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Baby Britain feels the best
Floating over a sea of vodka
Separated from the rest
Fights problems with bigger problems
Sees the ocean fall and rise
Counts the waves that somehow didn't hit her
Water pouring from her eyes
Alcoholic and very bitter
For someone half as smart
You'd be a work of art
You put yourself apart
And I can't help until you start
We knocked another couple back
The dead soldiers lined up on the table
Still prepared for an attack
They didn't know they'd been disabled
Felt a wave a rush of blood
You won't be happy 'til the bottle's broken
And you're out swimming in the flood
You kept back you kept unspoken
For someone half as smart
You'd be a work of art
You put yourself apart
And I can't help until you start
You got a look in your eye
When you're saying goodbye
Like you want to say hi
The light was on but it was dim
Revolver's been turned over
And now it's ready once again
The radio was playing "crimson and clover"
London bridge is safe and sound
No matter what you keep repeating
Nothing's gonna drag me down
To a death that's not worth cheating
For someone half as smart
You'd be a work of art
You put yourself apart
And I can't help until you start
For someone half as smart
You'd be a work of art
You put yourself apart
And I can't help until you start
Floating over a sea of vodka
Separated from the rest
Fights problems with bigger problems
Sees the ocean fall and rise
Counts the waves that somehow didn't hit her
Water pouring from her eyes
Alcoholic and very bitter
For someone half as smart
You'd be a work of art
You put yourself apart
And I can't help until you start
We knocked another couple back
The dead soldiers lined up on the table
Still prepared for an attack
They didn't know they'd been disabled
Felt a wave a rush of blood
You won't be happy 'til the bottle's broken
And you're out swimming in the flood
You kept back you kept unspoken
For someone half as smart
You'd be a work of art
You put yourself apart
And I can't help until you start
You got a look in your eye
When you're saying goodbye
Like you want to say hi
The light was on but it was dim
Revolver's been turned over
And now it's ready once again
The radio was playing "crimson and clover"
London bridge is safe and sound
No matter what you keep repeating
Nothing's gonna drag me down
To a death that's not worth cheating
For someone half as smart
You'd be a work of art
You put yourself apart
And I can't help until you start
For someone half as smart
You'd be a work of art
You put yourself apart
And I can't help until you start
Lyrics submitted by EnjOy IncUbus
Track duration: 03:14
"Baby Britain" as written by Steven P. Smith
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I feel like this is the ultimate insult to a person. It's saying that they are not living anywhere near there potential. They are wasting their life and gift. That if they were half as smart as they actually are they would appear to be a success, but the fact that they are where they are in life with their high intelligence/potential is disgraceful.
Baby Britain appears to be a woman who is a bitter, attention-seeking and had a dependency on alcohol to feel good ("feels best floating over a sea of vodka")
Smith talks about this woman in a very negative tone, so it could be said that he resents her, but when he says "we knocked another couple back" we then know that he still spends time with this woman. (Perhaps what he resents in her is also what he doesn't like in himself?)
Baby Britain seems unable to deal with her own problems, so makes them up to be problems beyond her that she cannot solve ("fights problems with bigger problems") and, in frequent references to the sea Elliott puts across how little of a grip she has on dealing with her own life ("counts the waves that somehow didn't hit her" "you're out swimming in the flood")
He also describes alcohol as something aggressive and violent by making them out to be like soldiers ("the dead soldiers lined up on the table/still prepared for an attack/they didn't know they'd been disabled") It's like alcohol is something they need to fight against by drinking it, a twisted logic for sure.
The most interesting line for me is definitely "For someone half as smart you'd be a work of art." This makes me think that perhaps Baby Britain feels compelled to put herself above others, perhaps people who aren't as 'messed up' as she is, like she's putting herself up on a pedestal for her problems.
Nobody seems to mention the stanza talking about a revolver being "ready once again" and "nothings gunna drag me down to a death that's not worth cheating for." How does that fit into the interpretation about it being about an alcoholic friend?
Also, the line "For someone half as smart you'd be a work of art" to me sounds like an insult, saying that you aren't a work of art to me, but maybe someone that is half as smart as me could think you are great. However, I can't find any basis for that interpretation except the emotion I feel from this song, so I could be wrong.
I agree with the one person who said that it's describes playing Russian Roulette over shots of vodka. This is a song about self-destruction, but (obviously since he wrote the song) with an understanding of this. The speaker ends up questioning whether he will allow himself to be dragged down to committing suicide instead of fighting.
I think the speaker compares himself with an alcoholic he sees/knows, and decides that just giving up is pitiful and that you have to try to help yourself and not cheat life and take the easy way out. This doesn't make it an optimistic song, however. It is written from the verge of self-destruction.
I do think the song is about Britain (duh) and America, but it’s not some grand geopolitical theme. It’s about a conversation between two people.
I think the narrator is perhaps ribbing a young female friend of his who is a homesick British ex-pat who is difficult to get to know (“separated from the rest” “you put yourself apart”), who lives in America, who doesn’t like America at all and will gladly tell you about it (like our friend ** - j/k!), who loves to argue or debate (soldiers, attack, revolver), and, of course, drink, a lot.
I think the tone is much more teasing than serious, even flirtatious. His reference to “Crimson and Clover” ties into this (“I don't hardly know her but I think I could love her”)
"For someone half as smart, you'd be a work of art." Could mean either “you can’t fool me, I see through you,” or it could mean “you’re smarter than you act.” Or both, I guess. Or neither, of course.
I still don’t get the lyric “I can’t help until you start.” It seems to me both of the characters in this story are drinking heavily, it’s not as though the narrator is trying to persuade her to come to an AA meeting.
One thing I don’t see mentioned above - I think the lyric is actually “you *get back*, you get unspoken” rather than “you kept back...” “Get Back being a reference to the Beatles song (“get back to where you once belonged”) - suggesting his friend’s longing for home and self-imposed feeling of isolation.
I love the line “Revolver’s been turned over” - she’s still debating and arguing though he wishes she would relax a bit.