Drown With Me

Wow, I didn't thought about killing at all when I read the lyrics of this song, but it's a great idea.

For me, it's about a man who tells a woman (with children, problems, etc.) to relax and to spend a little time with him and with herself.

There's a theme to the songs recorded for In Absentia, touching on themes like serial killers and sociopaths, but knowing Wilson's lyrics there are usually multiple intended meanings.

I think you could interpret that much of the song is about a serial killer who strangles women, possibly seducing them first. (referring to "Your coil has been wound up tight") and uses the bodies for sexual gratification, then discards them in a body of water (likely a lake or other bit of standing water) when the bodies begin to decay (lost your looks)* where he has a "family" of other victims. It's possible that he contemplates that he's done horrible things, even contemplating suicide as a measure of atonement. (perhaps he hears them pleading "Drown with me") But decides against it (don't feel you've let them down because they've already drowned) because - how can a corpse feel let down? They're dead now and tehre's no sense in the killer's mind in feeling sorry for them.

Now aside from that angle, it could also be the less morose dissatisfaction with a relationship, and the desire to put it to an end due to his partner not turning out how he thought she would. the "drowning" could in that case refer to tears or strong emotions when the "coil" of the relationship is unwound, with the lines "you're drowning in family there" meaning that she's going to her friends and family for comfort and absolution, and "don't feel you've let 'em down" meaning that he needs to move on since the relationship is already dead.

First off, the tone of this song is so strangely triumphant, as if you are supposed to get the feeling of being freed from something. And the phrasing, 'Drown with me' conjures of thoughts of dying together with someone else, not necessarily murder. The last phrases are especially confusing, because they refer to being drowned in family, and wanting that person to escape that drowning scenario and into the drowning scenario of the singer. Sort of like saying, 'look, you're dying either way. Let's die together'.
So it leaves the feeling of, in a dark way, inviting someone else into your own troubling scenario.

Or it could be about a serial killer. That interpretation isn't as satisfying, to me anyway.

I think this is about a man who is asking a prostitute to leave her job and live with him. In the first few lines, he is telling her condition who has been abused by a client (lipstick has gone astray, sold out looks, gave away books, etc). In the next two paras, he is telling about her final fate- she is going to be killed someday or she will commit suicide and nobody will care (Tyre tracks fresh on the ground, held under the water, etc). In the last lines, he is asking her to think about her family whom she is letting down and that's why she should drown with me (stay with him).

A lot of literal interpretations here.

I think it's about someone who sees someone who's settled down and thinks, how can this be. That kind of life just isn't for her.

So he reminds her that family life is killing her. That it doesn't suit her well at all.

More, she's not letting your family down by leaving. Look at them. They're dead already.

wow .. no comments yet .. and its been over a year?

well, its one of many drowing murders of a family that one person commitied ...

but then again .. i could be completely off.

This is an outtake from In Absentia, and besides that, the lyrics are obviously about someone drowning someone else.

There's actually two versions of this, the demo from the extra CD on the digi pack of In Absentia and another version on the Futile EP. The demo doesn't have the line "Don't feel you let 'em down Cos they have already drowned",

How you manage to make a song about raping someone and drowning them with their family sound so pretty, only Steven Wilson knows.

I think it's a big shame it wasn't in the record... It could have add so much more. It is truely excellent.

This song is so gorgeous. Sounds like The Bends era Radiohead...