Modern

Song Meaning

The lyrics paint a disquieting picture of modern urban life, using historical parallels to highlight its inherent contradictions. We see cities like Jericho, simultaneously vibrant and fractured, where people isolate themselves behind "barricaded doors" despite being drawn together. This creates a pervasive sense of loneliness, a waiting for some external force, perhaps symbolized by "trumpets," to break the stasis. The imagery shifts to Babylon, a place of superficial beauty that is "slowly rotting in the dirt." The narrator observes a disconnect between outward appearances and inner reality, noting that the "hanging gardens sing / But with a hollow ring." This suggests a pervasive falseness, a way of life that is ultimately destructive, "killing me." The bridge introduces a sense of urgency and paranoia, warning against looking back lest one "turn to stone." The urban environment is depicted as an oppressive force, "overgrown / With concrete slabs," and the people within are like "inmates of asylums," their "searching eyes that stab" betraying a shared, "contagiously insane" condition. Ultimately, the repeated refrain, "I can't live under water," serves as a powerful metaphor for the suffocating nature of this modern existence. Whether referencing the drowned city of Atlantis or the metaphorical drowning in the social order, the narrator expresses an inability to survive in such an environment, trapped by "concrete towers" and a lost sense of direction.