In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
Long days
Slow waste
Sew lies
Sow hate
So many years to clean the slate
Endless despair within its wake
His touch soiling what used to be clean
His gaze burning on the edge of our dreams
No more
Cold pace
Slow days (?)
And again he rides in
It's September and he covets the gullible
Skeletal wish, hunter
A thousand lies
Cast from the throne of secrecy
Hear him spewing forth a meaning to miserables lies
See the twisted hand of doubt seal the affair
The insect trust, believer
Your body a vehicle to
Pearls before swine they are nothing but blind
Submit to nothing and swallow my spit of scorn
Invisible king, dying
Procession of woe, struck down by sorrow
A burden so great
Weighs heavy on old and withered beliefs
The swift solution crumbles
Beneath the mock notes of a masterpiece
Death in his eyes, waiting
Spiraling judgement, provoked in the rains
This futile test drowned in the levee of deception
In the year of his sovereign
Rid us of your judgement
Heir apparent
Slow waste
Sew lies
Sow hate
So many years to clean the slate
Endless despair within its wake
His touch soiling what used to be clean
His gaze burning on the edge of our dreams
No more
Cold pace
Slow days (?)
And again he rides in
It's September and he covets the gullible
Skeletal wish, hunter
A thousand lies
Cast from the throne of secrecy
Hear him spewing forth a meaning to miserables lies
See the twisted hand of doubt seal the affair
The insect trust, believer
Your body a vehicle to
Pearls before swine they are nothing but blind
Submit to nothing and swallow my spit of scorn
Invisible king, dying
Procession of woe, struck down by sorrow
A burden so great
Weighs heavy on old and withered beliefs
The swift solution crumbles
Beneath the mock notes of a masterpiece
Death in his eyes, waiting
Spiraling judgement, provoked in the rains
This futile test drowned in the levee of deception
In the year of his sovereign
Rid us of your judgement
Heir apparent
Lyrics submitted by bigkajamma
Heir Apparent Lyrics as written by Mikael Lars Akerfeldt
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I am an English teacher and once i used this in the lecture and tranlated word by word and students were almost cried they mentioned that "this song is very touchy" eventhough they didnt know that was opeth they thought that was an ordinary song.
Long days Slow waste Sew lies Sow hate
(here he is in the prison and time doesnt pass and he is being wasted slowly)
So many years to clean the slate Endless despair within its wake His touch soiling what used to be clean His gaze burning on the edge of our dreams
(clean the slate refers the story (one father and one son..and son always breaks his friends hearth and day father wants to give lesson to his son and gives hundreds of nails and says" when you break someones hearth nail to slate" and when son has nailed 100 times to slate as a result of 100 heartbreaking he comes to see father again. Father asks to take the nails out and he starts immediately. But there are 100 holes on the slate. So followingly he tries to clean to slate but he discovers holes are still there. Saying that" so many years to clean to slate" refers that i think.)
His touch soiling what used to be clean (again same story breaking hearts killing people, the reason of going to prison.... so he is fulled with dirt and when he touched something he soils.
His gaze burning on the edge of our dreams
(he is prison so behind the fence he is looking)
No more Cold pace Slow days (?)
(here he decides to kill him self no more steps he puts forward no more cold steps)
And again he rides in It's September and he covets the gullible Skeletal wish, hunter A thousand lies Cast from the throne of secrecy
(he captured in september(autumn) and in the prison he covets he gullible people in the daily life with dying wish but in the end he realizes eveything is lie. And there are no people to talk to he keeps all secrets to himself.
Hear him spewing forth a meaning to miserables lies See the twisted hand of doubt seal the affair The insect trust, believer Your body a vehicle to
(behind the fences he is loosing his mind and speaks by himself, because of dirt, everywhere fullfilledd with insect)
Pearls before swine they are nothing but blind Submit to nothing and swallow my spit of scorn Invisible king, dying Procession of woe, struck down by sorrow
(again here some paraphrasings from bible and thoughts in the prison)
A burden so great Weighs heavy on old and withered beliefs The swift solution crumbles Beneath the mock notes of a masterpiece Death in his eyes, waiting Spiraling judgement, provoked in the rains
(here burden is something that he made wrong before and the reason he is in prison now, He knows he is going to be killed, executed...death judgement already been given. And he is waiting inside the cell while raining)
This futile test drowned in the levee of deception
( here he thinks he is in prison unjustly but he knows there is no escape..he know he is fooling himself)
In the year of his sovereign Rid us of your judgement Heir apparent
in the last stanza writer mentions that the times when he was free he did everything he wished as if he was a HEIR APPARENT.
@Warmaster an interesting interpretation
I had the same thoughts about the abusive father. Man, "Watershed"-lyrics are so damn cryptic, I've had never before so many problems to interpret Opeth songs...
Brutal. Absolutely brutal.
@6th_sadistic_sniper I feel like they experimented with metalcore a little bit with this one. Whatever they did, it totally fucking worked.
amazing song. same calibre as morbid angel's god of emptiness. much more epic, wanton and hateful though.
@heart of darkness i thought you were right but first time i see this song and just listened not even close and too easy
These lyrics sound spot on.
But are these the official lyrics?
Because when I bought the special edition with the bonus DVD there were no lyrics present in the album booklett, unless they strangely appear in the booklett of the regular edition.
At any case, thanks for this contribution.
The lyrics are there, but there's a code that has to be deciphered, first. The guys from Opeth's official forum did that (ultimatemetal.com/forum/opeth-23/)
(In other words: Yes, these are the official lyrics)
The Heir is still angry about the departure from the woman many years ago, and is still feeding his rage by slaying people in war, for power, and is likely to become king, and does. He kills everyone because he sees humanity for their flaws, and is dissappointed by humanity.
lol...no
Mike said the lyrics for Watershed were personal ;)
so, that doesn't mean the cd is his personal story. it's just that the lyrics reflected some of the woes he's had in his life.
In an interview with roadrunner, he said that Watershed is a concept album -- but not a fictional one, like MAYH, SL or GR.
gg.