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Next of Kin Lyrics

We walked along the rocks for nearly an hour
I caught the way you looked at me in the sunlight
You took something before you went in the shower
To help suppress the things that make you feel uptight

And if I had known you couldn't swim
We'd never have gone in

I left my love in the river
The only one who sees
I lost his hand in the current
It was the life I wanted and I'd hoped for
And now I am left sifting through the leaves

The sun's so hard I saw his skin through his t-shirt
The grass so tall we knew he wouldn't be found
We climbed into the stream so no one would be hurt
And in no time at all there wasn't a sound

If I had known you couldn't swim
We'd never have gone in

I left my love in the river
The only one who sees
I lost his hand in the current
It was the life I wanted and I'd hoped for
And now I am left sifting through the leaves

No colour to his skin
Inform the next of kin
No colour to his skin

I left my love in the river
The only one I see
I left his hand in the current
And now I am left looking through the trees
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4 Meanings

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Cover art for Next of Kin lyrics by Alvvays

Interesting fact - Molly's father, John Morris Rankin, actually did die by drowning. The circumstances were nothing like the song, though; he was driving on a winding highway in Cape Breton, and he hit a pile of road salt that had been spilled on the road. He lost control of the truck and plunged off a 25 metre cliff into the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Cover art for Next of Kin lyrics by Alvvays

These makes me think about two people not being sexually/emptionally compatible.

Or about not wanting to date someone with substance abuse issues...

Cover art for Next of Kin lyrics by Alvvays

sounds like dating someone with a drug dependency and having to let them go

Cover art for Next of Kin lyrics by Alvvays

Straightforward, if you listen to the lyrics: she went into the water with her boyfriend, and he died. He didn't know how to swim, and was also drug-impaired. Pretty song though.

@jcovarru Yeah and Bob Dylan was just writing about some guy with a Tambourine...