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

Tell the other phantoms
I'll follow to the end
Of the earth
And fall off

Yeah, everybody leaves
If they get the chance
And this is my chance

I get eaten by the worms
And weird fishes
Picked over by the worms
And weird fishes
Weird fishes
Weird fishes

Yeah I
I'll hit the bottom
Hit the bottom and escape
Escape

And I
I'll hit the bottom
Hit the bottom
Hit the bottom and escape
Escape



Lyrics submitted by saturnine, edited by Arialaxe

Track duration: 04:26


Weird Fishes/Arpeggi song meanings
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134 Comments

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  • 0
    General Comment:Its about a whale fall
    Flag jtbuckon March 18, 2013   Link
  • +2
    My Interpretation:Has anyone reading this ever nearly drowned or suffocated due to any reason?
    This song gives me that feeling. It is somewhat more literal than the other interpretations in that the sea is actually drowning the protaganist slowly by suffocation.
    It is the feeling when you are at the bottom of the ocean and after seeing something or someone beautiful, you have two choices.
    -swim back up and survive.
    -follow the mysterious thing and die.

    It represents the rationality that one would rather die while looking at something beautiful than live in their own dull world.
    'I'd be crazy not to follow
    Follow where you lead.
    Your eyes,
    they turn me.'

    It is the feeling that you are suffocating, and yet the pure beauty of this thing is masking the fear that should be present, and replacing it with happiness and love.
    I also believe that the arpeggios and overall mood/texture that is used throughout the song really reflects n it's meaning, whether my interpretation is correct or not.

    'Everybody leaves,
    when they get the chance,
    and this,
    is my chance.'

    This may represent the knowledge of the person drowning that their time is running out, and if they are to escape, that this moment is their last chance.

    Even if my interpretation is pointless and stupid, (Although, no interpretation is ever wrong) I still believe that this song holds immense power and an attitude toward dying that is unfathomable and yet so deeply human.

    'I get eaten by the worms.
    And weird fishes.'

    This stanza is different in that the texture of the song changes, highlighting the vocals. These lines most certainly attain some beauty and perfection to a death at the bottom of the ocean. Not decaying in a wooden box or being burnt and spread etc.

    The last line, (I hit the bottom and escape etc) is perhaps the only stanza that supports the suicide theory more than mine, in that if he were hoping to survive, hitting the bottom of the ocean would probably make him even more screwed than before, although, nevertheless, i love the change in texture and the way Thom sings these last lines.
    Flag BenHurlson November 28, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Here it goes. I believe this song is about depression and contemplating suicide, eventually carrying it out.

    "In the deepest ocean
    The bottom of the sea"

    In a deep depression. I think this a pretty good metaphor for depression.

    "Your eyes
    They turn me

    Why should I stay here?
    Why should I stay"

    Here, the speaker may be reminiscing about a person they once knew, but is dead now. This is making the speaker think about dying as well.

    "I'd be crazy not to follow
    Follow where you lead"

    The speaker is thinking about dying.

    "I follow to the edge of the earth
    And fall off"

    Committing suicide by jumping from a high cliff, or maybe a structure, into the ocean. The impact would cause a human to die, and their body would sink to the bottom of the ocean.

    "I get eaten by the worms
    And weird fishes"

    After the speaker is died, their body will decompose and be picked apart by scavenger animals in the ocean.

    "Yeah I
    I'll hit the bottom
    Hit the bottom and escape"

    The speaker will jump into the ocean and die, hit the bottom of the ocean, and escape from life.
    Flag queenhimion November 26, 2012   Link
  • +1
    My Interpretation:For me, I've always related this song to my own personal feelings of being stuck in a town and situation I hate. I think that the "deepest ocean/bottom of the sea" is this inescapable place that seems impossible to leave. It's the bottom of the ocean, where there is no sunlight or any outside influences to set you free.

    The "Your eyes, they turn me" is some person or some thing finally giving the person a wake up call and hope for a life outside of the ocean floor. For me, I always picture it as a woman who comes from "the surface" or lives at the bottom and tells him stories of life outside. He contemplates "Why should I stay here?", realizing that these people and this location will never fulfill his desires in life. He gives all his trust to her and decides to "follow where you lead".

