This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Today, up on this hill
I'm counting all the killers
They sway as they swarm
A look of gluttons in their eyes
They mutter as the body loses warmth
They pick your bones like locks inside a tomb
And take great care to not take care of you
Here's an unexplainable one
Here's an unexplainable one
While I was learning to live
we all were living a lie
I guess you got what you wanted
So I will settle for a slaughterhouse soaked in blood and betrayal
It's always somebody else
somebody else was me
You want the real smile?
Or the one I used to practice not to feel like a failure?
I don't need you to do it for me
I don't need you to understand
I don't need you to hide it from me
I just want to feel like any other man
I won't show you the whole story
I won't show you the aftermath
I won't show you my allegory
Don't look away
Here's an unexplainable one
Here's an unexplainable one
Here's an unexplainable one
I'm not ahead of my time
I just drew the first breath
If I'm alive tomorrow
I will alleviate the pressure
by cutting you out of me
I found my bottom line
dead on the front lines
I know I'll never go home
So set fire to your ships and past regrets and be free
I don't need you to do it for me
I don't need you to understand
I don't need you to hide it from me
I just want to feel like any other man
I won't show you my whole story
I won't show you the aftermath
I won't show you my allegory
Don't look away
Here's an unexplainable one
What have you done?
What have you done?
Yeah
While I was learning to live
You taught me how to die
I guess I got what I wanted
Another needle in the back through purified scarification
It wasn't somebody else
You fucking did it to me
You want a real smile?
I haven't smiled in years
I'm counting all the killers
They sway as they swarm
A look of gluttons in their eyes
They mutter as the body loses warmth
They pick your bones like locks inside a tomb
And take great care to not take care of you
Here's an unexplainable one
Here's an unexplainable one
While I was learning to live
we all were living a lie
I guess you got what you wanted
So I will settle for a slaughterhouse soaked in blood and betrayal
It's always somebody else
somebody else was me
You want the real smile?
Or the one I used to practice not to feel like a failure?
I don't need you to do it for me
I don't need you to understand
I don't need you to hide it from me
I just want to feel like any other man
I won't show you the whole story
I won't show you the aftermath
I won't show you my allegory
Don't look away
Here's an unexplainable one
Here's an unexplainable one
Here's an unexplainable one
I'm not ahead of my time
I just drew the first breath
If I'm alive tomorrow
I will alleviate the pressure
by cutting you out of me
I found my bottom line
dead on the front lines
I know I'll never go home
So set fire to your ships and past regrets and be free
I don't need you to do it for me
I don't need you to understand
I don't need you to hide it from me
I just want to feel like any other man
I won't show you my whole story
I won't show you the aftermath
I won't show you my allegory
Don't look away
Here's an unexplainable one
What have you done?
What have you done?
Yeah
While I was learning to live
You taught me how to die
I guess I got what I wanted
Another needle in the back through purified scarification
It wasn't somebody else
You fucking did it to me
You want a real smile?
I haven't smiled in years
Lyrics submitted by EternalTearsOfSorrow
Solway Firth Lyrics as written by Jim Root Sid Wilson
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Great version of a great song,
No Surprises
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First of all concerning the title of this Slipknot song, the Solway Firth is actually a water body along the coasts of England and Scotland. Indeed a firth is a word from that part of the world used to refer to certain coastal waters. However, this is not what Slipknot seems to be referring to specifically. Rather it has been theorized that the title of the track rather alludes to a famous photograph called the Solway Firth Spaceman. This photo’s claim to fame was based on the its photographer presenting it as one where a ‘spaceman’ miraculously appeared out of nowhere in the background. Of course this claim was eventually proven to be false. But it is the fraudulent nature of that assertion which Slipknot seems to be focusing on. That is to say that the main theme of this track is the singer feeling compelled to present himself as someone he is not. In other words, it seems as if he is addressing someone who wants him to “show (his) whole story” and display “a real smile”. However, the singer is not in such a mood. Indeed it appears as if he is dealing with some sort of depression. And overall he does not seem inclined to share details of his personal life. In all, this song is highly-symbolic in its presentation. Slipknot also brings up the subject of “killers” and refer to some quite-gory imagery. However, considering the analysis above, this may actually be a reference to the media or people who invade the band’s privacy. But who and what they are referring to in particular may just take a while to fully come to light. It is also possible it may never!
@EternalTearsOfSorrow "But it is the fraudulent nature of that assertion which Slipknot seems to be focusing on. That is to say that the main theme of this track is the singer feeling compelled to present himself as someone he is not".<br /> <br /> Good analysis. This made me think of how people who got their pictures taken during the 1800's never smiled for their pictures. I feel like people back then were more real, whereas most people now days just put on a fake smile when they are getting their picture taken. I know that is probably not what was on Cory Taylor's mind when he wrote this song, but the lyrics about smiles in the song just made me think of that, because I basically feel like people are asking me to be fake when they want me to smile for a picture. I don't feel like my smiles are ever real unless I am laughing about something.
@EternalTearsOfSorrow The solway Firth Spaceman has never been proved as a fraud. Just saying like.