Behind the Sea Lyrics
A daydream spills from my corked head
Breaks free of my wooden neck
Left to nod over sleeping waves
Like bobbing bait for bathing cod
Floating flocks of candled swans
Slowly drift across wax ponds
[Chorus: Ryan Ross & Brendon Urie]
The men all played along to marching drums
And, boy, did they have fun, behind the sea
They sang, (Hey!) so our matching legs are marching clocks
And we're all too small to talk to God
Yes, we're all too smart to talk to God
[Verse 2: Ryan Ross]
Toast the fine folks casting silver crumbs
To us from the dock
Jinxed things ringing as they leak
Through tiny cracks in the boardwalk
Scarecrow, now it's time to hatch
Sprouting suns and ageless daughters
[Pre-Chorus: Brendon Urie, Brendon Urie & Ryan Ross]
Don't you know, don't you know
That those watermelon smiles
Just can't ripen underwater?
Just can't ripen underwater?
The men all played along to marching drums
And, boy, did they have fun, behind the sea
They sang, (Hey!)
So our matching legs are marching clocks
And we're all too small to talk to God
Yeah, we're all too smart to talk to God
Oh, we're all too smart to talk to God
[Bridge: All]
Oh, legs of wood waves
Waves of wooden legs (Yeah!)
Waves of wooden legs
Legs of wood waves
Waves of wooden legs
Waves of wooden legs
Legs of wood waves
Waves of wooden legs
Waves of wooden legs
Legs of wood waves
Waves of wooden legs
Waves of wooden legs
[Outro: Ryan Ross]
So close...
About
“Behind the Sea” (originally titled “Sushi in a Tuxedo, in the Clams Casino”) is the eleventh track on Panic! at the Disco’s second studio album, Pretty. Odd., and has a nautical theme with an abundance of vivid imagery. It discusses creativity and the freedom to express it.
The title seems to be a reference to the prologue of Friedrich Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra, in which Nietzsche writes:
Therefore must I descend into the deep: as thou doest in the evening, when thou goest behind the sea, and givest light also to the nether-world, thou exuberant star!
“Behind the Sea” has an alternate version sung entirely by Ryan Ross without any backing vocals. It contains stripped-down instrumentals and it ends before the bridge in the original version begins, making it just under two-and-a-half minutes long.
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
Ryan Ross said this in an interview with VH1:
That was really cool. I walked in one day and these guys were talking about the song and they said, ‘Why don’t you try to sing this?’ I sang it because it was me and [bassist] Jon[’s] [Walker’s] song, [so] I knew the song well. We did it and everyone thought it was cool. It’s still one of the coolest songs on the album.
- 11.Behind the Sea
- 12.Folkin’ Around
- 15.Mad as Rabbits
