Set Me On Fire

These lyrics are wrong. The lyrics are Reggae and will likely be in Jamaican Patois -- so your closest projection to common English is guaranteed to be full of errors. We would need someone who actually speaks this language to really understand the meaning, many of the phrases are likely idiomatic.

Not knowing any of Jamaican Patois, ( not even really understanding the words enough to translate them into text ) this is the best I can do:

Jamaican has English, Spanish, and west African influences. U

"Alta vada" is a spicy spanish dish served at funerals to make people cry more. The lyrics "rain (come/came) (fisted/thirsty) and bright, it must be alta vada, (tell 'em again / alta vada tras)" Could be idiomatic for "I started to cry a lot, ( as if / let us pretend that it is because ) I ate very spicy food"

I can't find the word "quasimana" outside of the use in this song but let us accept that "quasi" means "almost". Mana, a verb, depending on which Spanish dialect, could be "to order" or "to gush forth". Stepping back to the latin we have the related meanings "give out" "pour forth" "extend oneself" "leak out" "flow"

so, we maybe quasimana means something like "almost break down" or "almost break down in tears", "almost lose it".

so. "quasimana, rain (came/come) (thirsty/fisted) and bright, it must be alta vada" might be something like "someone almost looses it, cries a lot, ( so much as if eaten spicy food )."

I can't discern the meaning of "Rivanna" other than it's the name of a small river in Virginia -- I do not know if its referring to this river, another river of the same name, a river in general, but some body of water is likely. Possibly save to translate as "river"

so....

when I met some boy while I was across the river, (I/he?) almost broke down -- there were tears ( it must be spicy food, we say, jokingly knowing that it is not ).

Are these tears of joy? or sorrow on departure? I'm not sure. No other context unless there is more of these lyrics in another song or context from the album.

The reggae sample comes from "We Do the Killing" by Cocoa Tea and the words are

While I met some boy while cross the Rivanna, Quasi-mana, Rain come fisted and bright, it must be Alta Vada, Alta Vada tras

While I met some boy while across the Rivanna, Quasimana, Rain come fisted and bright, It must be Alta Vada, tell 'I'm 'gain 'gain 'gain 'gain

There's more words than than, I can't find the complete lyrics though

"so take me up / were going out, going out" this matches with the underwater theme of the album. You must up in order to exit the water, and throughout the album, that's what they're all trying to do, and at the end of encoder they finally exit the water and breath. These lyrics put in this song's two cents in about the theme.

I managed to find lyrics that sound mostly right.

So take me up We're going on, going on

So take me up We're going on, going on

So take me up We're going on, going on

So take me up We're going on, going on

(Yayayaya) (Yayayaya)

We're going on without you

Well I met some boy while crossing the border, 'cross the border, Rank and thirsty and blind, you must be out of order, out of order 'cos

Well I met some boy while crossing the border, 'cross the border, Rank and thirsty and blind, you must be out of order, tell 'im again 'gain 'gain 'gain...

(Yayayaya) (Yayayaya)

We're going on without you

Rank and thirsty and blind, you must be out of order, tell 'im again 'gain 'gain 'gain...

(Yayayaya) (Yayayaya)

We're going on without you

Well I met some boy while crossing the border, 'cross the border, Rank and thirsty and blind, you must be out of order, out of order 'cos

Well I met some boy while crossing the border, 'cross the border, Rank and thirsty and blind, you must be out of order, tell 'im again 'gain 'gain 'gain...