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(In The Wake Of) The Swollen Goat Lyrics
No horizon is obscured by the clouds. Settlements make nary a sound.
And there were black birds singing and fish floating on the sea.
While the bells of the buoys all rang in harmony.
Bury your treasure, burn your crops,
Black water rising and it ain't gonna stop.
The governor he been long gone, anchor dropped on his front lawn.
Build a keep and dig a moat, the return of the Swollen Goat.
Can you hear the fife and drums, barnacles barking at the sun.
Ain't no chance, so don't you try, now everybody got to die.
Bury your treasure, burn your crops,
Black water rising and it ain't gonna stop.
WE DO NOT DESIRE TRIBUTES.
WE DESIRE INFORMATION.
WE SEEK THE WORM DRINK WHO HAS LATELY BETRAYED HIS NATION
Albatross on your neck and a hooker on the shore,
Dog-men to the deck, there's a hooker on the
IN THE WAKE OF THE SWOLLEN GOAT
Bury your treasure, burn your crops,
Black water rising and it ain't gonna stop.
And there were black birds singing and fish floating on the sea.
While the bells of the buoys all rang in harmony.
Black water rising and it ain't gonna stop.
Build a keep and dig a moat, the return of the Swollen Goat.
Can you hear the fife and drums, barnacles barking at the sun.
Ain't no chance, so don't you try, now everybody got to die.
Black water rising and it ain't gonna stop.
WE DESIRE INFORMATION.
WE SEEK THE WORM DRINK WHO HAS LATELY BETRAYED HIS NATION
Dog-men to the deck, there's a hooker on the
Black water rising and it ain't gonna stop.
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I read in an interview with Neil Fallon that Blast Tyrant is partly a concept album. The Blast tyrant is kind of a dictator. The Swollen Goat is his flag ship. Wormdrink is a person.
In this song, the security detail of the swollen goat is looking for Wormdrink.
There is a little more to the story, but I forgot.
That is not to say allegories, similes, and metaphor are not in high density. Listening to clutch a lot I realize that references to 'Black water' and tyrannical oppression is very likely what Neil wanted to mention.
You have to be careful though. Not all allusions or analogues are intentional. that doesn't mean they aren't there. Some meaning can always be found in coincidences; even coincidences not intended by the author.
There's a fine line between allegory and hyperbole.
i doubt the blackwater as a defence company idea. in my mind blackwater is an omen of doom which the songs lyrics feature thoughout. 'black birds singing and fish floating on the sea' black birds, crows and ravens that feed on dead flesh always show up before a massive battle or storm. fish floating on the sea, not IN the sea but on it, floating becasue theyre dead. 'No horizon is obscured by the clouds While the bells of the buoys all rang in harmony' =stillness 'Settlements make nary a sound' 'Build a keep and dig a moat,' =fortify and prepair the swollen goat is the blast tyrants flying ship if you look at the album art. FLYING ship, hence 'barnacles barking at the sun' and also... 'The governor he been long gone, anchor dropped on his front lawn' blast tyrant has laid anchor in the local goverments front lawn first, so he ran for the hills 'Can you hear the fife and drums' both instruments traditionally used for colonial armies marching to war 'Bury your treasure, burn your crops' prepair/run albertorss, burdon, the hooker on the shore, whore of babylon. the album is full of biblical referances so this is plausable. Ain't no chance, so don't you try, now everybody got to die all of the above.
Also of note is that Clutch is from Maryland, and their lyrics are intertwined with the natural world in many of their songs. Blackwater is a National Wildlife Refuge in Maryland about 80 miles south of Annapolis, and I have read several articles about how it is being reclaimed by the sea due to the rise in sea levels caused by global warming. I have even been there. (Lots of blackbirds singing, aand there are ringing buoys in the bay...did not see any fish floating on the sea, though.) One of the old governors of Maryland...
Also of note is that Clutch is from Maryland, and their lyrics are intertwined with the natural world in many of their songs. Blackwater is a National Wildlife Refuge in Maryland about 80 miles south of Annapolis, and I have read several articles about how it is being reclaimed by the sea due to the rise in sea levels caused by global warming. I have even been there. (Lots of blackbirds singing, aand there are ringing buoys in the bay...did not see any fish floating on the sea, though.) One of the old governors of Maryland had a home there, and it was an historic site until it was eventually destroyed by floodwater tides. "The governor, he been long gone; anchor dropped on his front lawn" Blackwater is sinking as black water rises, and it ain't gonna stop. I have no proof this is the meaning, and I think the references to the Blackwater Company are also most definitely relevant, but still, this is the sort of multidimensional lyric I have come to expect and treasure from Mr. Fallon.
