Lyric discussion by RTKTS 

Cover art for I Sat By The Ocean lyrics by Queens of the Stone Age

It's a song about a man or woman in a relationship who knows they are being cheated on and they are thinking about ending the relationship.

I sat by the ocean And drank a potion, baby to erase you

He/she is drinking alcohol or beer of some kind to forget about their partner.

Face down in the boulevard yet I couldn't face you

He/she is down on their luck and are hurting but can't bring them self to end the relationship.

There ain't no use in cryin' It doesn't change anything, so baby what good does it do?

Complaining won't fix the situation.

Your friends they'll sympathize, maybe I don't need them to

If the partner's friends knew they'd most likely think the partner is wrong, but that won't help him/her with it.

Imagine I'd be your one and only Instead I'm the lonely one

He/she wanted to be the partner's"one and only" but instead they're "alone" in the sense that they feel as though their partner doesn't care about them, or is seing somebody else.

You, me, and a lie

The "lie" represents the fact the partner cheated on him/her.

Silence is closer We're passing ships in the night

He/she is eventually going to have to confess and it's becoming to much for him/her to hold in.

There's nowhere to run away

He/she can't run from the situation. They will have to deal with it.

Said, 'Boy if you want love, you'll have to go and find it with someone new' 'Do you know who you really are? Are you sure it's really you'?

He/she is confronted. Do they really want to stay in the relationship only for it to end badly?

Lies are a funny thing They slip through your fingertips because they never happened to you

He/she never realized they were being cheated on until now. "You wouldn't understand unless it happened to you"

Time wounds all the heals as we fade out of view

Eventually as they stop the relationship, they will look back and wonder where it all went wrong. It will hurt to look back on those memories.

Into the light, left with nowhere to hide

He/she is trying to hide from this but it still isn't working.

Closer and closer We're crashing ships in the night

It's getting harder to hide, and the relationship will have to end eventually.