March Into the Sea

I have the cd and the lyrics are inside. Here are the real ones:

If food needed pleasing you'd suck all the seasoning off! Suck it off! Well treat me like the disease like the rats and the fleas, a-ha-ha! Bang your head like a gong 'cuz it's filled with all wrong! A-ha-ha. If you think you know enough to know you know you've had enough. And if you think you don't you probably will. Our tails wagged and then fell off, but we just turned back marched into the sea. Well treat me like the sea oh so salty and mean, ah-ha-hah-ha! Well treat me like the disease like the rats and the fleas, a-ha-ha! I'll be beating my heart's record for speeding. I'll be beating the record for hearts skipping in the dark. Our tails wagged and then fell off but we just turned back marched into the sea, well we just turned back marched into the sea. take all that you need like my sign says for free, till it's gone! Till it's gone! Well discard whom you please like the leaves off the tree, ah-ha-ha! Let's shake hands if you want but soon both hands are gone, ha-ha-ha! Well treat me like the sea oh so salty and mean. Oh treat me like the sea oh so salty and mean. Treat me like the disease like the rats and the fleas. Bang your head like a gong 'cuz you call it all wrong, move your tongue. Klang! Klank! Klank! Klank! Klank! Klank! Cut me down like a tree like the lumber or weeds, well discard who you please like the leaves off the tree. Drag me out of the sea and then teach me to breathe. Give me forced health till I wish death on myself! Ah! Ha! Ha! Well we all stumbled round tangled up in the cords from our phones, V.C.R. and our worldly woes. Ah! Ha! Ha! March on! March on! March on! March on! March on!

Hope this clears up a lot!

Simply put, this song is rather obviously about evolution. Or rather, de-evolution. "Our tails wagged and then fell off, but we just turned around and marched back to the sea" is referring to when the first organism crawled out of the primordial soup of an ocean. It evolved, eventually becoming thousands of different life forms, including humans. And right now, we have changed beyond natural selection, we are destroying the world and our own race. We are marching back into the sea.

"Treat me like disease / Like the rats & fleas" ; humanity is a plague on the Earth, doing nothing FOR nature but instead intervening in natural ways and ruining them. I don't think it's "forced health". That line actually reads "Give me forests so dead I wish death on myself" which I believe basically sums up Isaac's feelings when he was writing this.

"Well, we all stumbled 'round, tangled up in our cords From our phones, VCRs, and our worldly woes A ha ha! March on!" Tangled in the cords meaning figuratively that we have dug our own graves by creating technology, and it's too far gone to turn back, because we are doomed anyways, so he finishes by saying "March on", keep doing what you're doing because we've lost our chance anyways, and we might as well enjoy the ride on the path we've made leading to the complete annihilation of Earth.

Kind of the same message as from Dashboard; enjoy your ride, everyone. :)

This song is about the human condition. The Sea is death. We are pulled from the sea and given life and we are on a lifelong march back to the sea (death). One of my favorites on the new album.

whoa, this song is very hard. one thing i actually thought i could understand is that where you have "move your tune" i was thinking he said "move your tail." which seems to make a little more sense to me, considering that part is kind of a culmination of all the previous verses. but that's just me.

but oooh my gosh! could the way this song sounds make any less sense? haha, i mean the saxaphone part and "if food do you please"....

whoa.

personally, the gist of what i'm getting is that isaac is still very interested in overdevelopment and feels slightly guilty for the shape of our environment.

Cut me down like the trees Like the lumber or weeds Drink me out of the sea And then teach me to breathe Give me forests so dead I wish death on myself

that part kind of sums it up for me. he seems to be saying that we take so much from the world and are so responsible for its destruction.

pretty much the relationship was awesome but when it ended it was over

they marched back to the sea when he refers to the sea he's talking about like looking for a new girl.

but while he's looking for a new girl his old girl comes back and drags him out she wants him back

but then she treats him like shit again

and he talks about how its hard to know when the relationship is over

when its over its over if your not sure, its over

and this girl completely ignores him

so he turns back again and walks into the sea to find a new girl

Looking at the real lyrics, the first few lines are really puzzling.

Based on the fact that this song seems based around evolution, maybe the first few lines mean this:

These lines deal with what humans have done in the case of things that give them pleasure. The example used is for food, which obviously gives people pleasure. Food provides nutrition, which is the reason that it provides pleasure to people. We receive feelings of pleasure because from the perspective of evolution, which shaped our bodies and minds, it is important for us to stay alive, live out our lives, and breed.

People have developed methods of eating that alter this basic system. For us, we may eat food to experience the pleasure that it gives us, without considering the nutritional content. While it is absolutely true that food with a lot of calories taste the best, it is not good for our health to consume things that contain a whole lot of sugar and fat. When we eat something like this, such as a donut, we are eating it mostly because of the pleasure eating it provides, disregarding what it is doing to our body.