    I think that the "phantoms" that she is "turning him on to" are the abandoned dreams that he once had hoped to achieve, but was held back by his own inhibitions. Her arrival has reawakened his determination and he is ready to "follow to the edge of the earth".

    "Everybody leaves, if they get the chance, and this is my chance" - I think that all of this person's past friends have already escaped long ago, while he has been left behind at the "bottom of the sea". This girl, whose eyes have reminded him of everything he lacks, is his last chance at escaping/being happy.

    Unfortunately, something goes wrong and he misses his last chance. Somebody outside force, or perhaps his personal fears, keeps him from making that jump to the other side. He lets her get away while he gets "eaten by the worms and weird fishes", which are the people who reside at the bottom of the sea. He now knows that it is only downhill from here, and that the only thing that will free him is the day when he finally loses everything and realizes how much time he has been wasting. "I'll hit the bottom and escape"

    tl;dr - It's about being trapped and then seeing a way out, only to let the opportunity slide by.
    Flag FishHead56on August 28, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:What if... the weird fishes are notes? Like music notes, they have little tails and look like fishes. I always took this to be a love song as well, but maybe it's about using music to escape when love doesn't work out. Arpeggi are note structures radiohead use a lot on their music, the title of the song suggests weird fishes / arpeggi are interchangeable.
    Flag whiskieson July 03, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Its quite simple actually. Its about how life or love or fill in the blank tempts you to go somewhere that seems so magical and mysterious and cool. But, then you realize its all phantoms and danger and hurt. And you try desperately to escape. Swim back to safer waters, so to speak.
    Flagged Alexis1985on June 09, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:to me it's like a couple deeply in love, exploring nature in places extremely separated from civilization, outside the earth. It's like Thom is fantasizing about it, with lucid lyrics like the part where he talks of falling off the earth. Thinking of someone he loves deeply and desperately, and dreaming of following her away from everyone else, into the far reaches. Indulging in beautiful escapism. He gets lost in his fantasy, as his feelings for her eat at him like worms and weird fishes. Hitting the bottom and escaping might be him going into an emotional breakdown, where he collapses as spectacularly as the music in that part. Then his feelings hit rock bottom, and he's done being cut up. Thing about that point is that your emotions are used up. You're out of hurt. So you don't hurt anymore. You escape. Thom hit the bottom and escaped.
    Flag WillAndWindon May 18, 2012   Link
  • 0
    Lyric Correction: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 into 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
    And weird fishes
    Picked over the worms
    And weird fishes
    Weird fishes
    Weird fishes

    Yeah I
    I hit the bottom
    I hit the bottom, and escape
    Escape
    And I
    I hit the bottom
    Hit the bottom
    Hit the bottom and escape
    Escape
    Flag paperbagwriteron February 27, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:anybody who thinks this song is about suicide should..no, not shot themselves. But..just maybe try harder.
    And oh, pardon me if I don't spell correctly. I'm from Sweden soo
    Flag bebson January 25, 2012   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation:This is an allusion to deep sea animals, obviously, but the metaphor it contains, in my opinion, is about love. Unconditional, stupid, obsessive love.

    "In the deepest ocean, the bottom of the sea, your eyes, they turn me."

    --No matter how shitty my life is, no matter what is on my mind, this girl's eyes are the thing that capture me. Also an allusion to a worm or fish that is attracted to a light designed to attract prey- "your eyes".
    In the same way, he's metaphorically insinuating that a beautiful girl's eyes are infatuating, captivating, and, once you're lost, can lead you to wherever- to "the bottom", looking for an "escape."

    "Everybody leaves if they get the chance." "I'd be crazy not to follow, follow where you lead."
    -Basically everyone wants love, and to be loved.

    "I'll hit the bottom and escape..."
    -Even if he follows, thinking that this thing (animal, light, girl, whatever) will set him free, he's going to find himself alone in the abyss, or, even worse, be "eaten by the worms and weird fishes."

    In short, love seems great until it turns into madness.
    Flag bubblegumanimalson December 04, 2011   Link

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