At the Bottom of the Sea

Is this a Love song? Maybe the writer is in love with somebody, but this (her) loved one didn’t even notice the whiter (“And I'm barely there for you”).

This song is about love. He is in love with someone who: (A) Doesn't love him back, or (B) Doesn't know he exists. It's like there is no difference between being where he is and being at the bottom of the sea.

"I'm barely there for you" refers to the lack of interest by "her". He's not important/noticed.

Continuing with the idea that he's at the bottom of the sea, "the air and light", which are things someone would obviously need if they were at the bottom of the sea are not necessary in his mind. All that matters is her.

Now imagine you are at your all time low and you meet miss right she is perfect for you. Is there for you and can get just as sick and twisted as you. You may not be able to return the favor but know you need her more than ever. Your love is thin and thick it surrounds, he’s saying that air like love isn‘t tangible, it’s in our hands but out of them the next. We fall in love with the thought of falling in love. It’s all in our heads but it’s exactly what we need even if we’re at the bottom of the sea. But at the same time love doesn’t fit nice and neatly into our perfect lives or where we are at, we are selfish at the bottom of our very own sea of sorrow and guilt, and guilt and sorrows enemy is love. Love won’t make it under all the pressures of life.

Again love for him or a touch of love isn’t there like it should be. It comes few and far between. Probably from a hooker or something because even a touch doesn’t register because he knows it’s not real. And he retreats back to his sorrows. He does not feel as if he is worthy of being in the presence of true love. He cannot compare to what she had before him or she will not compare to what he had before. He is like sand ever changing. But he is water to air, apples to oranges you cannot compare. Love is not what he wants it is what he needs.

Even in his environment of the sea of sorrows and sadness he finds love to late, she’s taken by the time he realizes what he would have had. But even to hear her speak or see her face is enough, but he knows they aren’t going to be together. In his mind they have something but in real life back on the land she gone and he never had a chance. So take that first breathe and choke on water. Go to the bottom of the sea because nothing is going to get you back to right, but you need her in the end. You can share your sorrows.

At first, I completely agreed with everyone here who said that this song was about love, but giving this song a few more goes over, I feel it's deeper than that. Hutch had mentioned in interviews that this entire album was about death, meaning this song should be no different. I think that this song is about how he feels he will leave behind loved ones after death. I think he's comparing being dead to being at the bottom of the sea. The love is there, but he will never be able to come up from the bottom of the sea(death) and show how much he loves that person back. "I'm barely there for you" because he only exists as a fainting memory now.