1
And you may find yourself living in a shotgun shack
And you may find yourself in another part of the world
And you may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile
And you may find yourself in a beautiful house, with a beautiful wife
And you may ask yourself, "Well, how did I get here?"
Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by, water flowing underground
Into the blue again after the money's gone
Once in a lifetime, water flowing underground
And you may ask yourself, "How do I work this?"
And you may ask yourself, "Where is that large automobile?"
And you may tell yourself, "This is not my beautiful house"
And you may tell yourself, "This is not my beautiful wife"
Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by, water flowing underground
Into the blue again after the money's gone
Once in a lifetime, water flowing underground
Same as it ever was, same as it ever was
Same as it ever was, same as it ever was
Same as it ever was, same as it ever was
Same as it ever was, same as it ever was
Water dissolving and water removing
There is water at the bottom of the ocean
Under the water, carry the water
Remove the water at the bottom of the ocean
Water dissolving and water removing
Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by, water flowing underground
Into the blue again, into the silent water
Under the rocks and stones, there is water underground
Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by, water flowing underground
Into the blue again after the money's gone
Once in a lifetime, water flowing underground
You may ask yourself, "What is that beautiful house?"
You may ask yourself, "Where does that highway go to?"
And you may ask yourself, "Am I right? Am I wrong?"
And you may say to yourself, "My God, what have I done?"
Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by, water flowing underground
Into the blue again, into the silent water
Under the rocks and stones, there is water underground
Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by, water flowing underground
Into the blue again after the money's gone
Once in a lifetime, water flowing underground
Same as it ever was, same as it ever was
Same as it ever was and look where my hand was
Time isn't holding up, time isn't after us
Same as it ever was, the same as it ever was
Same as it ever was, same as it ever was
Same as it ever was, same as it ever was
Same as it ever was
Here a twister comes, here comes a twister
Same as it ever was, same as it ever was (letting the days go by)
Same as it ever was, same as it ever was (letting the days go by)
Once in a lifetime, let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by, water flowing underground
Into the blue again
And you may find yourself in another part of the world
And you may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile
And you may find yourself in a beautiful house, with a beautiful wife
And you may ask yourself, "Well, how did I get here?"
Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by, water flowing underground
Into the blue again after the money's gone
Once in a lifetime, water flowing underground
And you may ask yourself, "How do I work this?"
And you may ask yourself, "Where is that large automobile?"
And you may tell yourself, "This is not my beautiful house"
And you may tell yourself, "This is not my beautiful wife"
Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by, water flowing underground
Into the blue again after the money's gone
Once in a lifetime, water flowing underground
Same as it ever was, same as it ever was
Same as it ever was, same as it ever was
Same as it ever was, same as it ever was
Same as it ever was, same as it ever was
Water dissolving and water removing
There is water at the bottom of the ocean
Under the water, carry the water
Remove the water at the bottom of the ocean
Water dissolving and water removing
Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by, water flowing underground
Into the blue again, into the silent water
Under the rocks and stones, there is water underground
Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by, water flowing underground
Into the blue again after the money's gone
Once in a lifetime, water flowing underground
You may ask yourself, "What is that beautiful house?"
You may ask yourself, "Where does that highway go to?"
And you may ask yourself, "Am I right? Am I wrong?"
And you may say to yourself, "My God, what have I done?"
Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by, water flowing underground
Into the blue again, into the silent water
Under the rocks and stones, there is water underground
Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by, water flowing underground
Into the blue again after the money's gone
Once in a lifetime, water flowing underground
Same as it ever was, same as it ever was
Same as it ever was and look where my hand was
Time isn't holding up, time isn't after us
Same as it ever was, the same as it ever was
Same as it ever was, same as it ever was
Same as it ever was, same as it ever was
Same as it ever was
Here a twister comes, here comes a twister
Same as it ever was, same as it ever was (letting the days go by)
Same as it ever was, same as it ever was (letting the days go by)
Once in a lifetime, let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by, water flowing underground
Into the blue again
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The first time I really listened closely to this song I was on acid, and kept asking my RA about existance, and whether or not people actually exist. He showed me the video for this song (he owned the DVD) to help explain some things. I will say right now, that I have a completly different view than the rest of you, due to that experience.
