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Rowing Lyrics
Don't know where I'm going
I just keep on rowing
I just keep on pulling
gotta row
Moving is breathing
And breathing is life
Stopping is dying
You'll be alright
Life is a hammer
Waiting to drop
The boats in the shallows
But the rowing won't stop
Don't know where I'm going
I just keep on rowing
I just keep on pulling
gotta row
Can't see the sky
Nothing on the horizon
Can't feel my hands
And the water keeps rising
Can't fall asleep
Cause I'll wake up dead
I just keep on pulling
I just keep on rolling
Don't know where I'm going
Don't know where I'm going
I just keep on rowing
I just keep on pulling
gotta row
Rowing is living
And living is hard
But living beats losing
All that we are
And all that we know of
And all that we feel
And all we remember
Imagined or real
I heard an echo
But the answer had changed
from the word
I remember that I started out saying
Living is cheating
If you're not pulling oars
But the current is leaving
I'll get mine, you'll get yours
Don't know where I'm going
I just keep on rowing
I just keep on pulling
gotta row
Rowing is bleeding
And bleeding is breathing
Breathing is feeling
burning or freezing
Keep getting dirty
But I started out clean
Keep on pulling
I keep on pulling
I keep on rolling
I keep on rolling
I keep on rolling
Don't know where I'm going
I just keep on rowing
I just keep on pulling
gotta row
This song is obviously about living and not knowing what the point of it is,"Don't know where I'm going, I just keep on rowing". It's also about how living is essentially mechanical, like the rowing of oars, and the further we go along, the more we lose our innocence, "Rowing is bleeding and bleeding is breathing Breathing is feeling burning and freezing Keep getting dirty but I started out clean" The "Can't fall asleep cause I'll wake up dead" line is pretty lol though.
True, but the song appears to encourage the listener to keep on living, despite what happens.
True, but the song appears to encourage the listener to keep on living, despite what happens.
I whole heartedly agree! I was thinking about it the other day. I first thought it was a story about a lost man in the middle of the sea with no direction, but I thought about it more at work last night, and it IS a story, but there's more meaning to it that you can't scrape off the top. It's about life and death.
I whole heartedly agree! I was thinking about it the other day. I first thought it was a story about a lost man in the middle of the sea with no direction, but I thought about it more at work last night, and it IS a story, but there's more meaning to it that you can't scrape off the top. It's about life and death.
@treeking77 the last line u wrote is really confusing - maybe he was afraid of afterlife... reading the previous verses I think if he was trying to have the picture of the real life (spiritual + material), without success due being locked inside the boat (body) trying to live by rowing (living a material life). That long time roawing made him afraid of keepin on rowing (still alive) for eternity, if there is afterlife.
@treeking77 the last line u wrote is really confusing - maybe he was afraid of afterlife... reading the previous verses I think if he was trying to have the picture of the real life (spiritual + material), without success due being locked inside the boat (body) trying to live by rowing (living a material life). That long time roawing made him afraid of keepin on rowing (still alive) for eternity, if there is afterlife.
The deceptively monotonous, murky bass-driven nature of the track makes it seem like it would really fit well on the second half of Down on the Upside.
This song is about my JOB! No matter what you thought, what you believe, what you want, keep rowing, it's about not getting what you want but pushing through, not having it all but pushing for it, the dirty things and the hard task of pushing on to get where you want to be. Sitting idle gets you no where. So you just keep on rowing when direction is not clear. At least you are moving forward, maybe it's about a lot of our jobs or career decisions. Even musicians.
Considering the whole lyrical flow of the album and this song being last, it seems like a death ritual. You die and then you go rowing through darkness until you find a new body and become reborn.
I\'m pretty sure it\'s not "gotta row" but "that rope"\nAnd it\'s not "imagine the real" but "imagined or real" \n\nThese posted lyrics don\'t seem right at all.\n\nAnyway, if you listen to it closely, you\'ll realize that Ben is playing a military running march on his bass. Chris is just singing along. \n\nThis is a song about not knowing what you want apart from staying alive and making it to the end, because it\'s the only life you get and you don\'t want it to end.
In the lyric booklet, it says "gotta row" but it was confirmed elsewhere that he says "that rope".
After listening to it a few more times, it's definitely "gotta row".
After listening to it a few more times, it's definitely "gotta row".
This song makes me think of a horror movie-like scenario, like two guys rowing across a river at night and fearing being tailed by an unseen assassin or predator, just keep moving, egging themselves on. :P