You're standing by your grey ice water
Out in the wind above ground out in the weather
You had yourself a crazy lover
Becoming frozen trying hard to forget her
You got a job up in Alaska

It's easy to save what the cannery pays
Cause there ain't no way to spend it
At home on a boat, it's a fish trap
You took the path of least resistance
On the phone cutting out talking
Short to long distance

You're standing by your grey ice water
Out in the wind above ground out in the water
You had yourself a crazy lover
Become unfrozen trying hard to forget her
You got a job up in Alaska

It's easy to save what the cannery pays
Cause there ain't no way to spend it
On the arctic blast
On the arctic blast
On the arctic blast
On the arctic blast
On the arctic blast
On the arctic blast
On the arctic blast



Lyrics submitted by PLANES

Track duration: 05:05

"Grey Ice Water" as written by Isaac Brock, Eric Judy, Jeremiah Green

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

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Grey Ice Water song meanings
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38 Comments

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  • 0
    General Comment:I picture the narrator of this song standing on the ice miles from shore on a frozen sea. The long Alaskan winter is ending and he will soon plummet to his death. In his last moments he is lamenting how he got here.
    Flag TopleyBirdon February 10, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:You guys pretty much got the general meaning, i think.
    I love the repeated bass line...and the imagery. Such an icy feeling..
    Anyway, I was wondering if anybody knows who the girl who sings in the background is?
    Flag musicgypsyon August 31, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:definitely not about drugs....its a pretty straight forward song, basically saying "try not to feel like how this would feel". well-written and thought provoking...forcing listeners to do some thinking about how theyre living their lives, like many modest mouse tunes, also, perhaps the only song ever to use the word "cannery" in it?
    Flag derekjw203on September 09, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I think this very well could be a drug reference (as speculated by xxlocobassistxx) as Broc has struggled with addiction for quite some time. I think the Alaska allegory is just tying in his northwest roots as working in canneries (especially after a break up or other trauma) is a fairly common practice.
    Flag deadraton June 20, 2010   Link
  • 0
    Lyric Correction:im pretty sure its "there aint nowhere to spend it" i slowed it down in VLC and it really sounds like "nowhere". Its also "On the Artic glass"
    Flag deadraton June 20, 2010   Link
  • +3
    General Comment:yeah. this is a great song.
    to me this song has really special meaning. i go to a maritime academy and am training to become a engineer on trade ships. before i went off to school i broke up with my girlfriend. we had been having some problems and i thought instead of trying to maintain a long distance relationship it would be best just to break it off. looking back it is one of the wost mistakes i have ever made. now im basically out at sea without her and having a hard time getting over it. we've talked a few times but it always makes things worse for me and i feel like im stuck out here now. most people think this would be great becuase im learning a lot and when i get out i have a great job lined up but without her it seems a bit pointless.
    Flag owen1391on October 04, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Grey Ice Water by Modest Mouse
    This song might be my favorite song ever. Period. It is a short story of a man alienated from society, and especially love. The man was most probably driven to this by the following line: “You had yourself/A crazy lover/Becoming unfrozen/Trying hard to forget her.” The most pivotal line of the song has to be “You took the path of least resistance, on the phone cutting out, talking short to long distance.” The man has put himself in a place where he can’t be reached. Instead of directly facing his problems he instead chooses “the path of least resistance.”
    Now, almost all of my friends know this is my quintessential song. Few, however, know why. I am that man. I am “standing by the grey ice water, out in the wind above the ground, out in the weather.” Too often I feel as if I am on a barren, polar wasteland cold and distant. I feel an uneasy peace in my solitude, and I, indeed, often take the path of least resistance when it comes to the matter of love. My heart is probably frozen so thick, it may never be coming unfrozen, and all I can try and do is try hard to forget it.
    So let me paint a mental picture for you. Imagine an almost unending block of ice. Off in the distance you can spy water lapping up against the ice, and icebergs lazily floating by. There is no form of life as we know it to be seen. There is also a biting wind driving flakes of ice up off the glacial landscape into the air, swirling them about in the process. Imagine that you decide to squint a little harder, and at last discern the shape of man near where the water meets ice. The man has his back turned to you, and is completely silent. That man, in a spiritual and emotional sense, is me.
    Flag tcsmithon February 12, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:This song is definitely one of my favorites. Many people have the meaning behind the song wrong though. I guess it could be about forgetting a past girlfriend or love, but I think its more along the lines of Isaac overcoming his drug addiction. "It's easy to save what the cannery pays
    Because there ain't no way to spend it" This line clearly illustrates how one can actually save his/her money if there are no drugs available.
    Flag Radiomouseon December 28, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:the song is definitly about speed and whether or not its artic blast of glass they both would be refering to speed, a friend once explained to me the "at home on a boat, its a fish trap" hes at home smoking ice off foil, and his he is trapped in his addiction like a caught fish.
    Flag xxlocobassistxxon December 03, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:‘‘At home on a boat, it's a fish trap'' I think that this is meaning that he is lost out at sea with out the person who does not love him anymore. He is out there still thinking about the person he love but is trapped cause he knows there is no way escaping his feeling for the person he loves. Its just he is trapped everywhere thinking about this person weather it be at home or on a boat. There is no way for him to escape his feeling so he moves away to Alaska to try and forget about her. Its cold frozen and alone up there.

    Which is funny when you think of it Alaska has a two to one percentage of men up there. There’s not many women up there so its not like he has to move on. I guess you can really for get about some one if you move that far. And you would probably not find a girl that reminds you of the crazy lover your trying to forget. I don’t know that last part I said was kinda stupid.
    Flag corey casanovaon May 02, 2007   Link

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