I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
Now everybody sleeps
But I haven't done that in the last few week or so
And yeah, I know the remedy
But they ran out yesterday
I can't refill anything
Specially my heart, specially my brain
If I could bottle up this mess
I would do it all again
And I don't wanna know if there's another part of me
Don't wanna feel if I'm alive
Don't wanna smell the bed where you used to sleep
I'm gonna miss it again, miss it again
Just wanna walk away from the ashes
And take the fact that I got burned
And baby, let you know I'm still standing
If you miss it again, miss it again, I'm around
And you, you live down the street
And I watched you through the windows
Draped with sheets so white
And yeah, he looks a lot like me
Is it a comfort or coincidence?
Coincidence that's everything
Specially my eyes, specially my clothes
Does he move you inside out?
Baby, I don't wanna know
I don't wanna know if there's another part of me
Don't wanna feel if I'm alive
Don't wanna smell the bed where you used to sleep
I'm gonna miss it again, miss it again
Just wanna walk away from the ashes
And take the fact that I got burned
And baby, let you know I'm still standing
If you miss it again, miss it again
All the times we fought about, you never said a word about
We were just becoming ships inside of a bottle
Breaking down, sails falling off, trying to stay afloat
Inside a place we can't survive, are we breaking down?
I don't wanna know if there's another part of me
Don't wanna feel if I'm alive
Don't wanna smell the bed where you used to sleep
I'm gonna miss it again, miss it again
Just wanna walk away from the ashes
I can take the fact that I got burned
And baby, let you know I'm still standing
If you miss it again, miss it again, I'm around
But I haven't done that in the last few week or so
And yeah, I know the remedy
But they ran out yesterday
I can't refill anything
Specially my heart, specially my brain
If I could bottle up this mess
I would do it all again
And I don't wanna know if there's another part of me
Don't wanna feel if I'm alive
Don't wanna smell the bed where you used to sleep
I'm gonna miss it again, miss it again
Just wanna walk away from the ashes
And take the fact that I got burned
And baby, let you know I'm still standing
If you miss it again, miss it again, I'm around
And you, you live down the street
And I watched you through the windows
Draped with sheets so white
And yeah, he looks a lot like me
Is it a comfort or coincidence?
Coincidence that's everything
Specially my eyes, specially my clothes
Does he move you inside out?
Baby, I don't wanna know
I don't wanna know if there's another part of me
Don't wanna feel if I'm alive
Don't wanna smell the bed where you used to sleep
I'm gonna miss it again, miss it again
Just wanna walk away from the ashes
And take the fact that I got burned
And baby, let you know I'm still standing
If you miss it again, miss it again
All the times we fought about, you never said a word about
We were just becoming ships inside of a bottle
Breaking down, sails falling off, trying to stay afloat
Inside a place we can't survive, are we breaking down?
I don't wanna know if there's another part of me
Don't wanna feel if I'm alive
Don't wanna smell the bed where you used to sleep
I'm gonna miss it again, miss it again
Just wanna walk away from the ashes
I can take the fact that I got burned
And baby, let you know I'm still standing
If you miss it again, miss it again, I'm around
Lyrics submitted by xxdeadonarrival
Ships in a Bottle Lyrics as written by Hector Delgado Harry Rodrigues
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Hipgnosis Songs Group, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
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I don't think it's necessarily about sex. It's about wanting to start the day with some love and affection. Maybe a warm cuddle. I'm not alone in interpreting it that way! For example:
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its obviously about a relationship and it seems like maybe the girl knew for a long time that it wasn't gonna work but didn't say anything and then he wants to let her know he's ok and not gonna let his whole life be ruined because of a relationship. awesome, song!
One of my favorites off of Sycamore Meadows. Seems to be about the end of a relationship and that broken feeling that comes with it. You keep trying to put yourself back together and questioning why bother? And knowing that even if you could "bottle up this mess" you'd go back to them in an instant. You know, if they "miss it again, I'm around". Ready to have my heart broken again. If it could ever be whole enough to be broken, at least.
Agh... the not wanting to "smell the bed where you used to sleep"... reminds me of wanting to burn the sheets. Or the bed. Or the apartment.
The second verse- do you think it means that she's seeing someone who reminds him or himself or the way she's acting reminds him of himself?
The ships in a bottle imagery is pretty accurate for me as well. As if you could watch it from the outside and see things falling apart, but can't touch it or fix it. It's just going to happen, helpless to prevent it all falling apart.
Butch always does the heart wrenching break-up songs so well. Better than therapy, ha.
To me, this song is about being trapped in a relationship that isn't good for you but you feel you can't leave. You know that its over and the right thing to do is get on with your life ("walk away from the ashes"), but you keep coming back. You don't want to be back in their bed, but you end up there anyways and it just makes you miss them all over again. You never thought it would be so hard to end it and move on, but now you're trapped and everything is falling apart ("breakin' down, sails fallin off...") but for some reason you keep trying to make it work ("...trying to stay afloat inside a place we can't survive") I have a tattoo of this song, its a clipper ship in a bottle going up the side of my ribs. I got it when I thought I finally broke out of my bottle, so to speak. I didn't.