Song Of The Siren Lyrics

Lyric discussion by LittleRedShoes 

Cover art for Song Of The Siren lyrics by This Mortal Coil

This is the song I associate with my first and only love. When we met I didn't really believe in 'love' and dismissed it as a load of sentimental nonsense. Then when I met him, I know what to do with my feelings, I was foolish and he left me after a few months. Towards the end of our relationship, I heard the Mortal Coil interpretation of this song, with the vocals by Elizabeth Fraser, and it was like it was written for me. In the months to come, I would listen to it over and over, and it never lost significance.

Now, I suspect that nobody is interested in reading a line-by-line analysis of what this song means to me, but the beauty of the internet is that I can do it anyway, and those who don't want to read it don't have to :P

'Long afloat on shipless oceans, I did all my best to smile / Till your singing eyes and fingers drew me loving to your isle.'

This is how I was before I was in love. Going about my life, unaffected and detached.

'Did I dream you dreamed about me?'

I love this line. This was all the more meaningful to me after our split. Wondering if the other person still wants you.

'Were you hare when I was fox?' or 'Were you here when I was flotsam' or 'full-sail' or whatever it is. Either way, I feel like it's questioning whether the other was noticing and watching for much longer than the narrator has realised.

'Now my foolish boat is leaning.'

I'm starting to change my ways...

'For you sing / Touch me not, come back tomorrow / Oh my heart shies from the sorrow.'

Elizabeth Fraser sings this line so beautifully. The fact that when one person is fickle and doesn't seem to know what they want, the other's heart is breaking.

'I'm as puzzled as a newborn child.'

Seeing the world afresh...

'Should I stand amid the breakers, or should I lie with death my bride?'

for me, this felt like a reference to my two states of mind... should I face up to the pain, or should I act as if it doesn't hurt?

'Swim to me, let me enfold you, here I am waiting to hold you.'

I love how the invitation is turned around in this song. First it is one person and then the other who is offering the love. This is just how it was with me and my partner.

No other version of this song moves me, really. The original I find pretty dull. Fraser's voice is magic, she could take any lyrics and make them significant.

After many months, the person I associate this with came back to me, and we're still together now. But this song still moves me just as much as ever. :)

its certainly a song we will never forget, my girlfreind doesnt want me anyone because I did something wrong, I cant blame her - it feels like we both have broken hearts. I truly would like to put things right - the song is tragic, sad tender but very loving , like ruderless ships crashing against the rocks, sometimes the strom is too much - I so much want to sa to her, Sail to me Let me enfold you Here I am Waiting to hold you

Well, I do appreciate it and I enjoyed your analysis of this song. I associate it with death though, mainly because I watched a movie called "The Lovely Bones" about a 14 yr. old girl who was murdered. Even though it wasn't a true story, it very well can be any story for a child who is murdered.

The reason it stuck with me is because when I was a teen, I was involved in a search for a young girl who was kidnapped. Since it was the final day for the search, and the search had gone on...

@LittleRedShoes You should definetly listen to Rose Betts version. I'd never heard the song before...but wow did it immediately catch my heart.

I felt something similar. I met someone who sparked something in me no one has ever been able to spark. But ultimately my spark was bigger in my heart than in my head. I lost her. I lost my will to live for a time. I long for someone else to make me as willing to face the future hand in hand, with all the wonders of life we can share.

One day perhaps, I dont hold...