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You cut me down a tree
And brought it back to me
And that's what made me see
Where I was going wrong
You put me on a shelf
And kept me for yourself
I can only blame myself
You can only blame me
And I could write a song
A hundred miles long
Well, that's where I belong
And you belong to me
And I could write it down
Or spread it all around
Get lost and then get found
Or swallowed in the sea
You put me on a line
And hung me out to dry
And darling that's when I
Decided to go to sea
You cut me down to size
And opened up my eyes
Made me realize
What I could not see
And I could write a book
The one they'll say that shook
The world, and then it took
It took it back from me
And I could write it down
Or spread it all around
Get lost and then get found
And you'll come back to me
Not swallowed in the sea
Ooh
And I could write a song
A hundred miles long
Well, that's where I belong
And you belong with me
The streets you're walking on
A thousand houses long
Well, that's where I belong
And you belong with me
Oh what good is it to live
With nothing left to give
Forget but not forgive
Not loving all you see
Oh the streets you're walking on
A thousand houses long
Well that's where I belong
And you belong with me
Not swallowed in the sea
You belong with me
Not swallowed in the sea
Yeah, you belong with me
Not swallowed in the sea
And brought it back to me
And that's what made me see
Where I was going wrong
You put me on a shelf
And kept me for yourself
I can only blame myself
You can only blame me
And I could write a song
A hundred miles long
Well, that's where I belong
And you belong to me
And I could write it down
Or spread it all around
Get lost and then get found
Or swallowed in the sea
You put me on a line
And hung me out to dry
And darling that's when I
Decided to go to sea
You cut me down to size
And opened up my eyes
Made me realize
What I could not see
And I could write a book
The one they'll say that shook
The world, and then it took
It took it back from me
And I could write it down
Or spread it all around
Get lost and then get found
And you'll come back to me
Not swallowed in the sea
Ooh
And I could write a song
A hundred miles long
Well, that's where I belong
And you belong with me
The streets you're walking on
A thousand houses long
Well, that's where I belong
And you belong with me
Oh what good is it to live
With nothing left to give
Forget but not forgive
Not loving all you see
Oh the streets you're walking on
A thousand houses long
Well that's where I belong
And you belong with me
Not swallowed in the sea
You belong with me
Not swallowed in the sea
Yeah, you belong with me
Not swallowed in the sea
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As the song crescendos a bit, the line "And I could write a book . . . " seems to explode, and I think this line deserves a little a more attention.
Almost as if his love or relationship and the experience he's gained and the situations endured due to this loved one was so grand, eternal, and UNIQUE enough to write an award winning book on, as he states:
"And I could write a book, the one they'll say that shook the world."
It must have been something so special that he could write a book about it without it being deemed a cliché romance novel. As if he'd be pouring his entire heart and soul into the pages of something so personal (Like Edgar Alan Po or Shakespeare, etc.) that he wouldn't mind writing "it down, and spread it all around," no matter what kind of backlash he'd feel from exposing the love he still feels for someone who has left and ultimate vulnerability of the matter if he'd choose to go public about his romance, (which is exactly what he's done through this song however vague.) That takes guts.
This whole metaphor with the book marks the utmost value he marked his relationship with this person as. It was clearly a time that changed him for the best, and permanently, although the outcome may have been unpleasant tumultuous and disastrous. So hypothetically, he'll have published this book about him and her for the whole world to criticize and know of, and after such a radical, embarrassing and humbling method of professing undying love for someone, he's certain "You'll come back to me, not swallowed in the sea."
My heart. It breaks.
I personally think that this song has no clear meaning and no obvious message, just like a few other songs by coldplay. This track just uses sooooooooooooo much metaphors and flowers of speech in fact to get the main sense of it. Swallowed in the sea creates lots of pictures in your head, but everyone knows that everyone is thinking different and everyone has his or her own imagination, ergo every single one sees different images.
Despite that, I myself think that it´s about a special one who made a person see what he couldn´t see until the special one came. But what could he have seen? Maybe the love of his life, the pursuit of happiness, the place where he belongs? This leaves loads of place for your own thoughts, which makes the text inspiring and unique. I think "Swallowed in the Sea" is just a metaphor for the mood he is in when the special one isn´t there. Many people may say I´m wrong, but i think we are all right concerning what we believe, what the aim of this song is.
