All Of My Tears

This is like a lot of Jason's music... I think he either believes in God or wants to, but has never really heard back from God. It's a love/hate relationship.

beautiful song

Very beautiful. Originally a Spacemen 3 song, Jason Pierce redid it with his next band, changing the lead guitar with violin as well as giving it a good kick of ambience. I recommend you hear the original if you haven't--they're equally amazing. The lyrics provided on this site contain a couple of errors: one semantic, another apparently a mishearing. The final word of the song is 'babe', not 'shame'. Sort of changes the conclusion of the song a bit, yes?

Water is a symbol of purity/healing that Pierce uses often in his lyrics (see: Cool Waves, Lord Let It Rain On Me, On Fire, I Didn't Mean to Hurt You, etc.). I don't think he uses 'Lord' as anymore than a vain cry for something higher than himself to help him. Perhaps alluding to a secular Job-like character? In this case, he's apparently in despair and the only thing he needs is something to bring him back to a peaceful state--which isn't so easy considering his circumstance (see: Home of the Brave, Cop Shoot Cop, Lord Help Me Out, etc.). He's apparently hurting for love. Not only an endless river, but an ocean as well? Pretty powerful statement.

I believe Jason Pierce to be a true master of minimalism. This song epitomizes this.

for some reason i think that jason is alluding to alcohol or heroin as the water.

see 'broken heart" for example. he uses his drugs to heal him.

I agree that this song is most likely about longing for heroin. As mentioned above, he uses the water/heroin analogy in other songs like "Cool Waves," "Lord Let it Rain on Me," "Feeling Just Fine (Head Full of Shit)," etc.

also, the word in the final verse is "bay" rather than "babe." It is much easier to discern on Playing with Fire and in several live versions.

I disagree. Jason uses water as a cleansing and admits his drug usage is a sin. He uses drugs not to heal, but to get by(in his music at least). I think the heat or "hot" in this song is a reference to hell and him admitting his sins, "ain't been with you but its you I'm needing" = J saying to God "I've not been a good boy, but I want to change." The water is purity; he's asking God to forgive him and wash his sins away.