To me this song is solely about depression most probably caused by grief.
"I'm going down.... won't you help me... save me from myself"... hes basically saying I need help, I'm drowning in my depression.
"Suddenly my life is like a river.... taking me places I don't want to go." I believe this is about anselmo suffering and dying and him having to deal with that in his life, his mother hadn't sadly died at this point so life continued to be like a river taking him places he didn't want to go. "But like all good men who don't swim to well... it takes all I have just to cry for help" this screams depression... not swimming is not coping in life.
Hes asking in the lyrics to "let me live my life beside the river (a reference to grove cottage where he later died) and he talks about the boy inside forsaking him... to me it tells me he just wants to try to cope and revert back to being a child so he doesn't have to deal with any of this.
The whole older album is so beautiful and filled with sadness. So hard to think how hard he spiralled after the album was released and his mother lesley passed. I miss this man every single day.
@Tommcd14 this is the way that I take this song as well. He was drowning in depression. The lyrics “But like all good men who swim to well, it takes all that I have just to cry for help, then that voice in my head, tells me no” it’s like his struggle to deal with his loss (Anselmo) and the depression on his own. I liked your explanation of -let the boy inside forsake me - I never quite understood that line, but that makes complete sense! We want to revert back to childhood when things were just easier. The...
@Tommcd14 this is the way that I take this song as well. He was drowning in depression. The lyrics “But like all good men who swim to well, it takes all that I have just to cry for help, then that voice in my head, tells me no” it’s like his struggle to deal with his loss (Anselmo) and the depression on his own. I liked your explanation of -let the boy inside forsake me - I never quite understood that line, but that makes complete sense! We want to revert back to childhood when things were just easier. The ending
I'm going down
The cold, cold water is rushing in
I'm going down
And I would beg to be forgiven
If I knew my sin
He’s not understanding why, why did this happen? Referring to losing to Anselmo- like there was a sin he committed to deserve losing him and now living in this depression. He just wants to know what he did.
Such a deep song, and for him to get it all out, on paper, and then into this beautiful, heartbreaking song. There definitely won’t be another like George, he gave us everything, all in his lyrics.
To me this song is solely about depression most probably caused by grief. "I'm going down.... won't you help me... save me from myself"... hes basically saying I need help, I'm drowning in my depression. "Suddenly my life is like a river.... taking me places I don't want to go." I believe this is about anselmo suffering and dying and him having to deal with that in his life, his mother hadn't sadly died at this point so life continued to be like a river taking him places he didn't want to go. "But like all good men who don't swim to well... it takes all I have just to cry for help" this screams depression... not swimming is not coping in life. Hes asking in the lyrics to "let me live my life beside the river (a reference to grove cottage where he later died) and he talks about the boy inside forsaking him... to me it tells me he just wants to try to cope and revert back to being a child so he doesn't have to deal with any of this. The whole older album is so beautiful and filled with sadness. So hard to think how hard he spiralled after the album was released and his mother lesley passed. I miss this man every single day.
@Tommcd14 this is the way that I take this song as well. He was drowning in depression. The lyrics “But like all good men who swim to well, it takes all that I have just to cry for help, then that voice in my head, tells me no” it’s like his struggle to deal with his loss (Anselmo) and the depression on his own. I liked your explanation of -let the boy inside forsake me - I never quite understood that line, but that makes complete sense! We want to revert back to childhood when things were just easier. The...
@Tommcd14 this is the way that I take this song as well. He was drowning in depression. The lyrics “But like all good men who swim to well, it takes all that I have just to cry for help, then that voice in my head, tells me no” it’s like his struggle to deal with his loss (Anselmo) and the depression on his own. I liked your explanation of -let the boy inside forsake me - I never quite understood that line, but that makes complete sense! We want to revert back to childhood when things were just easier. The ending
I'm going down The cold, cold water is rushing in I'm going down And I would beg to be forgiven
If I knew my sin
He’s not understanding why, why did this happen? Referring to losing to Anselmo- like there was a sin he committed to deserve losing him and now living in this depression. He just wants to know what he did.
Such a deep song, and for him to get it all out, on paper, and then into this beautiful, heartbreaking song. There definitely won’t be another like George, he gave us everything, all in his lyrics.