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Grey Ice Water Lyrics

You're standing by the grey ice water
Out in the wind, above ground out in the weather
You had yourself a crazy lover
Becoming frozen, trying hard to forget her
You got a job up in Alaska
It's easy to save what the cannery pays
Because there ain't no way to spend it
At home on a boat, it's a fish trap
You took the path of least resistance
On the phone, cutting out talking
Short to long distance
You're standing by the grey ice water
Out in the wind, above ground out in the water
You had yourself a crazy lover
Become unfrozen, trying hard to forget her
You got a job up in Alaska
It's easy to save what the cannery pays
Because there ain't no way to spend it
On the arctic blast
On the arctic blast
On the arctic blast
On the arctic blast
On the arctic blast
On the arctic blast
On the arctic blast
Song Info
Submitted by
planes On Jun 17, 2002
42 Meanings

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Cover art for Grey Ice Water lyrics by Modest Mouse

yeah. this is a great song. to me this song has really special meaning. i go to a maritime academy and am training to become a engineer on trade ships. before i went off to school i broke up with my girlfriend. we had been having some problems and i thought instead of trying to maintain a long distance relationship it would be best just to break it off. looking back it is one of the wost mistakes i have ever made. now im basically out at sea without her and having a hard time getting over it. we've talked a few times but it always makes things worse for me and i feel like im stuck out here now. most people think this would be great becuase im learning a lot and when i get out i have a great job lined up but without her it seems a bit pointless.

@owen1391 5 years later...

I've been going through a long distance relationship for the last year and a half, me and my girlfriend have no way that we can see to be together. Different countries, bureaucratic issues. Life is bitterly funny when you're in love, or even just think you are, and bureaucracy and the lines people draw in the dirt keep you apart. She's training for a cruise ship job that she'll be contracted to for 6 months. It's still scary.

Anyway, i really just wanted to see if you respond. What happened, if you still regret it, if it worked...

Cover art for Grey Ice Water lyrics by Modest Mouse

This song is about, forgetting the one you loved, but that person didn't really love you back, and now you move far away. just for you to forget about them. and you kinda are living with demons. and wanna go back but you know that person still wont love you the way you loved them.

Cover art for Grey Ice Water lyrics by Modest Mouse

Alaska carries a certain mystique to people in the northwest...it's the end of the world, a place to go to forget all of your troubles. Case in point.

Cover art for Grey Ice Water lyrics by Modest Mouse

beautiful song. grey ice water, alaska, arctic blast..you are trying to forget them so you isolate yourself and move north, maybe the cold will distract you from the pain in your heart.. but now you're "on the phone cutting out talking short to long distance" and the conversation is so stupid and futile but it happens anyways because we never can forget our crazy lovers

Cover art for Grey Ice Water lyrics by Modest Mouse

You all pretty much nailed it. It's about trying to forget someone that you loved and isolating yourself from everything in hopes that you can somehow forget the person. Such a sad concept.

I love how his voice and the girl's voice mesh on this song. It's so sadly beautiful.

Cover art for Grey Ice Water lyrics by Modest Mouse

Yeah, I'm agreeing. Forgetting that lover mentioned in the song.

I love the way this song is so calm and relaxed, slightly sad maybe. The song seems to really capture the idea of leaving things behind, maybe starting anew is what I think of when I hear it.

great song, this one.

Cover art for Grey Ice Water lyrics by Modest Mouse

I picture the narrator of this song standing on the ice miles from shore on a frozen sea. The long Alaskan winter is ending and he will soon plummet to his death. In his last moments he is lamenting how he got here.

Cover art for Grey Ice Water lyrics by Modest Mouse

No analysis, just god damn, the best band I ever saw live and I had the luxury of seeing them play this live, greatest band of this century and please someone fkn tell me otherwise.

Cover art for Grey Ice Water lyrics by Modest Mouse

i like thisi song.

Cover art for Grey Ice Water lyrics by Modest Mouse

This is the greatest song on Building Nothing

 
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