I'd rather be a sparrow than a snail
Yes, I would
If I could
I surely would
Mmm-hmm
I'd rather be a hammer than a nail
Yes, I would
If I only could
I surely would
Mmm-hmm
Away, I'd rather sail away
Like a swan that's here and gone
A man gets tied up to the ground
He gives the world its saddest sound
Its saddest sound
Mmm-hmm
I'd rather be a forest than a street
Yes, I would
If I could, I surely would
I'd rather feel the earth beneath my feet
Yes, I would
If I only could, I surely would
Yes, I would
If I could
I surely would
Mmm-hmm
I'd rather be a hammer than a nail
Yes, I would
If I only could
I surely would
Mmm-hmm
Away, I'd rather sail away
Like a swan that's here and gone
A man gets tied up to the ground
He gives the world its saddest sound
Its saddest sound
Mmm-hmm
I'd rather be a forest than a street
Yes, I would
If I could, I surely would
I'd rather feel the earth beneath my feet
Yes, I would
If I only could, I surely would
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings, edited by sokorny
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
I'd rather be in control
I'd rather be natural
I'd rather be real
Chorus:
I'm beautiful and I want to escape the oppression of time, but its reality is profoundly sad
Has anyone reading this heard "When you're a nail, all the world is a hammer, and when you're a hammer all the world is nails." Everyone recognises that it is better to be the one with power, but do the song's listeners also hear that even the oppressors, for all their power, are not free? Oppression takes time and energy to maintain. Could a driver achieve toil from a slave without force and threat? Can the cat expect to catch the mouse if she is not prowling it? Will the shepherd get wool off the sheep if he doesn't get out there and keep track of them? Better to hold power, best to have freedom.
Swans symbolize people who are very rare. Swans are the real winners. Most people are either oppressed or oppressors. But even the oppressors are not free. They have locked themselves to the unending occupation of persecuting their victims or subordinates, and it eats their lifetimes. They cannot disengage, least their captives escape. They forge lifetimes of chains for others to wear, but inadvertantly also chain themselves to the lifelong task of oppression. The real winners are the swans. Freedom.
Finally I think the narrator want to say, "What will you want to be, you cant free in this world.
at the end he says:"i would rather feel the earth beneath my feet" (without a comparison with something else, referring to "tied to the ground", because he can't touch the ground with his feets.
**Actually, I think this song is about someone who is suffering. He (man) compares himself with a sufferer (a nail, a street, or a snail), but he would rather be the cause of the sufferer (a hammer) or he would rather not suffer (a forest or a sparrow).
The sentence: "I would rather feel the earth beneath my feet." is not a comparison, but the reality of him. That sentence is a reference to the sentence: "Tied to the ground". I think that he is informing the listener of the song that he can't feel the earth beneath his feet, because he is tied to the ground. I think that the sentence "tied to the ground" also implies that he can't touch the ground with his feet (and thus can't feel the earth beneath his feet), but this is not an objective though, because it is not stated literal in the lyrics, and because of that reason it could be that he in fact could touch the ground with his jogger's heel, and thus feel the earth beneath his feet.**