These Days Lyrics

Lyric discussion by apglaser 

Cover art for These Days lyrics by R.E.M.

This may seem absurd, but I believe that there is some sort of bizarre metaphore about fishing in these lyrics.

Rearrange your scales ... Marching to the ocean, marching to the sea .... I hada hat, and it sunk...
I'd like to eat each one of you ...

I don't exactly understand how that ties into the rest of it maybe a camparison between schools of fish and crowds or throngs of people being like fish.

I don't know just my observations.