Swans – God Damn the Sun

"God Damn the Sun" as written by and Michael Rolfe Gira....
When, when we were young
We had no history
So nothing to lose
Meant we could choose
Choose what we wanted then
Without any fear
Or thought of revenge
But then you grew old
And I lost my ambition
So I gained an addiction
To drink and depression
(they are mine
My only true friends
And I'll keep them with me
Until the very end)
I'd choose not to remember
But I miss your arrogance
And I need your intelligence
And your hate for authority
But now you're gone
I read it today
They found you in spain
Face down in the street
With a bottle in your hand
And a wild smile on your face
And a knife in your back
You died in a foreign land
And they found my letter
Rolled up in your pocket
Where I said I'd kill myself
If she left me again
So now she's gone
And you're both in my mind
I've got one thing to say
Before I am drunk again:
God damn the sun
God damn the sun
God damn anyone
That says a kind word
God damn the sun
God damn the sun
God damn the light it shines
And this world it shows
God damn the sun


Lyrics submitted by jt, edited by Mellow_Harsher

"God Damn the Sun" as written by Michael Rolfe Gira

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

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God Damn the Sun song meanings
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13 Comments

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  • +8
    General CommentI think it's pretty intelligent to say an addiction to depression, rather than just depression, admitting his willfulness in the process rather than just painting himself as a purely passive victim
    nghon September 06, 2008   Link
  • +5
    General Comment"God damn the sun
    God damn the light it shines
    And this world it shows "

    fuck.
    hasboon February 28, 2010   Link
  • +5
    General CommentIf hearing this song for the first time was a religious experience, then every time after is like praying.
    MagdaEsson March 05, 2011   Link
  • +2
    General CommentMy best friend killed himself this past May. The summer had just begun and the events this unspeakable tragedy set in motion were something no one should ever be asked to live through. But live through it we did and when I began to write an account of what it was like in those summer months that followed I was drawn to the Swans 'God Damn the Sun' as a working title for my manuscript. I had never listened to this song and I just now did for the first time. I have chills down my spine. It is, in a word, BEAUTIFUL.

    christopherhayden.blogspot.com
    moduson December 25, 2005   Link
  • +2
    General CommentSad as hell, and a true beauty. Stands as a Swans classic, next to "Failure", "Greed", "Children of God", "Killing for Company", and "Her".
    Cynothoglyson January 14, 2006   Link
  • +2
    General CommentPretty straightforward. Best friends drifting apart over time, developing their own problems. One of them is suddenly killed and the other is left to become cynical and depressed. With the loss of both their true love and best friend their life becomes desolate and meaningless, and they grow to hate everything.

    The line "God damn anyone that says a kind word" really resonates. For some people, the pain of losing someone is so strong they outright refuse to be comforted. The grief becomes an addiction and they become bitter toward anyone who tries to help.

    An amazing song. So haunting, and perfect for wallowing in misery.
    KaiteTheTaterFairyon June 10, 2014   Link
  • +1
    General Comment"And they found my letter
    Rolled up in your pocket
    Where I said I'd kill myself
    If she left me again"

    Thats poetry.
    Proddieon April 12, 2004   Link
  • +1
    General CommentNote the contrast between the stark honesty of this song and the more hallucinated, imagery-filled poetry in the rest of the album. Chilling.

    Can anybody tell me if there's some kind of hidden symbolism in the album cover? What flower is that?
    Marquezon May 23, 2008   Link
  • +1
    General CommentTo Marquez: It’s a calla lily, a photograph by Robert Mapplethorpe, who died that year (1989) around the time The Burning World was released. Actually, the symbolism could be erotic or pornographic, it’s not that innocent as it seems. Nothing unusual in Mapplethorpe’s work, and as far as I know, the calla was a symbol of the female genitalia in Art Nouveau, or later.
    slow pulse boyon July 30, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Commentdont forget blind
    sveson October 05, 2007   Link

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