Lyric discussion by Dohle 

Cover art for Water's Edge lyrics by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

I also do think that this song is heavy influenced by what Nick observed in Brighton. But I think it's a bit more to that, especially since the narrative on "Push the sky away" is more open. For me, the most important lines are: "Reach for the speech to be heard" and "But you grow old and you grow cold" I read in a YouTube comment that some parent felt a bit sad while listening because he or she had a son who has problems with speaking (I believe deaf-mute was behind this). So I thought about this. While I don't think this is adressed in the text, the song is a bit more about youth in general. Young people seem so struggeling. We people in the western world also seem to struggle even when we have fancy iPod headphones in our ear. To find the right answer, the right path and the best idea of this world seems to essential in this song. But this is the world on the water's edge: It's wide open, and if you're an optimist and you have the ability to talk to the girls, who mean everything, who can mean the world, even in your little hometown, you do it good. And maybe, when one gets older, he remembers that he hasn't this hunger and this good, maybe a bit naive, but nontheless lovely feelings anymore. This is not everything, there is some wordplay who's very mysterious (like "Bible of tricks"), but I like this idea. But what's with the pessimist worldview? :\

My Interpretation