This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
Now you be the mother,
And I'll be your fool,
I'll hide myself deep inside,
Your crimson pool.
The muddy water runs,
Beneath your folds,
You won't let me breathe,
You won't let me go.
Now you be the stranger,
And I'll be the white-skinned son,
You'll blacken my innocence,
With sugar and opium...
The children were suffocating,
Down in your damp cave,
And you were the mother,
And I was the sleeping slave.
Protect me from violence,
Hold me in your cool lips,
You drug me with kindness,
So I can pretend I exist.
Now you be the oly child,
I'll suck on your breast,
You'll feed me with gasoline,
I'll burn my name in your head.
And I'll be your fool,
I'll hide myself deep inside,
Your crimson pool.
The muddy water runs,
Beneath your folds,
You won't let me breathe,
You won't let me go.
Now you be the stranger,
And I'll be the white-skinned son,
You'll blacken my innocence,
With sugar and opium...
The children were suffocating,
Down in your damp cave,
And you were the mother,
And I was the sleeping slave.
Protect me from violence,
Hold me in your cool lips,
You drug me with kindness,
So I can pretend I exist.
Now you be the oly child,
I'll suck on your breast,
You'll feed me with gasoline,
I'll burn my name in your head.
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I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
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This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
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This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
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Love with a servile element. Wishing to be subverted, to be the fool, the small and helpless child that must be cared for, nurtured, adored. Masochistic, but tenderly so. A less brutal view of the situation in the much older "Stupid Child", minus any hint of child abuse.
A sick relation of dependence. Like a child that is afraid to face the world, feels safe with mother, though she seems to suffocate it and drug it.
I don't really think it is about relationship between mother and a child. Otherwise it wouldn't start with "now you be the mother". I think it's about something toxic, a role-play where the 'child' drains life from his 'mother', forces her to act, think, be as he wants her to.
Instead of critizising politics like most bands, Gira is crtisizing the relationship between mother and baby. Truly chillling stuff.
To me the song is about abandonment. About feeling a small helpless child in an overwhelmingly evil and frightening world. It's like he's crying out to a mother who never was there for him, who never gave him the love and protection he needed.
He doesn't seem to keen on this concept of being alive, that's for sure.
When I read this, I thought of a son who is too attached to his mother. He is metaphorically stuck in her womb, "down in your damp cave".
My very favorite Swans song. I always felt it had an uncomfortable attachment feel to it. " hide myself deep inside, your crimson pool" maybe a menstrual, a motherly type of nightmarish feel.
LOVE IT.... i've really fell for this band, their music is so damn diverse and just unlike anything else i've ever endured. i was going band through band recently, and while all were really amazing, these guys struck me the most. and that is to the point were commercial music literally seems like a joke to me know.
anyways, beautiful song. while i like swans older stuff a bit more, this is definatly one of my favorites. sound like the very dark life of a lonely and neglected child. so incredibly desolate, sinister and beautiful all at once. reminds me of the music from silent hill.