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Mine's Not A High Horse Lyrics
After that confrontation
You left me wringing my cold hands
We shared some information
We might not recover from
And I watch your convictions
Melt like ice cubes in an ocean
You were so poorly cast as a malcontent
You've got them all on your side
That just makes more for doubt to slaughter
"I never knew he thought that!"
I heard you say falling out of the van
"Don't ask for his opinion
They ought to drown him in holy water!"
Will you remember my reply
When your high horse dies?
We'd like to go the distance
But not a one of us it gonna
You see nobody is wise enough
To turn this ancient boat around
These are the muddy waters
I'm swimming in to make a living
That I might drown in them
Should come as no surprise
You want them all on your side
That just makes more for doubt to slaughter
"I never knew he thought that!"
I heard you say falling out of the van
"Don't ask for his opinion
They ought to drown him in holy water!"
Will you remember my reply
When your high horse dies?
You've got them all on your side
That just leaves more for doubt to slaughter
"I never knew he thought that!"
I heard you say falling out of the van
"Don't ask for his opinion
They ought to drown him in holy water!"
Will you remember my reply?
One finger parallel to the sky...
You left me wringing my cold hands
We shared some information
We might not recover from
And I watch your convictions
Melt like ice cubes in an ocean
You were so poorly cast as a malcontent
That just makes more for doubt to slaughter
"I never knew he thought that!"
I heard you say falling out of the van
"Don't ask for his opinion
They ought to drown him in holy water!"
Will you remember my reply
When your high horse dies?
But not a one of us it gonna
You see nobody is wise enough
To turn this ancient boat around
These are the muddy waters
I'm swimming in to make a living
That I might drown in them
Should come as no surprise
That just makes more for doubt to slaughter
"I never knew he thought that!"
I heard you say falling out of the van
"Don't ask for his opinion
They ought to drown him in holy water!"
Will you remember my reply
When your high horse dies?
That just leaves more for doubt to slaughter
"I never knew he thought that!"
I heard you say falling out of the van
"Don't ask for his opinion
They ought to drown him in holy water!"
Will you remember my reply?
One finger parallel to the sky...
Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.
I agree that the song is clearly about a split between former friends. It is possible that the break-up in question is between between songwriter/bandleader James Mercer and their original bass player, Neal Langford.
Regarding the last two lines of the song, he is pointing his finger back at her--not giving her the finger. The sky is horizontal, and his finger is parallel to the sky...so he's pointing at something. If he was giving her the finger the last line would be "one finger perpendicular to the sky." :)
Yeah, the parallel finger means he's pointing. Something accusatory, possibly.
I think the song has something of a "I told you so" superior sense to it. There's numerous references to the person the song is directed at having some strongly held conviction (maybe religious) and then losing it, and the singer then feeling smug ("will you remember my reply when your high horse dies?")
My favourite line is at the beginning of the chorus (these lyrics have it slightly wrong): "You've got them all on your side / that just makes more for doubt to slaughter", i.e. I don't care that lots of people agree with you, that just means more people to eventually be proven wrong (slaughtered by doubt).
I agree with sam99foster.
I agree with sam99foster.
The quotation marks, which appear in the official lyrics, indicate someone other than the singer/protagonist is talking. "Don't ask for his opinion, they ought to drown him in holy water," can be interpreted as earnest (making the speaker a caricature of a Puritan and implying the protagonist is a non-believer) or sarcastic (as in, "he's so religious, I'd like to drown him in holy water", which would imply the opposite of the other interpretation). I prefer the second interpretation as it's the more interesting one.
The quotation marks, which appear in the official lyrics, indicate someone other than the singer/protagonist is talking. "Don't ask for his opinion, they ought to drown him in holy water," can be interpreted as earnest (making the speaker a caricature of a Puritan and implying the protagonist is a non-believer) or sarcastic (as in, "he's so religious, I'd like to drown him in holy water", which would imply the opposite of the other interpretation). I prefer the second interpretation as it's the more interesting one.
This song is really about...
