Quote:
Originally Posted by Bearclaw_
Would love to hear your thoughts on this.  |
I'm a sucker for lyrics that communicate the complexities of adulthood through the lens of a child/innocence. Barenaked Ladies does this all the time. Sweet is about his son learning how to swim, but it muses about anxiety and hardship as an adult. "Try to swim, keep your head up/Kick your legs, never give up... Let me out, I wanna get out now... I'm too high, I wanna come down" are all simple innocent thoughts a child would have- but also these simple expressions are ones we still feel everyday even though we're "all grown up."
I guess it's able to strip away all the complicating we do as adults when it comes to expressing our emotions.
It's also about watching his son learn to swim and remembering all the times in life where he felt like he was drowning- but was able to make it out okay. So it also serves the purpose of him relating to his son and thinking about all the ways his life may be hard in the future, but that he can always make it out okay.
So it's a metaphor about getting learning to get out of tough times, a revelation that childhood and adulthood are not actually so different, a reflective look all the times you thought you wouldn't make it through- but did, all while also still being about teaching your son to swim.
I don't know, I guess I've never had to write about it before so sorry if that's long winded.