So this has been.my favorite song of OTEP's since it came out in 2004, and I always thought it was a song about a child's narrative of suffering in an abusive Christian home. But now that I am revisiting the lyrics, I am seeing something totally new.
This song could be gospel of John but from the perspective of Jesus.
Jesus was NOT having a good time up to and during the crucifixion. Everyone in the known world at the time looked to him with fear, admiration or disgust and he was constantly being asked questions. He spoke in "verses, prophesies and curses". He had made an enemy of the state, and believed the world was increasingly wicked and fallen from grace, or that he was in the "mouth of madness".
The spine of atlas is the structure that allows the titan to hold the world up. Jesus challenged the state and in doing so became a celebrated resistance figure. It also made him public enemy #1.
All of this happened simply because he was doing his thing, not because of any agenda he had or strategy.
And then he gets scourged (storm of thorns)
There are some plot holes here but I think it's an interesting interpretation.
Warm sun feed me up
I'm leery loaded up
Loathing for a change
And I slip some
Boil away
Swallowed, followed
Heavy about everything but my love
Swallowed, sorrowed
I'm with everyone and yet not
I'm with everyone and yet not
I'm with everyone and yet
Just wanted to be myself
Hey you said you would love to try some
Hey you said you would love to die some
In the middle of a world on a fishhook
You're the wave, you're the wave, you're the wave
Swallowed, borrowed
Heavy about everything but my love
Swallowed, hollowed
Sharp about everyone but yourself
Swallowed, oh no
I'm with everyone and yet not
I'm with everyone and yet not
I'm with everyone and you're not
I'm with everyone and yet
Piss on self-esteem
Forward busted knee
Sick head, blackened lungs
And I'm a simple selfish son
Swallowed, followed
Heavy about everything but my love
Swallowed, oh no
I'm with everyone and yet not
I'm with everyone and yet not
I'm with everyone and yet not
Got to get away from here
Got to get away from here
Got to get away from here
Got to get away from here
Miss the one that I love a lot
I miss the one that I love a lot
I miss the one that I love a lot
I love
I'm leery loaded up
Loathing for a change
And I slip some
Boil away
Swallowed, followed
Heavy about everything but my love
Swallowed, sorrowed
I'm with everyone and yet not
I'm with everyone and yet not
I'm with everyone and yet
Just wanted to be myself
Hey you said you would love to try some
Hey you said you would love to die some
In the middle of a world on a fishhook
You're the wave, you're the wave, you're the wave
Swallowed, borrowed
Heavy about everything but my love
Swallowed, hollowed
Sharp about everyone but yourself
Swallowed, oh no
I'm with everyone and yet not
I'm with everyone and yet not
I'm with everyone and you're not
I'm with everyone and yet
Piss on self-esteem
Forward busted knee
Sick head, blackened lungs
And I'm a simple selfish son
Swallowed, followed
Heavy about everything but my love
Swallowed, oh no
I'm with everyone and yet not
I'm with everyone and yet not
I'm with everyone and yet not
Got to get away from here
Got to get away from here
Got to get away from here
Got to get away from here
Miss the one that I love a lot
I miss the one that I love a lot
I miss the one that I love a lot
I love
Lyrics submitted by Moondragon
Swallowed Lyrics as written by Gavin Rossdale
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
![Album art](../../../images/art-default.png)
Ave Grave
Thee More Shallows
Thee More Shallows
![Album art](../../../images/art-default.png)
Grand Theft Auto
Insane Ian
Insane Ian
The way this song speaks to me🥺🥺when I sing it I feel like I relate
![Album art](../../../images/art-default.png)
Step
Ministry
Ministry
Both as a standalone and as part of the DSOTS album, you can take this lyric as read. As a matter of public record, Jourgensen's drug intake was legendary even in the 1980s. By the late 90s, in his own words, he was grappling with massive addiction issues and had lost almost everything: friends, spouse, money and had nearly died more than once. "Dark Side of the Spoon" is a both funny & sad title for an album made by a musical genius who was losing the plot; and this song is a message to his fans & friends saying he knows it. It's painful to listen to so I'm glad the "Keith Richards of industrial metals" wised up and cleaned up. Well done sir.
![Album art](../../../images/art-default.png)
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
![Album art](../../../images/art-default.png)
Cajun Girl
Little Feat
Little Feat
Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
It's a story about a lost love. The pain it causes has to be swallwed and move on. That even if surrounded by friends and family you're alone. In this world she was the one who save you from its sorrow. And you don't belong here anymore so you have to get away, because you miss her a lot.
The greatest song ever...
song writers like metaphors. It has to mean something and make sense to them... and it leaves the listener to interperate it himself. Every song has a different meaning to each different person who listens. Music is beautiful that way. How i love metaphors
(although i cant seem to figure out this song... has no meaning to me i guess... good song though.)
please make bush comments. they are such a good band, they deserve way more comments than they have. I wanna know what other people think of their songs mean too. Bush rules!!!
I don't know how I feel about the meaning of this song quite yet. Even with out lyrics, the music to this song brings out it's own emotions. I love it. I see how people can assume this song is about drugs, but more so, I believe it's about a girl. Maybe even both subjects. He's hurt, struggling, confused and trying to make a difference. At the end, he finally realizes he needs to make a change, get away, and make things okay again. Great song.
I agree this is a song about him missing his love... but...I think it is about how he can only rely on the person who he loves "Heavy 'bout everything but my love"
Hte whole world is pulling at him b/c of his fame; he gets pissed, he gets tired, he gets depressed, he is hurting from all of the pressures "piss on self esteem...." I think he also talks about how the person he loves does not understand the position he is in "hey you said you would love to try some..." Finally he loves the person not matter what" Sharp about every on but yourself" could refer to his defensiveness towards every one but the one he loves.
Pretty Simple....
Drug Use....Not be happy about your life or the direction it's taking. Waiting for that change to happen but until the only escape is drugs.
Being "heavy" about something is to have emotional distress. So by saying he's heavy about everything but his love could mean that theres a supportive love interest or that in the way he loves those around him he finds relief.
Being with everyone but yet not, is a simple but beautiful lyric. He's being disassociative about his interactions with others. You can surround yourself with people, try to distract yourself but those feelings of anxiety and uncertainty remain. Sort of spacing out when around people.
This song speaks exactly of two things. A love and an addiction, a love so passionate that he does not forget (his soul mate), and an addiction that suffers consumes it: the story is summed up that he or he lost his great love for his addiction. And wants to find that great love that he or he has lost.
How come theres like no comments on any bush songs? That pisses me off...Bush is and was a great band. They may have lost a little bit of their goodness on their last cd, but their first two cd's were amazing and this song is amazing also. And i'm not sure exactly what it's about but oh well i still love it!
i think that this song does have to do with love, but i also think that it invloes drugs. Im sure that im way off, but everytime i listen to it, i can't help but think it. "i slip some boil away", "hey you said that you would love to try some", i don't know, thats just waht i think. and plus, people need to make more comments about them, they have hardly any and the are the best fuckin band
I totally agree with babyelf. To me this song is about a man that is looking for his love because she's the only person that has sense to him.
@vfobush Me too a person lady or man is looking the true love