Without giving a definite statement about my thoughts on this song, I´m gonna just end here and let you guys keep on breaking your head while working out the actual meaning.
Thanks for reading!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:D
btw.:SRY FOR MY BAD ENGLISH!^ô^
I personally think that this song has no clear meaning and no obvious message, just like a few other songs by coldplay. This track just uses sooooooooooooo much metaphors and flowers of speech in fact to get the main sense of it. Swallowed in the sea creates lots of pictures in your head, but everyone knows that everyone is thinking different and everyone has his or her own imagination, ergo every single one sees different images.
Despite that, I myself think that it´s about a special one who made a person see what he couldn´t see until the special one came. But what could he have seen? Maybe the love of his life, the pursuit of happiness, the place where he belongs? This leaves loads of place for your own thoughts, which makes the text inspiring and unique. I think "Swallowed in the Sea" is just a metaphor for the mood he is in when the special one isn´t there. Many people may say I´m wrong, but i think we are all right concerning what we believe, what the aim of this song is.
Without giving a definite statement about my thoughts on this song, I´m gonna just end here and let you guys keep on breaking your head while working out the actual meaning.
Thanks for reading!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:D
btw.:SRY FOR MY BAD ENGLISH!^ô^
The title "Swalloed in the Sea" made me think at first of an unexpecting misfortune. Like a catastrophe like the sinking of the Titanic. But for me clearly this song is about something else.
The "Sea" is most likely a metaphor for the flood of emotions to be found in a relationship.
There are these lines: "You put me on a shelf
And kept me for yourself
I can only blame myself
And you can only blame me"
That indicates that the relationship is not going well, obviously there are things that happened and he is at fault. But I cannot think of anything that would justify her to put him on a shelf like a hunting trophy; putting someone on a shelf like a trophy is not nice either, so she would be to blame aswell, right?
Lets look at the next lines:
"And I could write a song
A hundred miles long
Thats where I belong
And you belong with me
And I could write it down
Or spread it all around
Get lost and then get found
Or swallowed in the sea"
Here he says that he could write a song that is a hundred miles long, so he has a lot to say about their relationship, about significant things that had happened. He could write it down and spread the words all around, in hope that he might be able to get lost in love and get found by his love again; but as great that would be, often it is just an utopian fantasy, which does not come true - then he gets "Swallowed in the Sea" of all the cruel, raw emotions of love. Such as sadness, lonlyness, despair, only to be saved by the person he loves as a little ship on this open sea.
"You put me on a line
And hung me out to dry
And darling that's when I
Decided to go to see you
You cut me down to size
And opened up my eyes
Made me realize
What I could not see"
Here he says that he is put on a line, unable to change his direction, and that he is hung out to dry - like a fish of the sea. And as he is out of this ocean he decides that he wants to see her again. Then she cut him down to size, which might mean that she made him see that he is not in that portrait he used to see himself. These two paragraphs actually say that the person he loves is already swallowed in the sea - maybe lost forever?
"And I could write a book
The one they'll say that shook
The world, and then it took
It took it back from me"
There he says that he could write a book about all of his feelings, the happenings which will shake the world and will cease the pain, the shock he felt or still feels.
"The streets you're walking on
A thousand houses long
Well, that's where I belong
And you belong with me"
This he says that she is only walking on big important streets (a thousand houses long), which might mean that she is that much important for him. But it also might mean that even if he wrote a song that would be hundred miles long, it might not reach her.
"Oh what good is it to live
With nothing left to give
Forget but not forgive
Not loving all you see"
There he says even if he had lost everything that the live is still worth living, and that you will eventually forget the pain and the persons you have never forgotten. The very last verse here expresses that it is natural not to love everything, that it is indeed impossible to love everything; even if you tried as hard as possible.
That is my interpretation. I hope that somebody sees the same in this song as I do.
"You cut me down a tree and brought it back to me,
that's what made me see where I was going wrong"
He realizes she would do anything for him, and he realizes how much he's in love with her.
