Rowing

Soundgarden

Don't know where I'm going I just keep on rowing
I just keep on polling, gotta row
Don't know where I'm going I just keep on rowing
I just keep on polling, gotta row

Moving is breathing and breathing is life
Stopping is dying
You'll be alright
Life is a hammer waiting to drop
Drifting the shallows and the rowing won't stop

Don't know where I'm going I just keep on rowing
I just keep on polling, gotta row
Don't know where I'm going I just keep on rowing
I just keep on polling, gotta row

Don't know where I'm going I just keep on rowing
I just keep on polling, gotta row
Don't know where I'm going I just keep on rowing
I just keep on polling, gotta row

Can't see the sky, nothing's on the horizon
Can't feel my hands and the water keeps risin'
Can't fall asleep 'cause I wake up dead
I just keep polling, I just keep rowing

Don't know where I'm going I just keep on rowing
I just keep on polling, gotta row
Don't know where I'm going I just keep on rowing
I just keep on polling, gotta row

Rowing is living and living is hard
But living beats losing all that we are
All that we know of, and all that we feel
All we remember, imagine the real
All we remember, imagine the real

Hey

I heard an echo but the answer had changed
From the word I remembered
That I started out sayin'
Living is cheating if you're not pulling oars
The current is leaving
I'll get mine
You get yours

Don't know where I'm going I just keep on rowing
I just keep on polling, gotta row
Don't know where I'm going I just keep on rowing
I just keep on polling, gotta row

Hey

Rowing is bleeding, bleeding is breathing
Breathing is feeling, running, and freezing
We're getting dirty but I started out clean

Keep on rowing and
Keep on rowing and
Keep on polling and
Keep on polling and
Keep on rowing and
Keep on rowing and
Keep on rowing and
Keep on rowing and
Keep on rowing
Keep on rowing

Don't know where I'm going I just keep on rowing
I just keep on polling, gotta row
Don't know where I'm going I just keep on rowing
I just keep on polling, gotta row

Don't know where I'm going I just keep on rowing
I just keep on polling, gotta row
Don't know where I'm going I just keep on rowing
I just keep on polling, gotta row


Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings, edited by Nikk12, Mellow_Harsher, trinity_tragedy

Rowing Lyrics as written by Chris Cornell Benedict Shepherd Hunter

Lyrics © HIPGNOSIS SONGS GROUP, Peermusic Publishing

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

Rowing song meanings
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7 Comments

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  • +2
    Song MeaningThis 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.
    treeking77on December 06, 2012   Link
  • 0
    Song ComparisonThe 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.
    Thunderbolton December 13, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General CommentThis 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.
    jodocast2on May 16, 2014   Link
  • 0
    General CommentConsidering 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.
    ultramegadethon September 03, 2017   Link
  • 0
    General CommentI\'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.
    lastanzabiancaon February 06, 2022   Link
  • -1
    General CommentIn the lyric booklet, it says "gotta row" but it was confirmed elsewhere that he says "that rope".
    SMUSER17506205on November 18, 2012   Link
  • -1
    General CommentThis 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
    Tig45on January 18, 2013   Link

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