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In the deepest ocean
The bottom of the sea
Your eyes
They turn me
Why should I stay here?
Why should I stay?
I'd be crazy not to follow
Follow where you lead
Your eyes
They turn me
Turn me on to phantoms
I follow to the edge of the earth
And fall off
Everybody leaves
If they get the chance
And this is my chance
I get eaten by the worms
Weird fishes
Get towed by the worms
Weird fishes
Weird fishes
Weird fishes
I'll hit the bottom
Hit the bottom and escape
Escape
I'll hit the bottom
Hit the bottom and escape
Escape
The bottom of the sea
Your eyes
They turn me
Why should I stay here?
Why should I stay?
I'd be crazy not to follow
Follow where you lead
Your eyes
They turn me
Turn me on to phantoms
I follow to the edge of the earth
And fall off
Everybody leaves
If they get the chance
And this is my chance
I get eaten by the worms
Weird fishes
Get towed by the worms
Weird fishes
Weird fishes
Weird fishes
I'll hit the bottom
Hit the bottom and escape
Escape
I'll hit the bottom
Hit the bottom and escape
Escape
Lyrics submitted by andrewrocks
Track duration: 04:26
"Weird Fishes/Arpeggi" as written by Thomas Edward/greenwood Yorke
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I also like to imagine that the "worms and the weird fishes" are the forces that transition your life from before the jump to when you "hit the bottom" into your new life, eating away your old body, improving it, and rebuilding it, "towing it" to your new life, to form your new consciousness.
it's about being stuck in a situation, which can either be a lost love, work, inspiration, whatever...
then "she", and her eyes, are his inspiration to change, to fight and to emerge...emerge from the bottom of the ocean
and in the end he says he'll escape..beautiful
weired fishes: he gets eaten by the worms because he's about to die in his own sorrow if he doesn't do something but the thing is that, like it sometimes happens, death/letting go is almost fascinating and so a grave and the worms are viewed as the bottom of the ocean and weired fishes.
hope that inspires you like it did for me!
In the deepest ocean
The bottom of the sea
Your eyes, they turn me
This is the very instant that he/she catches a glimpse of that person across the room, amongst all the other people (the sea of fishes). This begins the relationship, which in my head is a crazy hot night in a hotel somewhere. There is also the idea of seeing this fish on the bottom of the sea, does bottom mean a place which they would not think to meet this other fish, or perhaps it means a “bad” place either in reality or mentally for the narrator.
Why should I stay here?
Why should I stay?
Apparently there is another fish with which the narrator is involved and post coital he/she questions/analyzes that relationship, comparing it with this new one, which although very brief, holds much allure, so much potential. Could this be it, the one true love that they have been searching for?
I'd be crazy not to follow
Follow where you lead
Your eyes, they turn me
These lines are the thoughts which outweigh all others, if this could be it (true love), then “I’d be crazy not to follow”, follow you until I know. “Your eyes turn me”, that allure is still there and bright as ever.
Sunk without a trace
The bottom of the deep
Your eyes, they turn me
This is likely referring to the place where the narrator is currently, the same place as referenced in the second line of the first verse, they are at the bottom, those eyes still attracting them. I guess it could also be viewed as the fish making the decision to follow, and once made they let down all walls, they are giving it, the try for love, everything they have and so they let themselves sink into it, letting themselves go be absorbed fully. The reason why the first interpretation is better is because the bottom in the first interpretation is referring a bad place or state of mind within the narrators’ world, which is a more consistent view of the “bottom” throughout the song. If we were to take the second interpretation then all of a sudden the sea becomes love and the bottom is the deepest part of that love.
Turn me into phantoms
The turn me into phantoms line is a tough one, but perhaps it means that they wish to leave their body, again fully giving into the feeling, floating up from the bottom. Another thought is that it could mean that they wish not to be seen by anyone or escape from normal life so that they can be free to follow without distraction.
I’ll follow you to the edge of the earth
And fall off
Again, affirming that they are committed fully, they will go the distance even if it means they get hurt.
Everybody leaves
If they get the chance
And this is my chance
Everyone leaves whatever partner they have if they think they have found a chance for something better, truer, the ultimate love.
