Swim Good Lyrics
Big enough to take these broken hearts and put 'em in it
Now I'm driving 'round on the boulevard, trunk bleeding
And every time the cops pull me over, they never see them
And I've got this black suit on
Roaming around like I'm ready for a funeral
Five more miles 'til the road runs out
Imma try to swim from something bigger than me
Kick off my shoes and swim good, and swim good
Take off this suit and swim good, and swim good, good
Memory seats I'm sitting on stay heated
I woulda put tints on my windows but what's the difference
If I feel like a Ghost, no Swayze, ever since I lost my baby
I've had this black suit on
Roaming around like I'm ready for a funeral
One more mile 'til the road runs out
Imma try to swim from something bigger than me
Kick off my shoes and swim good, and swim good
Take off this suit and swim good, and swim good, good
I'm going off, don't try saving
No flares, no vest, and no fear
Waves are washing me (out)
Imma try to swim from something bigger than me
Kick off my shoes and swim good, and swim good
Take off this suit and swim good, and swim good, good
I disagree with "readmedotexe" on this one completely; these lyrics definitely need explaining. My interpretation is the following:
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The first verse is explaining the pain he has inflicted on others (women) in his past. He's been able to do so thus far without feeling pain himself and no one else (cops) can notice it.
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The second verse is when he illustrates the pain that his actions are finally causing him; it is beginning to catch-up to him (a continuation of what is explicitly expressed in the hook)...
The premise of the songs ends up being him wanted to shed his past, and his old "self" to a certain degree, and start anew. The notion of cleansing his sins and starting new as a re-defined man is evoked through the use of the baptism metaphor. The car/lincoln town car is used to parallel himself and/or his body driving (traveling) through life. He has held this in for so long and it is now time for him to shed his past and look for something completely different by becoming someone he aspires to be.
But why is there so much drama in the way he expresses going to the ocean Rio03. I think he knows he cant change his ways, so the only way to heal is if he is dead. Watching the video he ends up at a cliff and below there is so much rock. "THERE IS NO CLEANSING THERE! JUST DEATH".
But why is there so much drama in the way he expresses going to the ocean Rio03. I think he knows he cant change his ways, so the only way to heal is if he is dead. Watching the video he ends up at a cliff and below there is so much rock. "THERE IS NO CLEANSING THERE! JUST DEATH".
I think he's expressing the pain & hurt of ending or the end of a relationship. & how it's something very hard for you to do & accept, considering the fact that you are in love & don't want to leave because of it being soo hard. & when you do, you feel empty, lost & almost nonexistant without the one you love( by him saying "when i feel like a ghost no schwayze, ever since i lost my baby").
I feel he's also associating it with like commiting suicide or the "death" of a once good relationship. & trying to leave behind all of the hurt (hearts) & baggage attached to the situation by driving the car (with them inside it) into the ocean to be forgot about. & then he swims away from all of it, meaning he's letting it go.
I relate to this ALOT as far as a ending of a relationship & having to let go of all the baggage & hurt to move on. When you do try to let it go it does feel like your commiting suicide because when your in love, that person becomes apart of you. & to let go, it is like killing an other half of you. It really hurts alot but you know its something you have to do :/
Just for everyone's information, seeing as replies seem to be hidden away: The line "like a Ghost, no Swayze.." Frank is referring to the 1990 Patrick Swayze film GHost where Swayze plays a ghost in love with a living woman. Fitting reference I guess..
The song is interesting because cars are usually vehicles of independence, there are allusions to swimming, diving, roaming, kicking of shoes...
maybe he's no longer running but in the process of figuring out what you do after you stop running.
He moves from road analogies, to water... maybe he's not "running" when he enters the water, but confronting his own emotionality, literally diving into it. Diving into his pain, his real pain. Taking off the layers of death around him, and allowing himself to be impacted by real life.
If you watch the video as well as listen to the song you see there are purposely multiple meanings to this song because he is going through a metamorphosis of who he is. You see and hear this feeling of regret as well as a metaphorical need to "Swim Good" he has the regrets and pain (Hearts in his Trunk) with him and as he has been shackles to the shoes and suit he wears to the empending funeral of his old self. When he drives his car into the water he is leaving all of that at the bottom of the sea and letting the waves wash over him as he removes the past (shoes and suit) so that he may swim good. He uses the audiotune of Kanye from his 808 heartbreak album and uses references to that in order to decribe the pain. At the very end the sing you hear seagulls and peaceful waves so that you know he saw good and after struggling to see if he actually wanted to do this change. He is finally at peace with the man that he was and will be
Don't think the lyrics need much explaining. All I care to say is that this song plays in my head all day, every day.
I think this song is definetely about escaping, leaving your past and your mistakes behind. You start fresh if you swim good enough. Swimming is an analogy to Running away or making yourself free to enter a new chapter in your life.
alright so i love this song, i understand most of it. there's just this one part that i can't seem to get.
"when i feel like a ghost no shwayze"
what exactly does he mean when he says 'no shwayze' ?
"when i feel like a ghost no Schwayze" is a reference to the romantic hit movie Ghost starring the late actor Patrick Swayze as the male main character. Swayze dies but his spirit returns and saves the day. Hence Frank Ocean is describing the feeling of being a ghost like Swayze but without the happy ending.
"when i feel like a ghost no Schwayze" is a reference to the romantic hit movie Ghost starring the late actor Patrick Swayze as the male main character. Swayze dies but his spirit returns and saves the day. Hence Frank Ocean is describing the feeling of being a ghost like Swayze but without the happy ending.
Patrick Swayze was in a movie called Ghost
Patrick Swayze was in a movie called Ghost
Just for everyone's information, when he says "Like a Ghost, no Swayze.." He's referring to one of Patrick Swayze's old movies, called Ghost. And in the film Patrick Swayze plays the heartbroken ghost of a man who died, effectively losing his loved one.
Just for everyone's information, when he says "Like a Ghost, no Swayze.." He's referring to one of Patrick Swayze's old movies, called Ghost. And in the film Patrick Swayze plays the heartbroken ghost of a man who died, effectively losing his loved one.
Just for everyone's information, seeing as replies seem to be hidden away: The line "like a Ghost, no Swayze.." Frank is referring to the 1990 Patrick Swayze film GHost where Swayze plays a ghost in love with a living woman. Fitting reference I guess..
This song is about self pity and suicide. You have this guy who is used to breaking girls hearts and getting away with it. Now he's met a cold-hearted girl who he happens to have fallen in love with. He's goin to commit suicide coz he's heart broken. He wants the girl to feel something but she doesn't, and this is wht pisses him off.
Thank you, this is the first comment I read to mention suicide. To me this song is literally, on the surface about suicide or murder suicide. metaphorically it speaks to all the relationship stuff everyone is else is talking about. Also the story in this song brings to mind Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart". In the literal way and in the metaphorical sense his guilt manifests itself in his surprise that no one can see what he's done to these people. I would love to know if Poe was his inspiration while writing.
Thank you, this is the first comment I read to mention suicide. To me this song is literally, on the surface about suicide or murder suicide. metaphorically it speaks to all the relationship stuff everyone is else is talking about. Also the story in this song brings to mind Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart". In the literal way and in the metaphorical sense his guilt manifests itself in his surprise that no one can see what he's done to these people. I would love to know if Poe was his inspiration while writing.