Breathe life to the street from the mouth

Those ruby red lips have much to give

Pull life from the land with your capable hands

Those life loving beautiful broken hands

Oh, I'll stand with you and marvel

At the cosmos pink and bright

All the pages flipping backwards

Til time is gone and wrong is right


Rivers running up the hills and to the sky and down to the sea

Where a merman with a twinkle casts a hook in me


Sing me a salty blue song, I'll be gone

With watery cheeks down flowered lanes

Tattered sails on a ramshackle ship, I'll go pale

Staring straight in the face looming tempest waves

Otherwise I'll wither and die here

On this reach of rubble rambling

With two years filled up with sand, dear

In a broken daze I'll be scrambling


Like rivers running up the hills and to the sky and down to the sea

Where a merman with a twinkle casts a hook in me


Summer sky falling into the sea, taking part of me

See the bones on the sand in the light

All the heards of the sea rushing by, pay no mind

To the dancing reflections gone wild

And at night a fractured star fell

And pierced right through the thick of me

I cried out in pain and joy, yes

I'm not dead, not numb, not withering


Like a falling leaf who keeps her green

I'm turning bright in the sea

Where a merman with a twinkle casts a hook in me





Lyrics submitted by sethbrown

Cast a Hook in Me Lyrics as written by Laura Veirs

Lyrics © BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC

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Cast A Hook In Me song meanings
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12 Comments

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  • 0
    General Comment
    such a beautiful song. I'm surprised it has no comments yet.
    life_is_sweeton September 18, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment
    I agree. I was surprised as well. Imagery, music, singing all great.
    RichardUptonPickmanon December 17, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment
    I really like this song. It has such beautiful imagery all throughout the lyrics! A definite beautiful song :D
    mazzyeyeson January 16, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment
    i adore this song
    OkayIBelieveYouon September 08, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment
    It's a shame so few people have heard this song, I listen to it every day.
    CrossMyChronoon October 09, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment
    Amazingly beautiful. About growth. And finding love. And losing it. And recovering. And the thought that at anytime you could die. You could lose the spark that makes "you" you. You could give up and sit down and never get up. That's what I get from it, anyways. :S
    Technophobiaon November 16, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment
    Very nice version on emusic.com (the only song on there of Laura Veirs to date, in some compilation album). Better than the versions on youtube. There's a moment (at the end of the chorus, on the title line, at about 0:46.5 for the first time) when electric guitar or something with vibrato or reverb plays and it seals the beauty of the song. Less is more. The light touch is exquisite. Oh yea, meaning. Lots of sea analogies complexly interwoven. Best line: "pierced right through the thick of me". I like how the 3rd version of the chorus is completely different. Refreshing change from each rendition of the chorus always being a carbon copy of all the others. Jackson Browne used to do that a lot. This makes it seem as if the writer has much more to say and much more skill saying it. I think I read on her site that " herds of the sea rushing by" is about whales, and a phrase from Herman Melville's Moby Dick. Good call, Technophobia, the time running backwards theme is about loss and recovery.
    Bob Steinon January 25, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment
    I think it's about the thought of dying at any given moment and living life in the meantime. I think dying is more of a thing to look forward to, as she states by saying "Til time is gone and wrong is right." I think the sea references are referring to drifting offshore and being helpless and ultimately dying in the middle of the ocean.
    lan56on October 13, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment
    I like what you're saying about "dying at any given moment and living life in the meantime." but I think what you've said about the sea is maybe taken in too literal of a sense. That's just my opinion, though. Personally, I think everything about the sea symbolizes death cleansing pain. "And at night a fractured star fell And pierced right through the thick of me I cried out in pain and joy, yes I'm not dead, not numb, not withering" To me, this line is like death. It has its pain and, of course, it can be terrifying but what happens afterward is a release, a catharsis. There is no longer pain. It's clearly about death. Maybe the struggle of life, and the beauty of it. But it forebodes death all through the song. "Till time is gone and wrong is right"... "I'll be gone.."..."Otherwise I'll wither and die here"... etc. It's a really good song on so many levels.
    br0mleyon January 11, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment
    Ok. Wow. I just wrote my idea of what it was about but I listened to the song again while reading the lyrics and I got something even more. I take back my statement about how it's not about dying in the sea. I guess I was trying to be all deep and take a symbolic meaning. Who knows! But here are my thoughts... "Tattered sails on a ramshakle ship, I'll go pale Staring straight in the face looming tempest waves Otherwise I'll wither and die here On this reach of rubble rambling With two years filled up with sand, dear In a broken daze I'll be scrambling" This is about how the person isn't going to go out without a fight. They'll stare death (by sea or otherwise) in the face with no fear. And just when they think they're about to die... "in a broken daze" they'll be scrambling because they overcame death. Or something. Just thoughts...
    br0mleyon January 11, 2009   Link

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