I get eaten by worms
And weird fishes
Picked over by the worms
Worms to me can signify parasites, bottom feeders, things that feed on dead or decaying things. Perhaps what this is saying that the chance for love failed and that person did follow to the edge and fell off, meaning they did not find it love and that relationship failed. They then sank to the bottom, dead, being eaten by worms, because they are emotionally dead. Besides the symbolic dead fish “worms” could also mean a persons thoughts after the affair or new relationship has ended. You are eaten by your own thoughts for a while after everything sinks in aren’t you. Questioning everything that happened, why you left the other person, etc. These worms stick with you for a while eating at you.
Weird fishes
Weird fishes
Weird fishes
Yes, we are strange little fish.
And I hit the bottom
The bottom of escape
Escape
I hit the bottom
Hit the bottom to escape
Escape
Escape
Again, having some trouble with this one. I feel like hitting the bottom here could mean a few things. One is that they turn to something (drugs, alcohol, any coping method) to take away the pain, stay at the bottom. If I choose to interpret it this way then that means that the sea is a state of mind, perhaps giving up the search for a time.
Anyway, I am sure this song can be interpreted many ways, that is just my take for now.
Thom said of Letdown: “It's also about an enormous fear of being trapped.” And Thom often writes about his wish to escape: “Everybody leaves if they get the chance,” “I go where I please…I’m not here,” “Today we escape,” “just cross yourself and walk away,” “Do yourself a favour and pack your bags/ Buy a ticket and get on the train,” “One day I am gonna grow wings,” “Let’s go down the waterfall /think about the good times and never look back.”
Thom is conflicted about whether he should fulfill his desire to escape, primarily based on his guilt associated with leaving. In describing Knives Out, Thom said “It's partly the idea of the businessman walking out on his wife and kids and never coming back.” The “businessman” is a symbol that Thom rebels against in No Surprises, Fitter Happier, Palo Alto and Wolf at The Door, to name a few. In other words, Thom would feel guilty if he acted as the “businessman”. In Videotape, Thom says: “This is my way of saying goodbye cause I can’t do it face to face.” Likely again because he does not want to tell the other person he is “leaving.”
Thom fighting against his own guilt surfaces in Nude (“don't go, you'll only want to come back again”) and There There (“don't reach out, don't reach out”) as well as Mr. Magpie (“you know you should, but you don’t”).
Therefore, Thom wishes an outside, typically supernatural, force will free him. In How To Disappear Completely, Thom says “I go where I please…I float down the Liffey,” though in an interview he described the dream that inspired the song: “I was floating down the Liffey and there was nothing I could do.” By putting these two ideas together, it is clear that Thom wanted to float away, and yet it was out of his control, so he didn’t have to consciously decide to leave. This theme also appears in Subterranean Homesick Alien: “I wish that they'd swoop down… take me aboard their beautiful ship.” Again, Thom wishes to leave but he is literally abducted, and thus is not in control of his exit. In Pyramid Song, it is the black-eyed angels who take Thom away. In In Limbo Thom says “I’m lost at sea don’t bother me” which again shows that his exit was out of his control, but he is glad it happened. And in Arpeggi, Thom does not choose to leave but the “eyes” turn him, and Thom realizes that he would be “crazy not to follow.” When facing mortality, in two different songs, Thom reaches out and pleads: “you can offer me escape,” and “today we escape….I can’t do this alone.”
:3
I always wondered what Arpeggi meant, though...
I'll look it up now!
=D
Anyway, for me it's a love song. I think the beginning of the song describes the state the narrator is in when he first sees those eyes. They must be the eyes of someone who draws him in. Whether it's supposed to be love or obsession is, I guess, up to us. But it's interesting how people tend to switch around the lyrics as if the order they are in does not matter. I noticed this in the other section for this song. I think the narrator decides to follow this person because he sees a way out of the state he is in. The line about following her to the end of the world is not, I believe, necessarily about suicide. I think it just emphasizes his determination to be with her. I also think the escape he seeks is so he can go after her, since his self-doubts seem to get in the way. Because I can imagine a narrative in this album (or a progression of ideas, events) I take it that the narrator is afraid to end up alone (as he explains in "All I Need"), hence his hesitation to leave the place he is at... he'd rather be miserable with someone than end up alone.