"And I could write a song
A hundred miles long
Well, that's where I belong
And you belong with me
And I could write it down
Or spread it all around
Get lost and then get found
Or swallowed in the sea"
But he really just doesn't know how to love her, even though he wants to. This is hurting her and she becomes "swallowed in the sea" The sea of her own self-hatred/depression. Instead he just writes because that's all he knows to do.
"You put me on a line
And hung me out to dry
And darling that's when I
Decided to go to see you
You cut me down to size
And opened up my eyes
Made me realize
What I could not see"
He realizes how badly she is hurting. She lashes out and that's when it hits him that she needs help.
"And I could write a book
The one they'll say that shook
The world, and then it took
It took it back from me"
He could fill a whole book with this feeling, etc.
"And I could write a song
A hundred miles long
Well, that's where I belong
And you belong with me"
He could and would (and is) write a song for her. He goes on to say that she doesn't deserve to be "swallowed in the sea" of sadness, she belongs with them. And they deserve to be happy together. He says this over and over again. One thing with depression is counselors sometimes make their patients repeat things over and over like "I am loved" or "I deserve happiness" He's trying desperately to convince her of this.
"The streets you're walking on
A thousand houses long
Well, that's where I belong
And you belong with me"
To me, the "streets" she's walking on, symbolize the journey she is taking to get better. It's an extremely long road; "A thousand houses long." To me, it's implied there is eventually a house at the end of this road just for them. But that's probably just me who thinks that. He says "the streets YOU'RE walking on." He's basically saying "well, if that's where you are, then that's where I should be, because we belong together. Even if it's a thousand miles long"
"Oh what good is it to live
With nothing left to give
Forget but not forgive
Not loving all you see"
Reminding her how beautiful life can be. Why would you want to live if you can't love?
X and Y will be used to denote gender ambiguity. This song can be for any two lovers. The role of Y is assumed by Chris Martin but still, I will use gender-neutral references.
I think that 'Swallowed in the Sea' is about two lovers, X and Y. X is unable to fully express love unlike Y who easily "cut [X] down a tree and brought it back to [X]". This line can be interpreted to mean that Y wrote something for X whether it was a poem, a book, a song. The point is, this written piece, cut down from a tree, expressed exactly how much X loved Y but more than that, it made Y realize that there was probably more that Y could contribute to their relationship (i.e. telling X how much love Y really had for X).
And so that's what Y does. Y writes this beautiful song to prove Y's love for X. A thousand miles long, a thousand words long. To Y, even these exaggerations aren't enough to prove such a love though. Y's "writing" motif henceforth becomes more evident.
Y says "I could write you a song," "I could write a book," "I could write it down or spread it all around" (as in, Y could pass down his "story" not just in writing but orally as well). Basically, this "writing" motif allows Y to express how X and Y's love is so great, it can and should go down in history. Thus, this becomes Y's endeavor and it is manifested through the completion of the actual song (which is so beautiful, by that way, that if my interpretation is somewhat right, then X and Y's story lives on). Isn't that romantic!?
And get this: Y says "Get lost and then get found or swallowed in the sea."
I think this means Y realizes that their love story will get lost in history but because it is written down, it will be found again. It's a bit pessimistic to say that their love story could alos get swallowed in the sea but Y acknowledges this reality and moreover, Y acknowledges this BEAUTY.
And Y is right to think that having a great love story is something you would want to share with the world but even if it's lost, it can at least be swallowed in the sea and be timeless. Nonetheless, Y asserts that X doesn't deserve to be forgotten or swallowed because for Y, X has demonstrated unconditional love even when Y couldn't express it beforehand.
I LOVE THIS SONG.
Notice the 9 second silence in the beginning. I think it may be significant in setting this timeless sort of mood I've been describing. It also invokes a feeling of loss (for nine seconds) and then when the music starts is when X and Y are "found".
LOVE IT.
Reply if there's something you don't understand!
Currently in this situation of loving someone who doesn't love me back, and feeling regretful later on for devoting so much time to this person (she put me on a shelf and kept me for herself). I can only blame myself, because its my fault for becoming attached; she can only blame me, because she never asked for anything.
Really like your interpretation; it gives me a little hope for my situation. Also, I don't know if you implied this in your post, but it seems that X is the woman, and Y is the man (XX and XY -> X and Y). You might be two steps ahead, but this was my interpretation. Great post!