Stella Was a Diver and She Was Always Down

Ok. I believe i have the actual interpretation for this song: I was talking to my friend at work about how this was my favorite Interpol song, and we started discussing its meaning. One of his favorite books is the Illuminatus! Trilogy. It was a sort of eureka moment for both of us. He mentioned how one of the main characters in the book has sex with a girl named Stella. It's on a submarine under the ocean, named the Leif Erikson. Coincidence? I don't think so. My friend highly recommended this book, so I'm going to give it a read and possibly post back, as the information I've posted here has been garnered from a synopsis and what my friend said. I'm staggered at the fact that nobody has made this connection yet. I'm pretty sure this is a valid assessment, with the title of another song on this album being another reference to this book.

I think this song is about a woman the singer loved so much that he killed her and drowned her as this was the only way he could put himself at ease. some of us are familiar with the phrase "I LOVE IT SO MUCH I WANT IT TO DIE" and i thing this is what this song deals with.

the man in love with Stella is not evil, just unbalanced by his love for someone he cannot attain. "she knows there's people watching her" tells us that she is aware of her beauty and indicates the singer is out of her leauge so to speak.

"She cant come out tonight, cause the sea was so airtight", "bottom of the ocean she dwells" point towards him drowning her.

THE SONGS CLIMAX - IT'S MEANING

She went down down down there into the sea, Yeah she went down down down there, down there for me, right on

So good, oh yeah, right on For me this is the man recollecting the way her dead body sank to the ocean floor, and how he was satisfied and found peace. I know this is a morbid interpretation but i believe with aman as complex as Paul Banks and band as 'Dark' as interpol it is feasible that the characters in these song's are not all innocent lovers, save that for pop music. Interpols lyrics if they can teach us anything (they are, let's be honest fairly ambiguous) teach us that love is not for a select group of society, and perhaps the things we do for love are not always wholsome or traditonally good, such is it's nature.

Shakespeare described his tragic hero Othello as "One that lov'd not wisely but too well." Othello loved his wife so much that he was blinded by it and killed her in vain. Interpols hero in this song however doe's not regret his killing, perhaps it is his way of showing love. who knows. hehe.

peace drama and skateboarding!! o(-<]:

Stella was a diver, and she was always down cough always down cough

I know it's probably about alcoholism, and it's definitely not about about f*ing drowning, but I always thought that it was about a prostitute.

"But she once fell through the street Down a manhole in that bad way"

Lol... Innuendo.

"She was all right, yeah, the sea was so tight, airtight"

Yeah... so tight, huh?

"At the bottom of the ocean she dwells At the bottom of the ocean she dwells From crevices caressed by fingers And fat blue serpent swells Stella, Stella, oh Stella Stella I love you, Stella I love you, Stella I love you"

First two lines meaning that prostitution is usually perceived as the bottom in terms of your direction in life, and it's considered morally low... Also, she could be depressed.

Next two lines are OBVIOUS innuendos

And the next two lines are those said by the man she's having sex with.

"Well, she was my catatonic sex toy, love-joy diver Well, she was my catatonic sex toy, love drug diver She went down, down, down there into the sea, Yeah, she went down, down, down there Down there for me, right on

So good, oh yeah, right on"

First two lines are pretty clear.

Next two, SHE WENT DOWN INTO THE SEA. DOWN THERE FOR ME. I think we know what that means. She was giving head. "Right on"

That pretty much sums it up.

the pitchfork interview w/ interpol says:

Pitchfork: Who's Stella, if anybody? I was wondering if it was a reference to, or was inspired by A Streetcar Named Desire.

Paul: Which is one of my favorite movies. It's not, and I don't know when we wrote that if I had really seen it. I probably had seen it, but no, it's not. I love the name. I went through a phase where I was fixated on girls names that, for me, kind of represented something. So in "Precipitate", Daphne is the character. It was actually more to do with certain female names that were really interesting to me. I had another song about a girl named Kat, too, but no, I don't know [a Stella] and it's not directly related to that film, even though I love that film.

beautiful song. it reminds me of "where is my mind" by the pixies a little. i think it's just about this girl stella escaping the trivialities of the world and finding something thrilling within herself.

you guys do know that Stella is Paul Bank's favorite ale, right? ^___^

yeah. this is about alcohol. "dive"...bar. "down", "bottom of the sea"... drunk, depressant.

sorry, romantics. <3

the last relationship i was involved in reminds me alot of this song. it was with someone who was and is basically a sociopath. he dosen't really posess feelings, though i think the closest he came was with me. one day, we were lying on the sofa hooking up, and listening to this song, and he asked me to go down on him, which seems ridiculously ironic. i didn't do it that day, however when i finally did, he broke up with me the next day. it's so illogical, and yet so heartbreaking for me. at the end, when he's saying "right on," and "so good," it reminds me of the noises some guys make when they are recieveing oral sex. this song is ALL ABOUT a girl he used for oral sex. the funny thing is, when i was performing "it" on him, he kept telling me he loved me. often, males can become carried away in the moment when they are recieveing oral sex. this is a perfect example of that.

The final lines in brackets remind me of the poem Not Waving But Drowning by Stevie Smith

I know this song has a strong sexual theme, but there are several lines that remind me of the tale of The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen:

"She was all right because the sea was so airtight, she broke away" -The little mermaid broke away from her castle at the bottom of the sea to be with the prince.

"Her caresses caressed by fingers And fat blue serpent swells" -Fat water snakes are mentioned in the tale. They live near the witch's house.

"Well, she was my catatonic sex toy, love-joy diver" -In the story, the little mermaid is allowed to become human by sacrificing her voice, she then spends a lot of time with the prince, she is allowed to sleep at his bedroom and the prince love her but not in the way she wants. He simply treats her as his favorite slave. Also the state of catatonia commonly causes muteness (catatonic sex toy).

"Try detect you when I'm sleeping In a wave you say goodbye..." -When the prince's ship sunk, the little mermaid rescued him and placed him ashore. Before he woke up, she disappears but he later mentioned he remembered a beautiful girl rescuing him although he ignores it was the little mermaid.

I'm just saying...

That whole underwater theme simply signifies "going down" on a guy. "Fell down a manhole", "crevices caressed by fingers", "fat blue serpent swells" -- come on, the list goes on. It doesn't get more obvious.

And while the first half of the song might be a matter of interpretation, as with all metaphors -- the words in the coda leave little to the imagination. Spell it out for you.

Not entirely sure it's about a prostitute either. Might be about an insecure girl that seeks the wrong kind of attention and allows men to take advantage of her, sexually.

The singer is one of those guys, but is like half-guilt-ridden, so this song is part confession, part ode to the girl in question. Like, he really loved her for who she was, even if she shouldn't be proud of herself and neither should he.

I really like how this song is so... honest. About stuff. In a way, it's more of a love song than what you generally get to hear.

I think he sings "was just like her scuba days" by the way. Makes a lot more sense anyway than "was just like her stupid gaze - days - daze", I mean WTF?