I grabbed hold of her wrist and my hand closed from tip to tip
I said, you've taken the diet too far, you've got to let it slip
But she's not eating again, she's not eating again
She's not eating again, she's not eating again

I ask her to speak French and then I need her to translate
I get the feeling she makes the meaning more significant
She was always far too pretty for me
To believe in a single word she said, believe a word she said

At fourteen her mother died in a routine operation
From allergic reaction to a general anesthetic
Spent the rest of her teens experimenting with prescriptions
In a futile attempt to know more than the doctors

She said, one day to leave her
Sand up to her shoulders waiting for the tide
To drag her to the ocean, to another sea's shore
This thing hurts like hell but what did you expect

And all you can hear is the sound of your own heart
And all you can feel is your lungs flood and the blood course
But oh I can see five hundred years dead set ahead of me
Five hundred behind, a thousand years in perfect symmetry

Best known left wrist right finger through all the southern states
On every video games machine they call her triple A
There were racists on the radio trying to give up smoking
The chat show host, he joked
You have to wait for the government program

You talk about your politics
And I wonder if you could be one of them
But you could never kiss a Tory boy
Without wanting to cut off your tongue again

A good place to look to the future is
When you are sat at the sea
With the salt up to your ankles
And a view of the end of the pier

You may look down at your model's feet
And wish that you'd just float away
And the weather here is overcast
And the sea is the same shade of gray

So the landscape before you looks just like the edge of the world
But to the left side and the right side
Either way is a crazy golf course
The sea is a good place to think of the future

And all you can hear is the sound of your own heart
And all you can feel is your lungs flood and the blood course
But oh I can see five hundred years dead set ahead of me
Five hundred behind, a thousand years in perfect symmetry
A thousand years no getting rid of me
A thousand years in perfect symmetry


Lyrics submitted by girlunderglass

The Sea Is a Good Place to Think of the Future Lyrics as written by Thomas Edward Bromley Gareth David Paisey

Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

The Sea Is a Good Place to Think of the Future song meanings
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18 Comments

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  • +8
    General Comment

    i think this song is about one of those girls, and we all know what kind of girls, they scare the shit out of you, because they worry you to death, but they're still the most beautiful creature in the world, and you can't escape loving them.

    beautiful, beautiful song

    hey,gorgeous.on September 10, 2009   Link
  • +6
    General Comment

    well, to me- this song represents depression, repression which leads to anger and escapism...

    Depression because the world doesn't want to see a beautiful girl in a dilapidated state, they won't allow her to mourn. There is a constant pressure to appear perfect and pretty when inside she feels irreparably torn and damaged. And she's screaming ***WHAT DID YOU EXPECT? She takes pills to numb the pain but they only intensify the it. She diets too much to control something, anything.

    Escapism because the sea represents timelessness- She thinks of a place where her mind could be calm (suicide) and thinks about her ashes spread about the sea when one dies. The Sea Is a Good Place to Think of the Future -her future being the life at the bottom of the sea, ie- her ashes. And all you can hear is the sound of your own heart - this is about the sounds you hear under water when you hold your breath. ***And all you can feel is your lungs flood and the blood course - ...obviously drowning.

    ***A thousand years in perfect symmetry - in the sea she would remain perfect forever.

    ***and the weather here is overcast and the sea is the same shade of grey, so the landscape before you looks just like the edge of the world, but to the left side and the right side, either way is a crazy golf course. -she feels doomed because the depression has muddled her thoughts and distorted her thinking...the only solution she sees is the serenity of the sea.

    I think it's about teetering on the edge of something very scary, contemplating suicide...general helplessness.

    Though I could be wrong, it's just what it means to me.

    PrettyVacant77on September 16, 2009   Link
  • +4
    My Opinion

    Does anyone else think the new album (particularly this song) shows a real step forward in terms of lyrical maturity?

    I mean, Gareth has always been one of the best lyricists about but this song is just in a league of it's own, even by LC! standards.

    mattgill1992on January 29, 2010   Link
  • +4
    My Interpretation

    I was honestly at a loss for words when I first heard this song a few minutes ago. I currently have it on repeat- I'm kind of just thinking up of what it could mean. Of course, everybody has their own interpretation, but this is mine. This is mainly just the first part, I'm having trouble with the last few parts of the song.

    To me, this is about those girls who look absolutely gorgeous- blond hair, blue eyes, skinny, just... generally pretty. Those girls who look like they have it all- who look like they've had a good life and nothing in their life has gone wrong. But then her mother died. And barely anybody knew. She starved herself, and by 'practising with prescriptions', I feel it means that she's been trying to see what kind of medication will kill her. If she has a reaction, and dies. However, it doesn't work. Nothing kills her or puts her in the state that her mother was- and she's not 'brave enough' to do it any other way. The line about speaking French reminds me of when you try to ask somebody what's wrong- but they don't want to tell you because they don't want you to worry. So they say things like 'you know when you feel like there's nothing left for you, you don't belong?' and whether you answer yes or no, they'll probably say 'neither have I', 'I haven't'. IE, delivering a message in a secret way so you don't find out. The only place she feels safe within herself is by the sea- somewhere where it's calm, and quite, and not many disturbances. Somewhere she can think, and be herself. Possibly a place where she grew up around.

    Tl;dr, I think it's one of those songs that are representing the teenagers of now.The hidden ones. The ones that hide their depression. They get depressed, something escalates the depression, they try to sort it out, and they get nowhere. They hide it from everybody, and they find their own little place in the world.

    Remember that this is just what I think, and it is in no way the true meaning of the song as far as I know. c:

    stroketheeyelidson September 11, 2011   Link
  • +3
    General Comment

    I love Gareth's lyricism to death but that "crazy golf course" line makes me cringe a little every time. Such a tiny niggle with an otherwise incredible song.

    4barbelaon December 23, 2009   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    Pretty obvious but I just got the "triple A" line and chuckled to myself. On the high scoreboard if you don't want to type out a name you'd just tap action thrice, giving AAA.

    Conn92on January 27, 2010   Link
  • +2
    Song Meaning

    I think this song is the thoughts of a being who lives for a millennium in the midst of a mid-life crisis on his 500th birthday.

    marvinbananaon June 27, 2010   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    Officially my new favorite LC! song. I love the stories they tell through their songs... the lyrics always just fit perfectly. Most underrated, talented band of the late 00's.

    TONERon September 13, 2009   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    This is about Aleks.

    chocolatefountainon July 18, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Well, i think this song speaks about loneliness. Specifically how us as human beings are basically just trapped in our own lives, whether good, bad or average, and no matter how much they want, outsiders can't help if we can't help ourselves. Because we are alone.

    Its a beautiful song.

    And yes, i do believe this latest album shows remarkable growth in lyrics. The lyrics in general are amazing. "I just sighed..." has some of my favorite verses of any song. So does this one.

    AllegroRubatoon May 16, 2010   Link

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