The whole Blast Tyrant album is the story of a corrupt king. you can hear it if you rearrange the the songs. Worm Drink was the evil king of an unnamed nation. When the people found out about his various, unspecified crimes, they rioted (The Mob Goes Wild). In order to keep the people on his side, he blamed all the crimes on his daughter, La Curandera, and planned a rigged trial (Notes From The Trial Of La Curandera). Before the trial took place, a mystic told La Curandera about what was going on and that she should flee the nation to avoid unfair punishment (Spleen Merchant). La Curandera returned to seek vengance on her father (The Regulator). she returned armed to the teeth & with a reputation of fear and respect on a ship named The Swollen Goat (In The Wake Of The Swollen Goat). I don't know how right this is but it was pitched to me back around '08 and i thought it was interesting and made sense. my only problem is i don't know where the other songs fit in.
wow i cant believe that no one has commented on this song. I'm not really 100% sure what this song is about but I really like it, it always get stuck in my head after i listen to it
You have to pay attention to the "black water rising" part. Blackwater is a famous company based in the USA that provides private security contractors (namely in the Middle East right now). Essentially, Blackwater contractors are mercenaries available to anybody with money. Many people feel that Blackwater is a threat to the safety of America and the rest of the world for that matter.
As a result of 9/11, the money invested in Blackwater and various private security companies has significantly increased. When it sings "blackwater rising and ain't gonna stop", I think it refers to peoples fear of the rise of Blackwater. Hell, there are books written on the subject of Blackwater (Blackwater...the rise of the world's most powerful private army or something).
Furthermore, Blackwater owns multiple helicopters and various other forms of combat-ready transport vehicles. "Black birds singing" could be a reference to Blackwater's use of helicopters and their firepower.
This is all me talking out of my ass though, so take it for what its worth. For all I know, I could be 100% wrong or 100% right.
Something else I just noticed is the part that says "settlements make nary a sound". To me, this part is symbolic of the availability of Blackwater's services. They have like 200,000 contractors on call world wide...any company, person, or nation with money can hire Blackwater for their services. For security reasons, Blackwater rarely discusses who they are or have worked for. So, to me, make nary a sound would reference the world wide use of Blackwater contractors.
The "Swollen Goat" may have something to do with the Chinese Zodiac. Desert Storm and the Iraq War were both fought during the year of the ram (or goat).
The line "albatross on your neck" was referenced today in a Sinfest strip, which I will link at the bottom of this post. Does anybody know if this song got that line from a different source? Because in the Sinfest strip, it is represented as "the albatross around your neck," which is slightly different from the line in this song. Is this line from a book, or a movie, or something?
http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=2879
Never mind. It turns out "an albatross on (or around) your neck" is synonymous with "a cross to bear" as an English idiom. I guess I've never heard this expression before.
http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/idioms/albatross+around+your+neck.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albatross_(metaphor)
The albatross line is a reference to Coleridge's "The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner." The idiomatic expression also arose from this poem. In the poem, most of which takes place on a ship at sea, the ship is followed by an albatross, a large seabird. The albatross is held to be good luck by sailors. The ancient mariner kills it, and the rest of the crew turns on him when their luck runs foul. He is forced to wear it around his neck in retribution. There you have it, in a nutshell.
The albatross line is a reference to Coleridge's "The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner." The idiomatic expression also arose from this poem. In the poem, most of which takes place on a ship at sea, the ship is followed by an albatross, a large seabird. The albatross is held to be good luck by sailors. The ancient mariner kills it, and the rest of the crew turns on him when their luck runs foul. He is forced to wear it around his neck in retribution. There you have it, in a nutshell.
Another relevant reference to the albatross around your neck comes from the Rime of the Ancient Mariner. it's a poem about a man who kills an albatross (the albatross was seen as good luck, so killing one was bad juju) and the horrible journey that follows. The crew turn on him when things go bad and literally make him wear the dead albatross around his neck. It has been 20 years since I read it, so forgive me any mistakes in my recollection. That's the gist of it, though.
Another relevant reference to the albatross around your neck comes from the Rime of the Ancient Mariner. it's a poem about a man who kills an albatross (the albatross was seen as good luck, so killing one was bad juju) and the horrible journey that follows. The crew turn on him when things go bad and literally make him wear the dead albatross around his neck. It has been 20 years since I read it, so forgive me any mistakes in my recollection. That's the gist of it, though.
It is likely the source of the idiom.
It is likely the source of the idiom.
Guess I should've read christco's reply before I wrote mine. :)
Guess I should've read christco's reply before I wrote mine. :)
I've never thought about the Blackwater theory before that's pretty interesting, mad props for the exstensive research, but they talked to Fallon in an interview (which I think I found on youtube) asking about the entire album, and it's supposed to be a very very very very very loose story, about the Blast Tyrant in his search for the Worm Drink "who has lately betrayed his nation." Anywho, from what Neil said, the Swollen Goat is actually the Blast Tyrant's ship, in which he uses to seek out Worm Drink, now when I say very loose, it allows a whole lot to the imagination, as to the whole backstory, it's more like a brief summary. As for the Blackwater theory, that, may be some underlying meaning "the governor been long gone anchor dropped on his front lawn" may be a reference to the Blackwater company turning on us for the right amount of money, but who knows.