Lyrics for All the Rowboats as interpreted by adamanteve

All the Rowboats Lyrics
All the rowboats, in the paintings
They keep trying to row away
And the captain's worried faces
Stay contorted and staring at the waves
They'll keep hanging, in their gold frames
For forever, forever and a day
All the rowboats, in the oil paintings
They keep trying to row away, row away

Hear them whispering, French and German
Dutch, Italian and Latin
When no one's looking, I touch a sculpture
Marble, gold, and soft as satin
But the most special are the most lonely
God, I pity the violins
In glass coffins, they keep coughin'
They've forgotten, forgotten how to sing, how to sing

First there's lights out, then there's lock up
Masterpieces serving maximum sentences
It's their own fault for being timeless
There's a price to pay, and a consequence
All the galleries and museums
"Here's your ticket, welcome to the tombs"
They're just public mausoleums--
The living dead fill every room
But the most special are the most lonely
God, I pity the violins
In glass coffins, they keep coughin'
They've forgotten, forgotten how to sing

They will hang there, in their gold frames
For forever, forever and a day
All the rowboats in the oil paintings
They keep trying to row away, row away

First there's lights out, then there's lock up
Masterpieces serving maximum sentences
It's their own fault for being timeless
There's a price to pay, and a consequence
All the galleries and museums
They will stay there forever and a day

All the rowboats in the oil paintings
They keep trying to row away, row away
All the rowboats in the oil paintings
They keep trying to row away, row away

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  • 13 Comments
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looiz
09-04-2006

Rated 0 
like regina said herself, this is about someone who wants liberate all of the artwork in a museum because they thought it was trapped, and in pain. she does not agree.

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adamanteve
10-17-2006

Rated 0 
haha that's my favorite part of the recording, when she pauses and says, "...I do not agree." very matter-of-factly.

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1 Reply
envirohodges
02-07-2007

Rated 0 
this song is very straight forward...and i love the imagery.....its so clear....
the artwork is imprisoned for being great....it is paraded and chained..... and the meaning of art is to be free and art should be a release

but i stilll wonder if there is a deeper meaning??

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1 Reply
newsies234
02-26-2007

Rated 0 
I am so sad that the only version I have doesn't have the "I do not agree."

Anyway, I love this song. It's beautiful. The images, the music, everything.

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anincurablehumanist
06-03-2007

Rated 0 
I love when she sings "Here's your ticket, welcome to the tombs". Such an awesome metaphor - an art gallery as a mausoleum.

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lovelylight
08-28-2007

Rated 0 
I just heard this song - I think it's my favourite Regina song yet.

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CodyJakubowski
09-17-2007

Rated 0 
hear them whispering, French and German,
->Dutch

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morikahjo
02-19-2008

Rated 0 
AH! its very good lyrics! I love them, i would write something like that! I DO AGREE!

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ne me quitte pas
04-24-2008

Rated 0 
this song always makes me want to sing along. I love how it sounds completely random and crazy when you listen to it the first few times, until you realize what regina is actually saying. then it just becomes really amazing.

hmm... wonderful imagery and slightly disturbing metaphors - what's not to love?

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incurable_humanist
04-26-2008

Rated +1 
I think this song is about more than just artwork, and things that you find in museums. It's about our tendency to keep beautiful or interesting things locked up, when they should be open and free for everyone to enjoy.

However, the tragic part is, while we admire and enjoy beautiful things, we also destroy them (the forests, nature, pieces of art, etc), sometimes purposely, sometimes not. So, it's probably best that those things are kept locked up so they can be preserved for future generations.

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kaatrien
07-26-2008

Rated +1 
love this song,reminds me of the d.h lawrence quote:
"museums, object-lessons rigged out to illustrate the unsound theories of archaeologists, crazy attempts to co-ordinate and get into a fixed order that which has no fixed order and will not be co-coordinated! It is sickening! Why must all experience be systematized? A museum is not a first-hand contact: it is an illustrated lecture. And what one wants is the actual vital touch."

I don't agree with the sentiment either,I love museums.

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blue.painted.tears
11-09-2008

Rated 0 
i love her perspective, i've never heard it that way before.
great imagery as always.
but i'm not sure i agree. i like museums, but she's got a point too.
i guess it's just too sad watching those works of art waste away.

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AlecsPen
10-21-2009

Rated 0 
i'll never go to a museum the same <3

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