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The Sea Is a Good Place to Think of the Future Lyrics
I grabbed hold of her wrist and my hand closed from tip to tip
I said “you’ve taken the diet too far, you have got to let it slip”
But she’s not eating again, she’s not eating again, she’s not eating again, she’s not eating again.
I ask her to speak French and then I need her to translate, I get the feeling she makes the meaning more significant.
She was always far too pretty for me to believe in a single word she said, believe a word she said.
At fourteen her mother died in a routine operation, from allergic reaction to a general anesthetic. She spent the rest of her teens experimenting with prescriptions, in a futile attempt to know more than the doctors.
She said one day to leave her, sand up to her shoulders waiting for the tide
to drag her to the ocean, to another sea’s shore.
This thing hurts like hell,
but what did you expect?
And all you can hear is the sound of your own heart
And all you can feel is your lungs flood and the blood course
But oh I can see five hundred years dead set ahead of me
Five hundred behind,
A thousand years in perfect symmetry
Best known left wrist right finger, through all the Southern States, on every video games machine they call her triple A.
There were racists on the radio trying to give up smoking, the chat show host, he joked “you have to wait for the government program”.
You talk about your politics, and I wonder if you could be one of them, but you could never kiss a Tory boy without wanting to cut off your tongue again.
A good place to look to the future is when you are sat at the sea, with the salt up to your ankles and a view of the end of the pier, you may look down at your model’s feet and wish that you’d just float away, and the weather here is overcast and the sea is the same shade of grey, so the landscape before you looks just like the edge of the world, but to the left side and the right side, either way is a crazy golf course.
The sea is a good place to think of the future.
And all you can hear is the sound of your own heart
And all you can feel is your lungs flood and the blood course
But oh I can see five hundred years dead set ahead of me
Five hundred behind,
A thousand years in perfect symmetry
A thousand years no getting rid of me
A thousand years in perfect symmetry.
i think this song is about one of those girls, and we all know what kind of girls, they scare the shit out of you, because they worry you to death, but they're still the most beautiful creature in the world, and you can't escape loving them.
beautiful, beautiful song
well, to me- this song represents depression, repression which leads to anger and escapism...
Depression because the world doesn't want to see a beautiful girl in a dilapidated state, they won't allow her to mourn. There is a constant pressure to appear perfect and pretty when inside she feels irreparably torn and damaged. And she's screaming ***WHAT DID YOU EXPECT? She takes pills to numb the pain but they only intensify the it. She diets too much to control something, anything.
Escapism because the sea represents timelessness- She thinks of a place where her mind could be calm (suicide) and thinks about her ashes spread about the sea when one dies. The Sea Is a Good Place to Think of the Future -her future being the life at the bottom of the sea, ie- her ashes. And all you can hear is the sound of your own heart - this is about the sounds you hear under water when you hold your breath. ***And all you can feel is your lungs flood and the blood course - ...obviously drowning.
***A thousand years in perfect symmetry - in the sea she would remain perfect forever.
***and the weather here is overcast and the sea is the same shade of grey, so the landscape before you looks just like the edge of the world, but to the left side and the right side, either way is a crazy golf course. -she feels doomed because the depression has muddled her thoughts and distorted her thinking...the only solution she sees is the serenity of the sea.
I think it's about teetering on the edge of something very scary, contemplating suicide...general helplessness.
Though I could be wrong, it's just what it means to me.
perfectly said, exactly my thoughts :)
perfectly said, exactly my thoughts :)
I think this song is about Aleks. It is obvious that she has an eating disorder.
I think this song is about Aleks. It is obvious that she has an eating disorder.
My interpretation of the song fits with that but you explained it far better than I ever could. It definitely seems to be about depression and the start of it makes the relation to an eating disorder pretty clear too. Does Aleks really have an eating disorder? I'd never heard that before
My interpretation of the song fits with that but you explained it far better than I ever could. It definitely seems to be about depression and the start of it makes the relation to an eating disorder pretty clear too. Does Aleks really have an eating disorder? I'd never heard that before
I completely agree... I think this is a brilliant song... The girl is obviously crying for help but people see her as perfect so wont help her... And Gareth has written it from how he saw her and how he thought she felt maybe?
I completely agree... I think this is a brilliant song... The girl is obviously crying for help but people see her as perfect so wont help her... And Gareth has written it from how he saw her and how he thought she felt maybe?
There's no reason whatsoever to believe this is about Aleks. Nor do I think that it would make sense for him to write something that personal about her & ask her to sing on it. bahchicitabah is just talking shit.