In the case of the purpose of seasoning food, it actually is simpler. Seasoning on meat for example provides virtually no additional calories, but it makes it taste much better, thus making it more pleasurable. If one were to only "suck all seasoning off" as the song says, you would be eating the part of the food that is providing the most pleasure, while ignoring the whole purpose of food, which is to provide nutrition.

So basically, what the first two lines mean is that people have changed such that they do things that originally were pleasurable because they increased their evolutionary fitness, but they do them in such a way that they only get the pleasure from something, and it no longer does anything for people from an evolutionary perspective.

To me it sounds more like a relationship song. And yes, i know about Isaac's distaste for those kind of songs but the verses really make it seem like it.

"if food needed pleasing, you'd suck off the seasoning" To me sounds like he was in love with a very promiscuous woman who was always mean to him "treat me like the sea, oh so salty and mean."

In my opinion this song is about all the attachments people have to worldly things, when really they are meaningless, and in fact causing more pain and complication than pleasure. The message is that we should release ourselves from the prison we are entrapped in and get back to nature, life, and a freer state of being. We can't see truth through all of this junk.

In the following verse, as referenced in various other songs, our bodies are food for the earth. If you need pleasing just get back to a state before attachment to the “spices of life” all the possessions and get back to your base free form. “If food needed pleasing You'd suck all the seasoning off Suck it off!”

In the same tone as above, we are all the same stuff and we are all part of a large system and at one with all. “Well, treat me like disease Like the rats and the fleas” . We are exactly the same as these things but we have labeled them as bad, but ultimately we are the same thing.

To clear you head of the crap that it has been filled with since birth you have to go through a transformation… Bang that crap out of your head and open your eyes to what could really equal peace… is it a TV or meditation and no strings. “Bang your head like a gong Because it's filled with all wrong”

Everybody will have this revelation, but most will get there on their death bed. A man who knows he has everything he wants is already rich and once you know this you are rich. “If you think you know enough To know you know you've had enough And if you think you don't, you probably will”

Our tails wagged means we were happy for a minute as we emerged, then it fell off as we got tied down and filled with crap and accumulated crap, then we went back to where we came from. The metaphor of evolution is for the cycle of life is the same as the cycle of our planet.
Our tails wagged and then fell off But we just turned back, marched into the sea

Once you die something takes the carbon from the body. You become one with the earth. I would say become one with the earth again, but you are one with the earth and everything on it right now. This is the message of the song, just as when he says treat me like the rats. I think he is saying he is the rats, or that we are all the same. “Well, treat me like the sea Oh, so salty and mean “

I don’t know what this means????? I'll be beating my heart's record for speeding I'll be beating the record for hearts skipping in the dark

Take all possessions away from me so I can be unattached and free. Get rid of the junk in your house that you think makes you happy, get rid of the crap in your brain that was put there by others, take it away until every last bit so I have at least a chance to find meaning in this life and find happiness, otherwise you don’t even have a chance. “Take all that you need Like my sign says for free Until it's gone!”

You don’t have to please anyone but yourself and those who you are trying to please you should assess and break these ties in these relationships. Shed these relationships like trees shed their leaves. I should add I think he uses trees because of the cyclical nature of trees throughout various seasons. Start with no leaves, gets leaves, and shed them ending with none.
“Well, discard whom you please Like the leaves of a tree “

Same as above… We really only shake hands in a few circumstances and this is just another reminder that you will die and be reabsorbed into one. You are not gaining anything by trying to impress. We'll shake hands all you want But soon both hands are gone

This is negative ego centric intervention with our nature and earth. Same as the other similes above, where he says like, I believe he is saying he is (we are) exactly like these things. These things shouldn’t disrespect or underestimated. The interference with nature should be stopped and forced interference with nature should be stopped. You can’t force nature and shouldn’t try to force it… you can’t drag from the sea and teach to breath, but naturally unforced it can happen over time. Forcing nature for a temporary selfish time until it becomes bad thing. Forced health, and then a wish for death. “Cut me down like a tree Like the lumber or weeds Drag me out of the sea And then teach me to breath Give me forced health until I wish death on myself Give me forced health until I wish death on myself”

Same thing about possessions and meaningless crap in our lives that we would be better of without… We are blinded by our possessions and can’t see how they are intrusive and a complication as opposed to a solution or improvement. “Well, we all stumbled around, tangled up in our cords From our phones, VCRs, and our wordly woes”

I see that this song is talking about love and he used to be in a relationship with somebody who would abuses him and just take without evr giving. then once she grew tired of him through him away and ignored him. now she treats him like shit and ignores him, but he is still in love with here and when he sees her he feels his heart skip and wishes he could march to his death instead of deal with the pain.

And I'm not sure if these lyrics are 100% correct. If anyone has any corrections, post them here and I'll change it accordingly.

Anyways, on the surface, this song seems to be about the way people treat the sea (badly). I haven't gone much farther than that, especially because these lyrics probably aren't right.