I was wasting time on Youtube earlier today and I stumbled upon this song, “To the Sea” by Jack Johnson. This song was really laid-back and it was a nice change to all of the heavier toned ocean stuff that we’ve been reading. So many of the texts that we’ve covered talk about the sea being dangerous so it was nice to listen to something that was a little lighter.
I also really liked it because once again we have someone going to the sea in order to gain something. The situation in this song is a little different because it is about a father encouraging a son to go to the sea in order to “dive deeper”. This call to the sea appears in a lot of the material that we have read this semester but this song stuck out in my mind because someone is being encouraged to go to the sea which seems to be a refreshing change. I saw an interview with him about this album (If I can find it again, I’ll post it) and he talks about the inspiration from this album being the ocean as the subconscious. This is a really old theme and it pops up all over in our texts! So I hope you enjoy this song as much as I did!
Below are the lyrics!
“To The Sea”
Let them bring their dogs
It’s me that you wanted
I’ve been right here all along
Right here all along
You better bring your buckets
We’ve got some dreams to drain
I’ll be at the bottom
I’ve been right here waiting so long
Just waiting so long
Dreams to drain
Put them in a cage
Unlock the pain
And I’ll be here waiting
You fell asleep with the key
All your walls
Mean nothing to me
I know you’ll come back
To set us free
Run my dear son
Until we get to the trees
And then keep on going all the way
We’ve got to get right down to the sea
We’ve got to get to the sea
Oh my dear son
We’ve got to get to the sea
But don’t you touch the water
Don’t you barely breathe
And if you see yourself
Looking back at you
You’re going to have to leave
You’re going to have to leave
I don’t want you to go
But you’ve got to leave
Dreams to drain
Put them in a cage
Unlock the pain
And I’ll be here waiting
You fell asleep with the key
All your walls
Mean nothing to me
I know you’ll come back
You’re going to set us free
I don’t want you to go
But you’ve got to leave
You can always come to me
I’ll give you what you need
Run my dear son
We’ve got to get to the sea
Hi Ryan,
I love Jack Johnson! All of his songs are relaxed and have great choruses and beats. You wrote about how the father encourages his son to go to sea and “dive deeper” and you’re right this immediately makes me think of the coming of age stories we have read where characters learn about themselves. Great song!