In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
They take apart their bodies like toys for the local boys
Because they're always there at the edge of the water
They come from the capital, these city girls
Go way down where the stones meet the sea
And all you young girls where do you hide
Down by the water, in the restless tide
And the local boys hide on the mound and watch
Reaching for the speech and the word to be heard
And the boys grow hard, hard to be heard
Hard to be heard as they reach for the speech
And search for the word on the water's edge
But you grow old and you grow cold
Yeah you grow old and you grow cold
They would come in their hordes, these city girls
With white strings flowing from their ears
As the local boys behind the mound
Think long and hard about the girls from the capital
Who dance at the water's edge, shaking their asses
And all you young lovers where do you hide
Down by the water, and the restless tide
With a bible of tricks they do with their legs
The girls reach for the speech and the speech to be heard
To be hard, the local boys teem down the mound
And seize the girls from the capitol
Who shriek at the edge of the water
Shriek to speak, and reach for the speech
Reach for the speech and be heard
But you grow old and you grow cold
Yeah you grow old and you grow cold
You grow old
Their legs wide to the world like bibles open
To be speared and taking their bodies apart like toys
They dismantle themselves by the water's edge
And reach for the speech and the wide wide world
Ah, God knows the local boys
It's the will of love
It's the thrill of love
Ah, but the chill of love is coming on
It's the will of love
It's the thrill of love
Ah, but the chill of love is coming on
It's the will of love
It's the thrill of love
Ah, but the chill of love is coming down, people
Because they're always there at the edge of the water
They come from the capital, these city girls
Go way down where the stones meet the sea
And all you young girls where do you hide
Down by the water, in the restless tide
And the local boys hide on the mound and watch
Reaching for the speech and the word to be heard
And the boys grow hard, hard to be heard
Hard to be heard as they reach for the speech
And search for the word on the water's edge
But you grow old and you grow cold
Yeah you grow old and you grow cold
They would come in their hordes, these city girls
With white strings flowing from their ears
As the local boys behind the mound
Think long and hard about the girls from the capital
Who dance at the water's edge, shaking their asses
And all you young lovers where do you hide
Down by the water, and the restless tide
With a bible of tricks they do with their legs
The girls reach for the speech and the speech to be heard
To be hard, the local boys teem down the mound
And seize the girls from the capitol
Who shriek at the edge of the water
Shriek to speak, and reach for the speech
Reach for the speech and be heard
But you grow old and you grow cold
Yeah you grow old and you grow cold
You grow old
Their legs wide to the world like bibles open
To be speared and taking their bodies apart like toys
They dismantle themselves by the water's edge
And reach for the speech and the wide wide world
Ah, God knows the local boys
It's the will of love
It's the thrill of love
Ah, but the chill of love is coming on
It's the will of love
It's the thrill of love
Ah, but the chill of love is coming on
It's the will of love
It's the thrill of love
Ah, but the chill of love is coming down, people
Lyrics submitted by smallwonderrobot
Water's Edge Lyrics as written by Thomas Wydler Nicholas Cave
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Mute Song Limited
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Because Nick lives in Brighton, I think it sounds like a typical summers day, when hoards of Londoners head down there to get out of the big smoke. "Where the stones meet the sea" - The beach in Brighton is stoney, rather than sandy. Pretty straight forward song really. Hot city girls visit the beach, local lads perve on them. Also, "White strings flowing from their ears" - iPod headphones maybe?
With this being a Cave song I imagine the song to be much more morose and grim. It might just be a simple scenario of a group of girls, naive and carefree, thinking they're alone, set upon by a group of horny teenagers, raped, perhaps even killed. The bodies coming apart like toys is mentioned twice, first to refer to clothing coming off, then later in a more sinister, perhaps a more way. The "reach for the speech to be heard" is quite evidently a cry for help. The eternal wild hunt, the hunt of men for women, driven mad by lust, tragically and brutally on display.
I also do think that this song is heavy influenced by what Nick observed in Brighton. But I think it's a bit more to that, especially since the narrative on "Push the sky away" is more open. For me, the most important lines are: "Reach for the speech to be heard" and "But you grow old and you grow cold" I read in a YouTube comment that some parent felt a bit sad while listening because he or she had a son who has problems with speaking (I believe deaf-mute was behind this). So I thought about this. While I don't think this is adressed in the text, the song is a bit more about youth in general. Young people seem so struggeling. We people in the western world also seem to struggle even when we have fancy iPod headphones in our ear. To find the right answer, the right path and the best idea of this world seems to essential in this song. But this is the world on the water's edge: It's wide open, and if you're an optimist and you have the ability to talk to the girls, who mean everything, who can mean the world, even in your little hometown, you do it good. And maybe, when one gets older, he remembers that he hasn't this hunger and this good, maybe a bit naive, but nontheless lovely feelings anymore. This is not everything, there is some wordplay who's very mysterious (like "Bible of tricks"), but I like this idea. But what's with the pessimist worldview? :\