Drowning The Old Hag

David Marion's "old hag" syndrome. Kinda like sleep paralysis. Not sure whether or not it's metaphorical. Probably about God.

they have a lot of references to god in a lot of their music

its slightly refreshing, yet makes me uneasy at the same time given i dont believe in it.

but just how much it makes their music more intense and emotional makes it worth the addition

because it adds a slight bit of contraversy given you cant quite tell if they are for or against that kind of thing.

you know?

This is one of the best songs I've ever heard. I wish the rest of the album had this kind of pace, instead it feels more progressionist. Anyway, to start with it seems to be about sex, but seen as a lot of people say that Fear Before sing about god and such I guess it could easily be about that. So in conclusion I don't know what it's about :)

i don't see the god reference, because i'm not quite knowledgable or brushed up on religion and it's background.

since i don't feel like looking into this "old hag" syndrome, i'll give a blindside shot at it.

i think it's mainly about a relationship in which he is completely miserable in. the other half of the relationship is just sort of there, it mainly focuses on him and his own problems.

there is obviously a lack of communication and he isolate himself. to the point in which others worry and stress over him. once his sanity, or lack thereof, takes it's toll on him he kills himself.

maybe i'm taking the "so i put a hole there" too literally. "putting the hole there" could mean just something he did, like spontaneously isolating himself and shutting others out so noticably that he makes it everybody elses problems.

my 2 cents, keep in mind i don't know where the religious references come into play.

a)adam fisher wrote the lyrics. perhaps it's his "old-hag" syndrome. b)the religious references come in at "don't tell me there is nothing to fear" and "when what you see and what you believe are two different things". the first refering to those who tell you not to fear or worry because god will take care of it/you. the second pointing out that if you look at the state of the world, god doesn't exactly appear to be taking care of everyone.

we've established its talking about god. and alongtheway hit the nail on the head. hes knows god exists but he sees the world around him deteriorating, and doesn't know what to think. "her" is the world. he feels that hes crushing himself with his thoughts and wants to pour out these thoughts through the "hole"

thats my opinion

I think this song is about a subject I learned about in my last philosophy class: Plato and his knowledge of opinion. It is like his theory of seeing a shadow of a real object. It is not the real object, but is a shadow put there by the stronger, more powerful people in order to control them.

Also, in the beginning, he mentions not being able to get her off of his chest. later, he states "you won't sleep, you won't move at all." It seems as if he is addressing himself. He will never get her off of his chest. Maybe this is a statment about some sort of omnipitent being(such as god).

It's all about Old Hag Syndrome. I don't see anything else in there, he's just talking about his experience with sleep paralysis.

definitely old hag syndrome, not much else. "Don’t tell me Don’t tell me that there is nothing to fear"

"When what you see and what you believe are 2 different things 2 different things"

During sleep paralysis many people hallucinate often scary beings in there presence. I've experienced myself and its not too pleasant.

first of all, it is for sure about sleep paralysis, my boyfriend and i asked david about it when we saw them after a show. i asked him if drowning the old hag was about sleep paralysis and he said it was but that he (david) only got it a couple of times and adam is the one that gets it pretty often, he's the one that wrote the song.

since not too many people seem to know what sleep paralysis is i'll try to explain it i guess, during REM sleep your muscles are paralyzed (called REM atonia) so that you won't physically act out your dreams but when your sleep cycle is disrupted REM atonia may occur too quickly (that's when sleep paralysis happens when you're falling asleep) or (more commonly) it may not wear off when you wake up so that you're fully conscious but can't move at all. It's sometimes called The old Hag cause people will feel as if there is a crushing weight on their chest (or back depending on what position they're sleeping in) and it was often believed that this weight was due to a demon or ghost tormenting the sleeping person. Other attributes of SP include hallucinations and weird sensations such as floating, spinning, or being under or in water which could explain his references to a head full of water and drowning.