There's no reason whatsoever to believe this is about Aleks. Nor do I think that it would make sense for him to write something that personal about her & ask her to sing on it. bahchicitabah is just talking shit.
exactly wahat u said except imma add somethin here in the end where he says,"A thousand years not getting rid of me," i think it means that those thousand years are still not getting rid of the pain
exactly wahat u said except imma add somethin here in the end where he says,"A thousand years not getting rid of me," i think it means that those thousand years are still not getting rid of the pain
Does anyone else think the new album (particularly this song) shows a real step forward in terms of lyrical maturity?
I mean, Gareth has always been one of the best lyricists about but this song is just in a league of it's own, even by LC! standards.
I've heard Tom writes most of the lyrics so dont give Gareth all the credit!
I've heard Tom writes most of the lyrics so dont give Gareth all the credit!
Nevermind...Haha...Its more of a collaborative affair.
Nevermind...Haha...Its more of a collaborative affair.
I was honestly at a loss for words when I first heard this song a few minutes ago. I currently have it on repeat- I'm kind of just thinking up of what it could mean. Of course, everybody has their own interpretation, but this is mine. This is mainly just the first part, I'm having trouble with the last few parts of the song.
To me, this is about those girls who look absolutely gorgeous- blond hair, blue eyes, skinny, just... generally pretty. Those girls who look like they have it all- who look like they've had a good life and nothing in their life has gone wrong. But then her mother died. And barely anybody knew. She starved herself, and by 'practising with prescriptions', I feel it means that she's been trying to see what kind of medication will kill her. If she has a reaction, and dies. However, it doesn't work. Nothing kills her or puts her in the state that her mother was- and she's not 'brave enough' to do it any other way. The line about speaking French reminds me of when you try to ask somebody what's wrong- but they don't want to tell you because they don't want you to worry. So they say things like 'you know when you feel like there's nothing left for you, you don't belong?' and whether you answer yes or no, they'll probably say 'neither have I', 'I haven't'. IE, delivering a message in a secret way so you don't find out. The only place she feels safe within herself is by the sea- somewhere where it's calm, and quite, and not many disturbances. Somewhere she can think, and be herself. Possibly a place where she grew up around.
Tl;dr, I think it's one of those songs that are representing the teenagers of now.The hidden ones. The ones that hide their depression. They get depressed, something escalates the depression, they try to sort it out, and they get nowhere. They hide it from everybody, and they find their own little place in the world.
Remember that this is just what I think, and it is in no way the true meaning of the song as far as I know. c:
I love Gareth's lyricism to death but that "crazy golf course" line makes me cringe a little every time. Such a tiny niggle with an otherwise incredible song.
I think the "crazy golf course" line actually fits quite well. It illustrates to me how perfect and simple everything seems to be when you're staring out to sea, but as soon as you turn back to land there's something normal and mundane to bring you back to reality which is nowhere near as nice as the sea
I think the "crazy golf course" line actually fits quite well. It illustrates to me how perfect and simple everything seems to be when you're staring out to sea, but as soon as you turn back to land there's something normal and mundane to bring you back to reality which is nowhere near as nice as the sea
I completely agree. I dont feel like that line fits the song. It pops up at the most awkward time.
I completely agree. I dont feel like that line fits the song. It pops up at the most awkward time.
It may be a little awkward because the words "golf course" aren't exactly a demonstration of English at it's most beautiful. Although, I definitely believe it works with the lyrics well. "500 hundred years dead set ahead of me, 500 behind". That's the golf course, full of obstacles and dog legs. One way you look is your past all the treacherous terrain already overcame and the other way is the future stretching out, and for the girl main character, looking just as difficult and domineering as the past has been. Thus, her suicidal thoughts and cynical outlook.
It may be a little awkward because the words "golf course" aren't exactly a demonstration of English at it's most beautiful. Although, I definitely believe it works with the lyrics well. "500 hundred years dead set ahead of me, 500 behind". That's the golf course, full of obstacles and dog legs. One way you look is your past all the treacherous terrain already overcame and the other way is the future stretching out, and for the girl main character, looking just as difficult and domineering as the past has been. Thus, her suicidal thoughts and cynical outlook.
Pretty obvious but I just got the "triple A" line and chuckled to myself. On the high scoreboard if you don't want to type out a name you'd just tap action thrice, giving AAA.
I think this song is the thoughts of a being who lives for a millennium in the midst of a mid-life crisis on his 500th birthday.
Officially my new favorite LC! song. I love the stories they tell through their songs... the lyrics always just fit perfectly. Most underrated, talented band of the late 00's.
This is about Aleks.
Well, i think this song speaks about loneliness. Specifically how us as human beings are basically just trapped in our own lives, whether good, bad or average, and no matter how much they want, outsiders can't help if we can't help ourselves. Because we are alone.
Its a beautiful song.
And yes, i do believe this latest album shows remarkable growth in lyrics. The lyrics in general are amazing. "I just sighed..." has some of my favorite verses of any song. So does this one.