Submarines

Song Meaning

The lyrics open on a stark scene: hours spent "out in the cold," waiting for "a train that was never gonna come." This immediate image establishes a powerful sense of futility and longing. Amidst this bleakness, a group finds solace in shared narratives. They spin tales "Of where we're gonna go and where we come from," creating vivid, imagined realities. These stories paint a diverse, often desperate, picture of individual lives. One was "a soldier for the English queen," another "an orphan of a love gone bad," while others envision futures of sleeping rough or selling everything. This collective act of storytelling serves as a potent form of escapism, a way to transcend the stagnant present by constructing grand, if sometimes tragic, personal histories and futures. It's a testament to the human need for narrative, even when reality offers little. The chorus then shifts to a singular, deeply personal fantasy, almost childlike in its specificity: "I'm gonna trade my dollar bills for a bar of gold / And put it in the pocket of my finest jeans." This image of aspirational wealth and display is immediately undercut by a profound, almost poetic, resignation. The narrator envisions going "swimming when I get old" only to "sink to the bottom with the submarines." This stark contrast—between the mundane desire for gold and the ultimate, self-chosen oblivion—is what makes these lyrics hit so hard. The fire built by the tracks, where the narrator "burned my face by the bright firelight," further underscores this tension; even a source of warmth and hope can inflict pain. The repeated image of sinking with the submarines suggests a strange kind of peace found in surrendering to the inevitable, a quiet, almost defiant acceptance of a dark, yet self-determined, end.