Sweet and Low

This song is so awesome! Love the guy's voice. :)

Anyway, this song is basically about not giving up on love.

In the first verse, the guy is saying that what you see can be deceiving (your eyes can be your enemy); obviously, he's been hurt before by love. He says that love seems to be impossible to find nowadays (heaven's out of reach), but then again he isn't going to give up easily because love is worth the pain.

In the chorus, he's telling the girl that although he's lost faith in love, if she shows that she is true, then he will change for her (i will carry you home). He's asking her to be patient by "holding him down sweet and low" so that he can believe that there is such a thing as "love."

In the second verse, the girl is asking him to tell her when his love for her will not change (rain is gonna fall, sun is gonna shine). She apparently has been disappointed by love also, but he says that love is worth the sacrifice.

In the bridge, he says that he is willing to give her everything if she is true. But he's still scared to fall in love because he doesn't want to end up like his mom, who died of a broken heart (same mistakes that put my mama in her grave). But in the end, anything is better than being alone.

Obviously, it's better to put your heart through the pain and hopefully find love than to not love and end up all alone!

:D

You know, originally I really thought this song was really just a love song-- but I'm reading these comments about how it's about his daughter-- and I can totally see it! You know, there's that poem "A Prayer For My Daughter" by WB Yeats.. which is basically him talking about what he does and doesn't want his daughter to become (often comparing negative aspects to Maud Gonne).... This song sounds a lot like this poem. Augustana is basically saying "Ya know, it's going to be tough, and you're really going to want to give up-- but there's so much to live for that it's not worth giving up." I am really impressed with Augustana-- I thought for sure they would be a one hit wonder.

And here I thought "Boston" was the best they could do.

Silly me.

Ok, so here is what I thought and how I relate to this song. I think its about a guy and a younger girl. He loved her. He is telling her to hold him down... Like keep him on a short leash. when he says to "make it last, and make it count" he wants to wait until he knows she is ready to make love. He does not want to take her innocence away just yet. But , he is male. "remember that your eyes can be your enemy" is like you could be attracted to a person but, don't go too far. This is how the song came to me. I could be totally wrong. But it makes sense. This is a honest and beautiful song.

I believe that this song is dedicated to both his wife (or woman he is having a child with) and his soon to be born daughter. He is singing a majority of the verses and the chorus to his daughter because he is giving her advice that he has learned through experiencing the hardships life brings. He knows that "your eyes can be your enemy" because the eyes are the window to the soul. (i.e. one's true feelings.)

But when he says "I ain't givin' up quite yet, I've got too much to lose" He is directing that at himself, because he may have considered not being there for her as a father. However, he has realized that he needs her as much as she needs him.

In the chorus:

"Hold me down, sweet and low little girl Hold me down, sweet and low and I will carry you home, Hold me down, sweet and low little girl Hold me down, and i'll carry you home,"

When he says "hold me down" he is reinforcing the idea that she is his stabalizer. Then, the act of carrying her is both physically symbolic of a loving father carrying his new born home, and metaphorically symbolic of him repaying her gift of stability by bringing her to a safe place: his arms and heart.

The second verse is directed at both his expecting wife/girlfriend and future daughter. When he says: “The rain is gonna fall, the sun is gonna shine The wind is gonna blow, the waters gonna rise”

He is singing to his naive and innocent daughter. He is further establishing that life may be what you want it to be at one second, but at the next moment it may be a “storm,” or completely chaotic and terrible.

The second half of that verse: “She said, when that day comes look into my eyes But no ones giving up quite yet, we've got too much to lose”

Is directed towards his expecting wife/girlfriend. It sounds like she is asking him to tell her that he will stay with her through this soon-to-happen pregnancy, and be there for her and the baby. And he is answering: “No one in their right mind would give this up because it is far too much too lose.”

The bridge is also directed to both the daughter and wife/girlfriend:

“And i'll carry you all the way When you say you're fine But you're still young and out of line”

He is claiming that he will be there to be a helping hand and protector to his daughter, and a disciplinarian because he knows what she will need to learn to be successful in life.

Finally, when he says:

“When all I need's to turn around To make it last, to make it count, I ain't gonna make the same mistakes That put my mama in her grave I don't wanna be alone”

He is promising himself and his significant other that he will change for her and this child, because he wants the happiness and fulfillment he is experiencing "to last." He has seen what a broken home can do to a person, like his mother, and does not want to end up being lost and alone (or even dead) like she is.

Awesome song.

I think this song is more about a father and his daughter. And he has a problem, I'm assuming something bad like an addiction ("I said hell is so close, and heavens out of reach") and he doesn't want to die. He doesn't want to give up on life yet because he has so much to lose, his daughter. He's hoping that his daughter will be enough to keep him alive and keep him from his addiction. It seems like she wants to help him to, to be his savior ("She said, 'When that day comes, look into my eyes' But no ones giving up quite yet"). She says she's fine, she can handle it, but still, he needs to turn himself around for the sake of his family. The part about his mother, I think he's either referring to her doing nothing about possibly her addiction and dying, or doing nothing to help her husband who had an addiction and she died because abuse or something... That's just my interpretation. I think that the theory of it being about an older man and a younger lover is possible as well. Either way, great, great song. :)

I think it is a guy who likes his teas sweet - and prefers Sweet 'n Low - simple as that!

i LOVE this song!!!!!!!!!!!!! well, i think its about a guy who's life is so messed up. hes hurt and broken, and all he has is love. and it's hanging by a thread . and the last thing he wants is to break up. he thinks its worth the heartache to have half a second of life being ok. but that's just what i think. probably wrong. but thats what i think, with the bleeding ring.

Ooh I came up with a totally different interpretation than anyone here, albeit a very dark one...

What I thought about the song was that it was talking from the point of view of a father, to his daughter ("little girl"). I imagine this father as having a pretty rough past, and I think this song's a bit about physical abuse. Like, the father telling the daughter to please hold him down. He doesn't know how to control himself and feels guilty and thinks that he's going to hell but is trying so hard to redeem himself, because he loves his daughter so much. The reason for the violence is given later I think - where he says, I ain't gonna make the same mistakes that put my mama in her grave... I interpreted that as meaning that his dad was also abusive and his mum and him suffered too... and he doesn't want to do the same thing to his daughter. He would love to be the perfect father - one that carries his daughter home, and loves her, but he's struggling and begging her to help him, to hold him down.

Anyway, that's what I think.

From an interview with a Washington DC paper:

In it, Layus says, “I was imagining a letter my wife might write me, in the verses anyway, like ‘When you get out there on tour, this could happen, and so could this. So don’t forget this.’ And the chorus is me replying back to her ‘When the worst comes, hold me low to the ground and protect me in a way that only you can.’ Because I don’t want to make the same mistakes my parents did.”

It goes on to discuss he is the child of two divorces and calls three guys dad and that is what he is referring to by saying "mistakes my parents made"