When I really listened closely to this song's lyrics for the first time, I realized that the lyrics are actually pretty dark. It seems like the songs about two children (or young adults) who went out to go on an adventure somewhere near the ocean, and they were washed away together.
The first couple of verses from "This old mountainside" to "So we could descend in the dark" recap their intent to set out for adventure that day, finding some caverns that drew their attention in with promise of beauty and discovery.
The line "But the tide came in" isn't a very reassuring line, and makes me think that the ocean tide washed them away and everything they used to descend, killing them soon after.
Everything after this touches on Adam's surreal view of death, and one of those ideas that we don't actually know we've perished. So the two awake at the bottom of the ocean, immersed in the fantasy of the afterlife, where they don't require air to breath underwater and they can go anywhere they choose.
The line "But that was years ago" adds a very resentful tone to the story, as there's this idea that time passes differently after someone passes away. Most movies and stories have a concept that when you pass away, you don't know it, and often you represent who you were when you died. If you were a person in the afterlife, the ignorance of the fact that you're dead or that your time has 'stopped' could very well leave you blind to the fact that the world is still moving on without you. So at this point it's being made known that a lot of time has passed since the two drowned, but denial and the distractions of the underwater beauty has left them unaware of this fact.
Plus, looking at it in a literal sense they would have needed to come up for air in order to survive, but they didn't need it because they weren't alive anymore.
The phrase "The old world was dying" strikes me as kind of odd in the song, but if you connect it to the theme of death and the afterlife, it makes sense. The two begin to lose their connections to the life (in this case the "old world") they had before, completely taken in by their oceanic surroundings and the new seemingly endless world they have to explore together.
Multiple times throughout the song Adam uses lines like "Far below the surf" in order to emphasize the fact that the two are indeed underwater, and they are aware of it too, though the fact that it is far more than just their imaginations isn't apparent.
"I knew I'd remember, That day in November, As we, Felt alive again"; this line is one of the most powerful supporting lines in the song. I believe that the two probably went out to explore on a day in November when they were washed away, and they started to finally recall the events of that day. The recalled being alive and realized what may have actually happened to them, though at this point so much time had passed and they had been so far from home that they simply decide that there is no hope for returning to where they once were.
So, the two take advantage of their new world together and continue on in their submerged afterlife, pacing through the ocean searching for the things they desired undisturbed by their past limitations, exploring for the rest of eternity.
Adam has touched on darker subjects a lot in his career, so him making a song about death and disguising it as fantasy and wonder isn't completely unexpected. It could almost be a metaphor for making the most of a bad situation.
When I really listened closely to this song's lyrics for the first time, I realized that the lyrics are actually pretty dark. It seems like the songs about two children (or young adults) who went out to go on an adventure somewhere near the ocean, and they were washed away together.
The first couple of verses from "This old mountainside" to "So we could descend in the dark" recap their intent to set out for adventure that day, finding some caverns that drew their attention in with promise of beauty and discovery.
The line "But the tide came in" isn't a very reassuring line, and makes me think that the ocean tide washed them away and everything they used to descend, killing them soon after.
Everything after this touches on Adam's surreal view of death, and one of those ideas that we don't actually know we've perished. So the two awake at the bottom of the ocean, immersed in the fantasy of the afterlife, where they don't require air to breath underwater and they can go anywhere they choose.
The line "But that was years ago" adds a very resentful tone to the story, as there's this idea that time passes differently after someone passes away. Most movies and stories have a concept that when you pass away, you don't know it, and often you represent who you were when you died. If you were a person in the afterlife, the ignorance of the fact that you're dead or that your time has 'stopped' could very well leave you blind to the fact that the world is still moving on without you. So at this point it's being made known that a lot of time has passed since the two drowned, but denial and the distractions of the underwater beauty has left them unaware of this fact.
Plus, looking at it in a literal sense they would have needed to come up for air in order to survive, but they didn't need it because they weren't alive anymore.
The phrase "The old world was dying" strikes me as kind of odd in the song, but if you connect it to the theme of death and the afterlife, it makes sense. The two begin to lose their connections to the life (in this case the "old world") they had before, completely taken in by their oceanic surroundings and the new seemingly endless world they have to explore together.
Multiple times throughout the song Adam uses lines like "Far below the surf" in order to emphasize the fact that the two are indeed underwater, and they are aware of it too, though the fact that it is far more than just their imaginations isn't apparent.
"I knew I'd remember, That day in November, As we, Felt alive again"; this line is one of the most powerful supporting lines in the song. I believe that the two probably went out to explore on a day in November when they were washed away, and they started to finally recall the events of that day. The recalled being alive and realized what may have actually happened to them, though at this point so much time had passed and they had been so far from home that they simply decide that there is no hope for returning to where they once were.
So, the two take advantage of their new world together and continue on in their submerged afterlife, pacing through the ocean searching for the things they desired undisturbed by their past limitations, exploring for the rest of eternity.
Adam has touched on darker subjects a lot in his career, so him making a song about death and disguising it as fantasy and wonder isn't completely unexpected. It could almost be a metaphor for making the most of a bad situation.