I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
Lay my head, under the water
Lay my head, under the sea
Excuse me sir, am I your daughter?
Won't you take me back, take me back and see?
There's not a time, for being younger
And all my friends, are enemies
And if I cried unto my mother
No she wasn't there, she wasn't there for me
Don't let the water drag you down (Don't let the water drag you down)
Don't let the water drag you down
Broken lines, across my mirror
Show my face, all red and bruised
And though I screamed and I screamed, well no one came running
No I wasn't saved, I wasn't safe from you
Don't let the water drag you down (Don't let the water drag you down)
Don't let the water drag you down
Don't let me drown, don't let me drown in the waves, oh
I could be found, I could be what you had saved
Saved, saved, saved
Lay my head, under the water
Aloud I pray, for calmer seas
And when I wake from this dream, with chains all around me
No, I've never been, I've never been free
No, I've never been, I've never been free
No, I've never been, I've never been free
Lay my head, under the sea
Excuse me sir, am I your daughter?
Won't you take me back, take me back and see?
There's not a time, for being younger
And all my friends, are enemies
And if I cried unto my mother
No she wasn't there, she wasn't there for me
Don't let the water drag you down (Don't let the water drag you down)
Don't let the water drag you down
Broken lines, across my mirror
Show my face, all red and bruised
And though I screamed and I screamed, well no one came running
No I wasn't saved, I wasn't safe from you
Don't let the water drag you down (Don't let the water drag you down)
Don't let the water drag you down
Don't let me drown, don't let me drown in the waves, oh
I could be found, I could be what you had saved
Saved, saved, saved
Lay my head, under the water
Aloud I pray, for calmer seas
And when I wake from this dream, with chains all around me
No, I've never been, I've never been free
No, I've never been, I've never been free
No, I've never been, I've never been free
Lyrics submitted by Breakingbenjaminfan
Under the Water Lyrics as written by Kato Khandwala Ben Phillips
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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In my opinion it speaks clearly of a child born from an unintended pregnancy. I can see two versions of the story.
1st version - Her parents try to kill her, but then give up. Leave her somewhere, after a long time, she is found. She grows up and suffers the pain of being an orphan. 2nd version - Her parents kill her. All the lines refer to the dead baby thoughts.
"Lay my head, under the water; Lay my head, under the sea"
1st & 2nd versions: This line speaks of the moment the parents try to kill the baby. In a deeper interpretation, you can see the innocence of the baby (she tought their parents were only going to give her a bath, and tell them to wash her head).
"Excuse me sir, am I your daughter? Won't you take me back, take me back and see?"
1st version: The parentes gave up trying to kill the child. She was abandoned and this is what she thinks when someone who was passing finds her.
2nd version: The child doesn't understand what's going on. She asks her father, who is trying to drown her, if she's not her daughter, and if he can't take her back to the surface of the water, so she can breathe again. In this version, this is when the little girl dies.
"There's not a time, for being younger; And all my friends, are enemies; And if I cried unto my mother; No she wasn't there, she wasn't there for me"
1st version: The child is alone now. She doesn't have the only ones who were his real friends, which were his parents. That's why she says "And all my friends, are enemies". Their enemies are their parents, because, in the vision of the orphan, the ones who were meant to be his real friends left her. Also speaks about the child pain of don't having a mother.
2nd version: The baby realizes what happened. The parents were meant to take care of her, but instead, they killed her.
"Don't let the water drag you down"
1st version: Somehow she remembers the moment his parents tried to kill her. She's telling herself to try to escape from the water. Or maybe she's telling herself to carry on and don't give up on life. Or maybe both.
2nd version: Back on the moment of the death - the baby is telling herself to try to escape from the water.
"Broken lines, across my mirror; Show my face, all red and bruised; And though I screamed and I screamed, well no one came running"
1st version: The pain of the orphan. Shee wonders why their parents left her. Maybe she thinks she was not pretty enough ("Broken lines, across my mirror"). Now, again, this line can be about two moments on his life. First, when she was left, though she had screamed, it took long so that someone could listen his crying and find her. Second, when she is already grown, she cries out for someone to help her understand everything, but no one comes.
2nd version: The baby's autopsy. Mirror means the reflection of her appearance. Her appearance shows that she was beaten. Again, the moment their parents killed her: she screamed for help, but no one helped her.
"No I wasn't saved, I wasn't safe from you."
1st version: The orphan remember when her parents tried to kill her.
2nd version: The baby remembers when her parents killed her.
"Don't let me drown, don't let me drown in the waves, oh; I could be found, I could be what you had saved"
This is when i think the 2nd version makes more sense ("I could be found"). In both versions, the baby cries out not to be murdered. In the 1st version, she is saved. In the 2nd one, she is not.
"Aloud I pray, for calmer seas And when I wake from this dream, with chains all around me No, I've never been, I've never been free"
1st & 2nd versions: the orphan/baby prays, hoping that everything is just a dream from where she could never escape, and hopes that when she wakes up, she finds a good family.