This Is The Sea

tomasino nailed it. This has been my favorite song for a long time and I was misguided in my original interpretation until I heard the acoustic version that is shown in tomasino's post. My original understanding was that the lyrics were directed at a general "you" and that the song was a general commentary on change and leaving old baggage behind.

But not so.

As Tomasino explains, this is a song written for a current lover who is struggling to shred her scars and pains of her past. She needs to leave her lost lover behind as he was nothing like the singer.

I have always loved the song. Firstly because of the melody, but more significantly as the metaphor for change. The river depicts the turbulent prior relationship that flows into the maturity of the sea - the current affair. My 8th grade english teacher once told me that the ultimate image for change in the river to sea metaphor is the final touch point between river and sea. That touch point is the climacted change and is appropriately labelled the delta.

Such a pity that Mike Scott checked out on us.