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In the Shallows Lyrics
Let the water rise
Let the ground crack
Let me fall inside
lying on my back
lying on my back
Dry your smoke-stung eyes
so you can see the light.
Staring at the sky
Watching stars collide
Watching stars
If you leave
When I go
Find me
in the shallows
If you leave
When I go
Find me
In the shallows
When the time comes
On the last day
When they start to count down
Will you just
Will you run away?
Will you run away?
And let it all rain down
from the bloodstained clouds
Oh come out, come out, to the sea my love
And just
Drown with me
Drown with me
If you leave
When I go
Find me
In the shallows
If you leave
When I go
Find me
In the shallows
In the shallows
Lying on my back
Lying on my back
Lying on my back
I'll be
Watching stars
Watching stars
Watching stars collide
Watching stars collide
Let the ground crack
Let me fall inside
lying on my back
lying on my back
so you can see the light.
Staring at the sky
Watching stars collide
Watching stars
When I go
Find me
in the shallows
If you leave
When I go
Find me
In the shallows
On the last day
When they start to count down
Will you just
Will you run away?
Will you run away?
from the bloodstained clouds
Oh come out, come out, to the sea my love
And just
Drown with me
Drown with me
When I go
Find me
In the shallows
If you leave
When I go
Find me
In the shallows
In the shallows
Lying on my back
Lying on my back
I'll be
Watching stars
Watching stars
Watching stars collide
Watching stars collide
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She's telling her lover that if he leaves, she will die. The death imagery is pretty clear here: "blood-stained clouds," "drown with me." The shallows of a body of water are where you find the corpses that have drifted near the shore. Her lifeless corpse is face-up towards the sky--"lying on my back." To drive the point home, she invokes the cosmic imagery of "watching stars collide." Sorry to burst anybody's bubble, but this is not a song about hope and "thriving together." She's not singing about a midnight backstroke while waiting for her lover to join her. It's a cry of pain, a heartbreaking meditation on the intertwined forces of Eros and Thanatos, love and death, on a loss so painful that life no longer seems worth living.
I think this is spot on!
I think this is spot on!
@radioplay, agree entirely with your interpretation, although I think that "watching stars collide" is an illustration of the 'thousand yard stare' or blank look of the eyes of a corpse that died with his/her eyes open. Hence the full image is her corpse floating in the shallows face-up with her eyes open, supposedly stargazing post-mortem.
I think you're absolutely right, gembelindo.
I think you're absolutely right, gembelindo.
to me this songs sounds so bittersweet. its the point in the relationship whether you can go through the crap or you can let it ruin you guys. i think she wants him to stay a bit longer but she has determined that she will leave. she just wants a few more minutes with him. i think.
right on, i feel it too, as if a relationship is at its end, and one of the two is pleading that if you leave me, you'll find me in the shallows, the darkness that falls after a relationship ends. the rest of the lyrics just expresses all these bad things that would happen if he/she leaves.
right on, i feel it too, as if a relationship is at its end, and one of the two is pleading that if you leave me, you'll find me in the shallows, the darkness that falls after a relationship ends. the rest of the lyrics just expresses all these bad things that would happen if he/she leaves.
I personally feel like this song is a plea.
It's a plea from Elena Tonra (Daughter's amazing singer) to her man whoever it may be to not leave when things look dark. She wants her lover to find that calm through the rain that drowns them. She wants them to drown together. Not in a literal sense of course but she wants them to face whatever tragedy or whatever battle they are placed in and thrive together.
Else she is left alone to sleep IN THE SHALLOW waters that could've been the couple's queen sized bed.
I love Daughter and their lyrics :) Very Death Cab for Cutie-esque!
I Love to read others interpretations of songs, especially my favorite(s). And it's interesting to see each one bring it back to Love and relationships and longing pertaining to "Shallows"....as that is what so much of music and Life is about.......but I think that part is secondary and the...just, apocalyptic visuals are truly what the song is about, and the part about the one she loves is in response to the extinction level event taking place, not the ending of or wishing for a personal relationship. And honestly, if you scroll their YouTube live clips Elena will tell you herself before they play it,quite simply...."this song is about the end of the world."
OhDaughter
@CiCito I think you got it. The main inspiration of this song appears to be simply 'fantasizing' about the end of the world and depicting the speaker's disposition towards the event. There may be other meanings but, in my opinion, those are secondary.
@CiCito I think you got it. The main inspiration of this song appears to be simply 'fantasizing' about the end of the world and depicting the speaker's disposition towards the event. There may be other meanings but, in my opinion, those are secondary.
It's like making peace with the apocalypse.