Leaver

**Lover, Leaver** is the fifth track on digital copies of Greta Van Fleet's debut studio album, *Anthem of the Peaceful Army*. It was released as the album's third promotional single, and is a short edit of the full version, *Lover, Leaver (Taker, Believer)*.

## Background

The full song version was written and performed live around 2014 under the name *"Lover Leaver Taker Believe Her"*. The studio version was produced in 2018 for the band's debut studio album, 'Anthem of the Peaceful Army', and two versions have been released: the full six-minute version (with an extended psychedelic jamming and improvisational outro) under a new reformulated name called *Lover, Leaver (Taker, Believer)*, available on both physical and digital copies; and the three-minute version as a promotional single, available only on digital copies.

It was the third promotional single to be released from the album, on September 21, 2018, after singles *When the Curtain Falls* and *Watching Over*.

Jake Kiszka said about the songwriting, "generic arrangements get boring, and that song has a journey to it."

## About the song

The song's genre was described as hard and blues rock, with having classic rock vibes. Musically, it was also described as "swaggering", "groove-filled", with "crunchy guitars and psychedelic melodies". Josh Kiszka's vocals were described as "emotive crooning" with moments of "low to high skyscraping falsetto" and "siren-like howls"

Its lyrics covers topics as love of a woman, and dealings with the devil, Satan. The reference to “witch of Endor raised” is from the Hebrew bible, I Samuel 28, in which a woman summons the prophet Samuel at the demand of King Saul, who had sent believers and diviners away before he sought one for his own needs.

## Lyrics

**[Verse 1]**
Oh my holy Lord
Sets my soul on fire
Flames of love and sweet perfume
She's my heart's desire
She's an angel straight from Hell
Draws me to the deep
In the darkness, way below
It's my heart she'll keep
Yeah

**[Verse 2]**
Thunder underground
Watch the castle fall
Sound of wind it takes the sky
Winter takes us all
Mountain-eye against the sky
Watches as we pray
Laughing loud and smiling proud
This is where we lay

**[Chorus]**
Lover
Leaver
Taker
Believer

**[Interlude]**
Oh, oh, oh, oh

**[Verse 3]**
Oh God, hellfire
Witch of Endor raised
Saul would fall to his knees
Watch the fire blaze
Satan plays his flute for him
The sound it burns his ears
Watches as the peace of man slips and disappears

**[Chorus]**
Lover
Leaver
Taker
Believer (Believer)
Believer

## Trivia

* Loudwire ranked the song ninth best hard rock song of 2018, on "The 40 Best Hard Rock Songs of 2018".

## References

1. ↑ https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/greta-van-fleet-new-song-lover-leaver-728552/amp/
2. ↑ https://www.guitarworld.com/amp/news/greta-van-fleet-share-new-song-lover-leaver
3. ↑ https://www.loudersound.com/amp/news/listen-to-greta-van-fleets-groove-filled-new-single-lover-leaver-taker-believer
4. ↑ https://consequenceofsound.net/2018/09/greta-van-fleet-new-song-lover-leaver-taker-believer/amp/
5. ↑ https://www.radio.com/blogs/tiana-timmerberg/greta-van-fleet-unveils-new-song-lover-leaver
6. ↑ https://loudwire.com/the-40-best-hard-rock-songs-of-2018/
7. ↑ https://meaww.com/amp/greta-van-fleet-release-third-single-lover-leaver-taker-believer
8. ↑ https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/greta-van-fleet-new-song-lover-leaver-728552/amp/
9. ↑ https://www.kibz.com/album-review-greta-van-fleets-anthem-of-the-peaceful-army/
10. ↑ https://loudwire.com/the-40-best-hard-rock-songs-of-2018/