The way I interpret this song, is when you are not questioning, you are "letting the days go by." If you don't continiously question existance, you are not doing your job as a human being. Life is about discovering who you are, and discoveries are made by inquiry. The water part of the song is the key to everything in it. Water is pure, it is the most essential part of life for all creatures. However, water is what is keeping us from discovery, it is the barrier between us and god, us and nirvana, us and serenity.
However, if you go though life without questioning what you have, and who you are, you'll still have all these great things (beautiful house, beautiful wife), as you are being held together by the water. It will always be there to support you, but at the same time it is holding you down.
I like it! - how about this: Water IS life, and what's holding us back is life its self.. perhaps he's suggesting we need to leave our physical body behind and experience something more spiritually fulfilling - maybe like an acid trip :)<br /> <br /> the way i see it, all great songs are about drugs - even the ones that "aren't" haha
I like this. There is a little blurb in the sleeve of one of Tool's albums (I'm pretty sure aenema) that goes along with your interpretation. It kind of talks about how if a the wheels of a brain stop spinning it is technically dead. So you need to think for yourself and don't be afraid to question stuff. In other words, if we just accept everything for what it is, and don't question things or stop to think for a second, we're not really living. Just thought that was interesting. rock on.
Very intelligent interpretation of this song's lyrics and well articulated too! You've gone a tad deeper on each of my basic thoughts I have in my "more shallow" (honestly, no aquatic pun intended, let's say basic instead!!) interpretation but at least we're on the same track!! <br /> <br /> And also, you've reminded me of how much I used to love my Acid...as I'm also sure Mr David Byrne did/does as well, after all of these years watching him perform live, in music videos and especially some of his more enigmatic comments, opinions and beliefs in his interviews!! <br /> <br /> Cheers for now...Matt.
Still waters run deep, however, a still mind never does. It doesn't take tweeking via acid to expand boundaries, just a little thought with the understanding that boundaries do not exist. Waait...what is this song again? Now I need to hear it.
Nevermind. It's overplayed.
@p3nguinpi3 I think its more like, water flows by taking the path of least resistance. Having a big house, wife, car, etc. in this case is actually taking the path of least resistance in terms of the way society usually dictates how we live. But time isn't holding anyone back, we can always try for the unconventional path.
@p3nguinpi3 h'mm, a good song on Acid, indeed...<br /> But i think your interpretation is quite common...<br /> The 'same-as-it-ever-was' refrain, makes me think of when we (re-)discover Happiness/Awareness/Freedom, it is always the same essence.... Here it is again, and out of time itself... I think Byrne was very into the Spiritual Truth of things...<br />
@p3nguinpi3 - What bullshit. Questioning who you are? What does that even mean?<br /> <br /> Basically what you're saying is that unless I believe stupid shit with no evidence such as the ridiculous notion that some magical being has a "plan" for me or that "my consciousness, man, is like 'out there', you know, dude?" then I'm not up to your lofty standards. This psychobabble is tiring.<br /> <br /> I do think about how to be a decent human being, but I'm done pretending that I'll find an answer to some supreme purpose for myself. People have been trying for millennia and still, the most substantial answers we have are absolutely empty and baseless.<br /> <br /> This is where lame-minded people who get butthurt about their stupid ideas being shit on respond to me in anger. -->
@p3nguinpi3 <br /> You overthought this due to Lysergic acid affecting your synapses.
@p3nguinpi3 I agree with your comments about this song. Thanks for sharing.
@p3nguinpi3 F*cking BRILLIANT. <br /> This is the clearest interpretation of this song ever.<br /> I feel the truth in my bones.