When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd Whitman's encounter with the lilacs in bloom in his mother's yard caused the flowers to become "viscerally bound to the memory of Lincoln's death". According to Gregory Eiselein: In the weeks before Lincoln's assassination, Whitman observed the planet Venus shining brightly in the evening sky. He later wrote of the observation, "Nor earth nor sky ever knew spectacles of superber beauty than some of the nights lately here. The western star, Venus, in the earlier hours of evening, has never been so large, so clear; it seems as if it told something, as if it held rapport indulgent with humanity,
The Sky Is a Neighborhood had peaked at number 7 on the "Billboard" US Mainstream Rock Songs chart. ABC News singled out the song as a standout track on "Concrete and Gold", stating that "within the context of the record it really stands out...Grohl sells it with his shout and the background choir of voices gives it a wonderfully ominous touch. MetalSucks praised the song's sound for being "like nothing the band has ever done before, but it still fits in perfectly with the rest of their material. This, my friends, is artistic evolution done right." The Sky Is a Neighborhood "The Sky Is a