Devil in the Water

@yibbitta I think it probably has a couple of connotations here. One: alcohol. Devil Water is a common term for alcohol. I think the POV of the song is a guy who got drunk (confused over whether it is the ceiling or the floor) and made some regrettable decisions. He then obsesses over how it makes him look to others. What do others know? What do they think? The Devil there is the detail he might be defined by or remembered for by others. He’d like to forget it, he’d like it...

@yibbitta I think it probably has a couple of connotations here. One: alcohol. Devil Water is a common term for alcohol. I think the POV of the song is a guy who got drunk (confused over whether it is the ceiling or the floor) and made some regrettable decisions. He then obsesses over how it makes him look to others. What do others know? What do they think? The Devil there is the detail he might be defined by or remembered for by others. He’d like to forget it, he’d like it to be forgotten by others, but it’s not that easy.

And, secondarily, I think he's saying, Why fight about faith and try to figure out what others believe and think when it comes to those sorts of issues? There can be unity, and enjoyment of natural things - the sun, the sand, the ocean... but religious people tend to be so aggressive in defending their faith or trying to convert others that they often miss the little things and how simple life can be. I also like that line "throwing out salt to watch it land" (paraphrasing). To me, it's a reference to the snow, but also to superstition (throwing...

And, secondarily, I think he's saying, Why fight about faith and try to figure out what others believe and think when it comes to those sorts of issues? There can be unity, and enjoyment of natural things - the sun, the sand, the ocean... but religious people tend to be so aggressive in defending their faith or trying to convert others that they often miss the little things and how simple life can be. I also like that line "throwing out salt to watch it land" (paraphrasing). To me, it's a reference to the snow, but also to superstition (throwing salt over your shoulder, maybe?? or throwing salt on old wounds... hmm). Either way, I like that so much because he's suggesting (at least to me) that if you get so caught up in these superstitions that may or may not be real, you will likely miss the natural beauty that's right in front of your face (like the snow outside your window). Something like that...

The beauty of this song is that it is art and can thus be interpreted in ways depending on our own situations.

The beauty of this song is that it is art and can thus be interpreted in ways depending on our own situations.

That being said, @asSTARSfallx I like your interpretation, but adding to it on a slightly different line of thought: I think the song might be describing something more general like living in the now and the big picture of life. I think that the dismissal traditional religion is a way to live out what he is describing in more specific area of life.

That being said, @asSTARSfallx I like your interpretation, but adding to it on a slightly different line of thought: I think the song might be describing something more general like living in the now and the big picture of life. I think that the dismissal traditional religion is a way to live out what he is describing in more specific area of life.

I interpreted the song as describing a way to live life the now and not...

I interpreted the song as describing a way to live life the now and not the past, and to accept/ understand that other people have a past that they might be living with under the surface of what you see everyday.

Along these lines, and to answer the question @yibbitta raised, I think that the title: "The Devil in the Water" can be interpreted in a couple of ways, but I like this...

You can't see beneath the surface of the water and similarly you can't see what is in another person's past. The past could be the devil being described and the water is the person. A lot of misunderstandings come from people not looking at other as deep and complex individuals with a past. Their devil, the past, hides beneath the surface. Additionally, living in the past can cause you to not see clearly and live in the now.

For me, the first stanza: tonight the sounds are from the ceiling they turned up to be a floor strained on muffled conversations the eyes hesitate for more

reminds me of being in an apartment. You have neighbors above you. You try to understand the lives they are living through the walls of your apartment, but you only get a confused, muffled, and topsy turvy view of what their lives really are (in their full complexity). And again, you try to live in the now, but if you are living in the past all you see is this muffled confused view of life.

The second stanza: laying low but not escaping find by contrast what is free hear reminders in the spacing the time when it is hard to breathe

sounds like the song is describing suppressing your past, but never truly getting away from it. By living with your past you can see what its like living free of it. You are reminded of the every once in a while; especially when you are in a high stress situation.

On to the first stanza of the chorus: the sun on the street looks good to me burning and gold for a while it's hard to see where we come from

this could be something that seems good in life that makes it hard to see what was in the past, but really its only a of a way to dull the memories.

Second stanza: let's go to the sea take memory buried in sand 'til the tide comes in and drowns it

I feel that this stanza was the major “live in the now” stanza. Lets make some memories, take advantage of the now, before its over and gone. It also has a feel of wanting to get rid of the old memories and letting them wash away with the tide.

The next stanza: no one's pulling up the floorboards to find out how we can stand stop throwing salt outside the windows looking hard to see it land

the first two lines seem to say that no-one is looking into what everyone else has been through in their lives or what type of foundation they are standing on. And of course I loved the “or throwing salt on old wounds” interpretation of the second two lines. Once more… a call to live in the now.

Last full stanza: no one knows what anybody knows no one knows what they're thinking about spend our time guessing, spend it all

I interpreted this as we don’t know what is “under the surface” of other people’s “waters” and what they are going through because of their past and we spend all of our time trying to figure out what is going on in their past, but

Finally: when it's over, why can't it be gone...

When the situation is over, why can we not just let it go?

@asSTARSfallx @rrrobinson Thanks for your thoughts, rrrobinson. My comment may have missed the mark with this song, although I do still see threads of dismissing origination theories - Matt tends to do albums that link up to a larger theme though, and your thoughts and a re-read caused me to reevaluate. Perhaps it's Matt's own existential realization about the so-called meaning of life. It's interesting the way he contrasts the indoors (as an anxiety-inducing prison "hard to breathe") with the outdoors (enjoyment/liberation, through symbolic sunshine). He's brooding in his apartment, distracted by sounds coming from the ceiling until they actually...

@asSTARSfallx @rrrobinson Thanks for your thoughts, rrrobinson. My comment may have missed the mark with this song, although I do still see threads of dismissing origination theories - Matt tends to do albums that link up to a larger theme though, and your thoughts and a re-read caused me to reevaluate. Perhaps it's Matt's own existential realization about the so-called meaning of life. It's interesting the way he contrasts the indoors (as an anxiety-inducing prison "hard to breathe") with the outdoors (enjoyment/liberation, through symbolic sunshine). He's brooding in his apartment, distracted by sounds coming from the ceiling until they actually become a floor (a ground, so to speak, that enables his epiphany). Still, it seems even in the light or when drowning the sand in the tide, the memory seems to wash in again. Then Matt is plagued with new questions -- thoughts about origins. In forgetting his past he is still confronted with his existence and what it means. To me, the end seems exasperation at not knowing (but it could be a bit more shallow in that he's sitting in his apartment constantly wondering what another person is thinking... someone he misses and cares about... and he realizes that even though he can't actually drown that memory he has to start looking at it differently). All that said, we are our past and our future [we just don't always know what that means depending on what point in time we evaluate]. The song is a bit, as you said, throwing the past away; again, the thought of burying the sand and drowning it in the tide does suggest two things: i.) cyclical nature (does the sand really ever go away or does it become part of something else?), and ii.) origins - what could be more primitive than grains of earth/sand?

Thanks for your thoughts.