I want to be the surgeon that cuts you open
That fixes all of life's mistakes
I want to be the house that you were raised in
The only place that you feel safe
I want to be a shower in the morning
That wakes you up and makes you clean
I know I'm just the weather against your window
As you sleep through a winter's dream

Someone's churning the earth
Someone's stirring the sky
Every color at once in a column of lights
Bacteria breeds on a microscope slide
The worm in my heart is the apple of your eye
Don't adore what is impossible
We have built this ship in a wine bottle
But if you knew how it worked
We'd have to grow old

Someone's eating at you
Wakes you up in the night
If you're digging the past
Who knows what you'll find
Read the newspaper print off the microfilm slide
And you're holding your breath for the rest of your life
Don't you love what is intangible
I have built this ship in a wine bottle
But if you knew who I was
You would never grow old



Lyrics submitted by apocalypse84

Track duration: 03:27


Ship in a Bottle song meanings
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  • 0
    Song Meaning:All of you stfu. The baby isn't annoying.

    ABORTION......


    "i want to be the surgeon that cuts you open".... hmm he wants to be the surgeon that cuts the mother open to save the child's life

    "That fixes all of life's mistakes"... Mistakes as in, children. He wants to fix what the mother/father fucked up.

    "The only place that you feel safe." The only place the child feels safe

    "We have built this ship in a wine bottle." The ship is incapable of exiting the wine bottle, just as a baby is incapable of leaving a mothers womb if it is aborted.

    "It's eating at you... waking you up at night" - Guilt of the murderer(the one aborting).

    "and you're holding your breath for the rest of your life." talking about the baby. never getting a chance to take a breath. never getting a chance to live.

    the baby's cry is a beautiful thing. If the crying wasn't present, the baby wouldn't be living.

    Maybe I'm wrong. Yes, I probably am.
    Flag honestlyidkon October 29, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I have some werid connection to this song, it's playing in my head constantly. Playing in my car constantly. The baby crying to me is just pure frusteration. If you ever are with a newborn that you love dearly and they are crying, screaming at the top of there lungs it is incredibly frusterating but you still love them. Maybe the connection Conor had with the girl this song is for. Just a thought.
    Flag mhmmalrighton December 04, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I believe in this case definately the meaning of the song is more broad than one subject. Churning the sky and every color at once in a column of light refers to the universe or god, the album deals with the theme of death and science alot in other songs like don't u weep. Anyways the begining is about wanting to fix or help people whether a in a relationship or humanity as a whole, doesn't matter, not intended to have one exact meaning even if it does to the writer. Built this ship in a wine bottle refers to having this great world hear and built, but there is no escape. when you put a ship in a bottle you slide it in or do it with tweasers, but once it's built you cannot get it out. And don't adore what is impossible (like getting a ship out of a wine bottle) means we always want more. I believe the baby is because of us being born or built into this bottle that we cannot escape. Anyway that's enough, don't want to analyze whole song, but I really do think it's meant to be interpereted in different ways, good lyrics work on many levels and also it's about how they sound with the music. It's hard to be so specific and still sound good, words make sounds so they're not neccissarily always for story telling, sometimes they just sound great the way they are sang/how/where.
    Flag standingonairon March 05, 2010   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:well its 4am and i can't sleep and i've got this song in the brain.. so here is how i've interpreted it..

    He wants to be so much more for this girl than he is, he wants to be the one person who can provide her with comfort and security, he wants to be loved and needed but instead he is like background noise - he may be there with her now while she is sleeping but she is not dependent on him, she could get by without him.

    I see the ship in the bottle as representing the metaphorical shell he's built around himself.. the real him is this delicate easily damaged complicated ship, made up of imperfections, but he's created this outter stronger 'bottle' in hope that she will love him and feel secure and safe with him for it.
    But she is searching for this perfect love which is impossible, digging into his past, thinking and analysing things too much and theres this fear that she will find these imperfections and find out how he has built this 'bottle' and as she is looking for this impossible/intangible love she will leave him and they will never grow old together..
    But on the otherhand if she ever 'knew who he was' and discovered this vulnerable, fragile yet beautiful ship within the wine bottle, maybe she could learn that she mustn't adore what is impossible, or love what is intangible, and that she actually loves this person for who he is, for his imperfections, and recognises that he has built this ship in the bottle to try and protect her
    and that if she can understand this and love him in spite of this, their love will never grow old.

    Hmm. whether any of that was comprehensible i don't know,
    but that's my take on it.
    Flag lilxlivson December 26, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:TO all the baby haters: The baby is entirely necessary,it is the ship in a bottle, how did you build a baby in there??
    Flag ryanpattisonon November 30, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:i agree with rockisgroovy.
    fully.
    Flag justariddleintheskyon October 22, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:"Don't adore what is impossible...

    ...And you're holding your breath for the rest of your life
    Don't you love what is intangible"

    i finally know what he is talking about.
    Flag alinamatterson September 20, 2009   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:"I want to be the surgeon that cuts you open
    That fixes all of life's mistakes
    I want to be the house that you were raised in
    The only place that you feel safe
    I want to be a shower in the morning
    That wakes you up and makes you clean
    I know I'm just the weather against your window
    As you sleep through a winter's dream"

    best part of the whole song!!!
    Flag BnaHvkx11on August 04, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:"I want to be the surgeon that cuts you open
    That fixes all of life's mistakes
    I want to be the house that you were raised in
    The only place that you feel safe
    I want to be a shower in the morning
    That wakes you up and makes you clean
    I know I'm just the weather against your window
    As you sleep through a winter's dream"

    best part of the whole song!!!
    Flag BnaHvkx11on August 04, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I think it's about false optimism in a relationship that was never gonna work, however much they tried to tell themselves it would.
    Flag tobarrron June 12, 2009   Link

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