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High Water Lyrics
Try to face up to the blinding sun
Racing for the final word to come
Facing up, it's hard to stay devout
I can see the sand and it's running out
And it's running out
We quote each other only when we're wrong
We tear out the threads and move along
We can't seem to find common ground
I can see the sand and it's running out
It was only circumstances
But it's the difference
It gets in the way
No race is run in this direction
You can't break even
You can't even quit the game
The current drags to the bottom
A hemorrhage that moves us around
It pulls and beckons in a strong direction
High water forever bringing us down
I can see the sand and it's running out
It's running out
It was only circumstances
But it's the difference
It gets in the way
No race is run in this direction
You can't break even
You can't even quit the game
Racing for the final word to come
Facing up, it's hard to stay devout
I can see the sand and it's running out
And it's running out
We tear out the threads and move along
We can't seem to find common ground
I can see the sand and it's running out
But it's the difference
It gets in the way
No race is run in this direction
You can't break even
You can't even quit the game
A hemorrhage that moves us around
It pulls and beckons in a strong direction
High water forever bringing us down
I can see the sand and it's running out
It's running out
But it's the difference
It gets in the way
No race is run in this direction
You can't break even
You can't even quit the game
Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.
to me this is about inevitability, the narrator is simply counting down to the destruction of this doomed relationship like being trapped in an airtight room as it fills up with water.
This song, like a much of Farrar's offerings from Anodyne, is about his wanting out of the band. I remember reading an interview with Jeff Tweedy where he remarked that, at the time, he had no clue what the song was about. Then he was really pissed when Farrar quit the band (not unexpectedly) and it dawned on him what the song was about.