This song is really about two self-righteous, angry people in an argument. The lines early on, "I watch your convictions, melt like ice cubes in the ocean. You were so poorly cast as a malcontent" indicate a certain sense of self-assured superiority on the part of the protagonist. Accusing a person of being "poorly cast as a malcontent" is basically accusing them of being phony (if we're suppose to take the protagonist as an atheist, the malcontent part doesn't make a lot of sense - while there are certainly religious malcontents, that's not the stereotype of a religious person that would be familiar to Mercer's fans and its certainly not the sort of thing someone thinks of when they think of a religious person; indeed, it seems more fitting to call an atheist a "malcontent" and certainly plenty of modern atheists self-identify with this sort of thing - the tough rebel versus a conformist, religious society).
As much as we'd like the finger to be perpendicular to the sky, it's not. It's an accusatory, pointing finger. This, the "bring it on" line about not caring how many people his opponent has on their side, and the line about neither party being able to "turn this ancient boat around" (I read "ancient boat" to mean that the argument they're having is something that people have been arguing about for quite some time) makes the title of the song a bit ironic - the protagonist might think "mine's not a high horse" but that's the sort of thing two self-righteous people would think of themselves when in an argument. Those three lines also indicates that the two are caught mid-argument.
Fundamentally, I think you could read this as a religious person telling an atheist about their faith or it could be an atheist telling a religious person they don't believe in their god. It's really a song about two people who are both certain they are right and are willing to drive their relationship into the ground in order to prove they are right.
Good band. Good song. One person is an arse and the other one needs to let it go since s/he is not a part of his life and never will be. Besides, it's the Christmas season and Santa wants forgiveness on the list. Call it self-righteous or whatever one wishes. Some people don't give a flying poop.
Good band. Good song. One person is an arse and the other one needs to let it go since s/he is not a part of his life and never will be. Besides, it's the Christmas season and Santa wants forgiveness on the list. Call it self-righteous or whatever one wishes. Some people don't give a flying poop.
Well, there's a lot of soggy, cold imagery here. Ice cubes, water, swimming and drowning. There's a lot of religous type things to be wondered about... But most importantly, it seems he got in an argument (possibly with a girl) and that this girl's got the 'gang of friends' -all on her side, and everyone is against him on whatever the argument was about... But the religious stuff? the ancient boat = Noah's arc? and is he the religious one, or her? So much to answer for Personally, I think he's against the religious right, and he's criticizing her and her high horse
I love the last two lines of the song: "will you remember my reply? one finger parallel to the sky"
It sums up the entire song perfectly.
We shared some information We might not recover from Will I watch your convictions Melt like ice cubes in an ocean? --i like that part. i'm agreeing, this song must be about an argument with his girlfriend and everyones against him. i think someone cheated
I see this as a rebuttal to having been spurned by a sanctimonious former-loved-one (and her entire circle) after an unrecoverable altercation, one which he was never even given the chance to defend himself or his position against. Here he's pointing out that she herself isn't the picture of perfect morality, "Will I watch your convictions melt like ice cubes in an ocean? You were so poorly cast as a malcontent..." and further acknowledges that having ended up in show bizness, he was bound to be surrounded by temptation that would inevitably prove too powerful to resist. The ancient boat is the Ark-like vehicle intended to spare the righteous from the flooding of the sinners, but doesn't necessarily insulate the passengers from the evils right outside. Even if they had been able to foresee trouble, they wouldn't have been able to prevent it as long as 'swimming in the muddy waters' was the nature of his breadwinning. The bottom line is that she knew what she was getting into when she got involved with him, and therefore is in no position to condemn him to the extent that she did. Clearly she enjoyed the benefits of his rising stardom, and could have been more understanding in the face of hardships.
I don't think this is necessarily based on religion...but it is about someone who just acts better then him, and has many people backing [her] up. She talks very confidently and also talks a lot of crap.
You left out my favorite line! "Will you remember my reply One finger parallel to the sky?"
This song can be interpreted in so many ways, but one of my favorite parts of the song is, "We'd like to go the distance But not a one of us it going to You see no one is wise enough to turn this ancient boat around" -To me this is talking about being in a rut, doing things the same stupid way we've always done them but yet no one is smart enough to stop the chain of bad actions and habits. The pattern will continue because that is human nature.
"We'd like to go the distance But not a one of us it going to You see no one is wise enough to turn this ancient boat around" Yes it's discussing how no one is going to be the bigger person and end the feud. That's how I see it.