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.
I broke you in the canyon
I drowned you in the lake
You a snake that I would trample
Only thing I'd not embrace
Oh, you couldn't dam that river
And maybe I don't give a damn anyway
So you couldn't dam that river
And it washed me so far away
I pushed and then you stumbled
I kicked you in the face
You stare at me so hollow
Got to keep that killin' pace
Oh, you couldn't dam that river
And maybe I don't give a damn anyway
So you couldn't dam that river
And it washed me so far away
I burned the place around you
I hit you with a rake
You piss upon my candle
So proving you're a fake
Oh, you couldn't dam that river
And maybe I don't give a damn anyway
So you couldn't dam that river
And it washed me so far away
I drowned you in the lake
You a snake that I would trample
Only thing I'd not embrace
Oh, you couldn't dam that river
And maybe I don't give a damn anyway
So you couldn't dam that river
And it washed me so far away
I pushed and then you stumbled
I kicked you in the face
You stare at me so hollow
Got to keep that killin' pace
Oh, you couldn't dam that river
And maybe I don't give a damn anyway
So you couldn't dam that river
And it washed me so far away
I burned the place around you
I hit you with a rake
You piss upon my candle
So proving you're a fake
Oh, you couldn't dam that river
And maybe I don't give a damn anyway
So you couldn't dam that river
And it washed me so far away
Lyrics submitted by Ice
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Great version of a great song,
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I don't doubt Jerry when he says it was about a fight he had with Sean. The verses are obviously angry/violent.
It's the meaning of "So you couldn't dam that river" in the chorus that's open-ended.
Given the verses and what Jerry says it's about......I'm tempted to say it's metaphor about the inability to stop the bleeding. And Jerry doesn't give a damn.
jerry and sean got into a big fight,and jerry said sean broke a table over his head,jerry wrote this song as a payback,it was in the Music Bank boolet
BINGO! It didn't take long, did it? Nail on the head after just one post! I know this is eight years later, but still!
So "You couldn't dam that river" could be a way of saying "You can't fix what you did wrong"?
Actually, aicguy22 is right. The exact quote from Jerry is, "It's about that fight I had with Sean. I wrote it about him. '...I kicked you in the face' which, of course, I didn't because I couldn't. I was being an immature prick and I basically deserved wat I got. It was over a ride, I kept on bugging for a ride until he got so mad he picked up a coffee table and broke it over my head! My retaliation was writing this song.
You all could be right but my take on it is the act of him killing some at a canyon i could be wrong but i really dont see wut a coffee table has to do with a canyon. good song
I guess you can't argue with Cantrell about what the song means but I always felt as though this song had something to with the Green River Killer. The fact that someone was trying to fill a river up with the bodies of 16 year old girls in Cantrell's back yard in roughly the time period this song was written is just to much for me to ignore.
"you piss upon my candle, so proving you're a fake"
I always think of this line whenever I present an idea to someone and instead of being constructive with their criticism they tear it down.
i dont see how this is payback
And Sean still played on the song? I always thought it was a bout self-harm.
just saying what jerry siad in Music Bank,that's all
my favorite aic song