I lost my heart
Under the bridge
To that little girl
So much to me
And now I moan
And now I holler
She'll never know
Just what I found
That blue eyed girl (that blue eyed girl)
She said "No more" (she said "No more")
That blue eyed girl (that blue eyed girl)
Became blue eyed whore (became blue eyed whore)
Down by the water (down by the water)
I took her hand (I took her hand)
Just like my daughter (just like my daughter)
I'll see her again (I'll see her again)

Oh help me Jesus
Come through this storm
I had to lose her
To do her harm
I heard her holler (I heard her holler)
I heard her moan (I heard her moan)
My lovely daughter (my lovely daughter)
I took her home (I took her home)

Little fish, big fish, swimming in the water
Come back here, man, gimme my daughter
Little fish, big fish, swimming in the water
Come back here, man, gimme my daughter
Little fish, big fish, swimming in the water
Come back here, man, gimme my daughter
Little fish, big fish, swimming in the water
Come back here, man, gimme my daughter
Little fish, big fish, swimming in the water
Come back here, man, gimme my daughter
Little fish, big fish, swimming in the water
Come back here, man, gimme my daughter
Little fish, big fish, swimming in the water
Come back here, man, gimme my daughter
Little fish, big fish, swimming in the water
Come back here, man, gimme my daughter
Little fish, big fish, swimming in the water


Lyrics submitted by shut

Down by the Water Lyrics as written by Polly Jean Harvey

Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.

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Down By The Water song meanings
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  • +3
    General Comment

    I didn't quite interpret this the same way. I think that this song isn't necessarily an allusion to her daughter loosing her virginity and the mother wanting her little girl back, but something more direct. I think that the disturbed narrator killed her daughter; the music itself and the strain in her voice supports this idea. Also, I think that the singer is moving in and out of reality; one minute she knows that she's killed her daughter, the next, she doesn't.

    "That blue-eyed girl/ Became blue-eyed whore"= This is what pushes the mother over the edge: she catches her daughter with a man.

    "Just like my daughter/ See her again"= The girl that she killed is no longer the same girl as her daughter; she's disassociated the two people in her mind (living, innocent daughter vs dead, non-virginal girl). She's disturbed enough to think that the dead body merely resembles her daughter, and she's wondering when she'll get to see her daughter again (she thinks that her daughter is gone, not dead).

    "I took her home"= A reference to the previous Jesus statement, she sent her daughter to heaven, away from her being a whore.

    "Little fish, big fish swimming in the water/ Come back here man gimme my daughter"= Since she killed her near the river, she's returned to it, or another river. I think that as she's saying this part, she is more detached from reality. She thinks that the fish is the one who stole her daughter and she's asking him for her back.

    When I hear this song, I picture PJ sitting dirty on a river bank in the dark, rocking and staring blankly into the water, muttering at the fish to return her daughter.

    Hemsueton June 15, 2006   Link

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