Farther Down

Many people think this song is about a relationship and the singer is speaking about his love... I believe this song is more about depression and the scars it leaves on those who have suffered it the most. I'm not talking a heartbreak I am talking serious depression. As someone who has suffered depression myself and been at my lowest lows and recovered, this song rings to my core. The feels man.

Here goes:

I've been searching for days now I've found something I lost On a holy roller channel asking me what's the cost ---[Singer has begun to find happiness, himself, and his life after battling depression for a long time -- what has this depression been costing him?]

On a couch in a cold room Pouring salt in my wounds I'm a mistake faking truth holding liar's balloons ---[He's lonely and keeps feeling sorry for himself, always the victim. He feels 'like a mistake' and always lying to people when they ask him if he is okay and he says puts on a fake smile and tells them he is happy -- he is not]

Make me fly for something more You've been asleep for days now, Living inside your dreams You know that ain't no way to live or to handle such things ---[He wants a purpose, he sees a friend who is also depressed or at least very closed off and they sleep all day and do not leave their room or talk to anyone. He is telling them this is no way to handle things, I found this typical of wanting to relate to someone else with depression. It is easy to tell others what they should do to feel better, but tough for us to feel better when we tell ourselves these same things.]

I wanna shake up your system I wanna rattle your bones I wanna take you to the stars And then I'll leave you alone ---[He wants to relate to someone, wants to wake someone else up out of their depression and in such a powerful way that it changes their life: think about the latter two lines, if you could gaze at all the stars from way up high and focus only on that and nothing else you'd be awestruck -- this is the feeling he wants to replace the depression with in them, focusing on the last line, this is not about a relationship nor about him, it is about igniting that spark that will begin the road to erasing this depression from someone else he understands is suffering as he has]

I would meet you anywhere, but Ive been farther down I saw you somewhere farther down, Did I expect it? ---[He understand the pain and he will do what he can to help them on this road...but now that he is recovering he wary of the pain of sorrow so he has doubts: think of being badly burned, then being wary of helping someone light a fire ...suddenly he realizes that his friend is far more depressed than he thought they were, and further realizing that his pain is not nearly as great as his friend's, he is shocked]

Now I'm overcome with fear Mama get me out of here I've gone farther down than I ever wanna go. ---[Upon the realization that his friend is on an all time low, more-so than he could even fathom himself, he is scared. he is afraid of what his friend's intentions for his own well being are and he is afraid of what it would do to himself to even get involved with his friend should his friend take his own life or something terrible which would envelope the singer back into the dark world of depression. "Mama get me out of here" is a nod to the innocence of childhood where mothers love made everything better and worries melt away, that ever powerful embrace, where one can yield and mama will be there to take care of it all. His feeling now is just this, he is overwhelmed -- he doesn't want to deal with any of this. He has had enough of being sad.]

Lighting up the horizon, To the city sky-lights In a faded aspiration only left in our minds Let us shake up the system, Lets go and rattle their frames Lets take the highest road away and avoid these trappings ---[Futures(horizons) were bright when they were younger, but now as they grow up the world becomes more hard and cold, dreams aren't met as easily as wishing about them when we were kids. "Let us shake up the system" I believe is a nod to grown-up life being about money, jobs, social status, (among other things like what is expected of us from society) and the same shaking up of the system that the hippie movement wanted to do where things revolved more around peace, love, and helping hands(that kind of thing). He wants to just get away from it all, the money, the greed, the things that would otherwise corrupt and/or depress them further (think hedonistic treadmill or things that don't truly make us happy in the long run)]

I would meet you anywhere, but Ive been farther down I saw you somewhere farther down Did I expect it? Now I'm overcome with fear Mama get me out of here Ive gone farther down than I wanna go ---[Same feeling as other chorus, disbelief that his friend who ALSO has shown a fake smile and otherwise fooled many to believing he was a happy kid/person is actually extremely depressed and the saddest they've ever been -- think: of the happiest person, strongest person you know, now imagine them down in the dumps, crying like you've never seen, and it is scaring you to the core because you never thought this was possible("but they were so happy, so strong, i never thought..."]

We stood out in the cold And your eyes, they ate my soul Begged me to come back down, they begged me to come back down Then the ground ate my legs, so I looked up to the sky and said I don't wanna go back down Oh Ive been so far down Heaven help me, heaven help me for the way I've been. ---[This part very sad for me to write. His friend has passed away, they lost their battle with depression (read: suicide). The scene described is the funeral, and the eyes he is looking into are the ones of his friend, but a portrait of them beside their casket. How they eat at the singer's soul. They beg him to come down back into the depression, to mourn for his passing forever, to join him. But the singer must stand his ground and stand tall. He must look up and say, "I don't wanna go back down." He has been too far down, he must go on, he must forgive his friend(there are tons of mixed emotions), he must recover, look forward, he must live. The last line he asks for self-forgiveness for any anger he feels about what he could have down and should-haves to help his friend. Then he must go on.]

Farther down Did I expect it? Now I'm overcome with fear Mama get me out of here ---[Chorus interpretation+the ones you least expect to be battling with depression might be the ones losing it the worst]

I've gone farther down than I ever, than I ever wanna go Farther down, I saw you somewhere Farther down Did I expect it Now I'm overcome with fear Mama get me out, mama get me out of here. ---[Chorus interpretation+++ fear from the heavy scars that depression has left, even though he is on the road to recovery]