Oats In The Water by Ben Howard Lyrics Meaning – Diving into the Depths of Reflection and Regret
Lyrics
I’ll take the long way ’round
I’ll find my own way down
Oh, as I should
And hold your gaze
There’s coke in the Midas touch
A joke in the way that we rust
And breathe again
And you’ll find loss
And you’ll fear what you found
When the weather comes, oh
Tearing down
There’ll be oats in the water
There’ll be birds on the ground
There’ll be things you never asked her
Oh, how they tear at you now
Oh, go your way
Oh, I’ll take the long way ’round
Oh, I’ll find my own way down
Oh, as I should
And hold your gaze
There’s coke in the Midas touch
A joke in the way that we rust
And breathe again
And you’ll find loss
And you’ll fear what you found
When the weather comes
Tearing down
There’ll be oats in the water
There’ll be birds on the ground
There’ll be things you never asked her
Oh, how they tear at you now
Ben Howard’s haunting ballad ‘Oats In The Water’ wades through the somber tide pools of reflection, regret, and the inexorable passing of time. With a voice that carries the weight of unwritten stories, Howard invites us to peer into the abyss of our own choices and the ripples they leave behind.
This song, plucked from the artist’s acclaimed 2011 album ‘Every Kingdom’, holds within its chords a plaintive meditation on the cost of living, loving, and letting go. Each lyric unfolds like a heavy scroll, inked with the melancholy wisdom of a soul that has seen too much yet yearns to find solace in understanding.
The Wayward Traveler: Choosing One’s Own Path
The repeated line, ‘I’ll take the long way ’round, I’ll find my own way down,’ is a stark declaration of agency, a forlorn yet resolute assertion of individuality. To eschew the direct path for the road less traveled is both a curse and a liberation—a theme Howard threads through the song with a masterful subtlety.
His refrain is more than a mere chorus; it’s a mantra for the wayward souls who must learn to navigate life’s tempest with their own compass, setting a tone thick with the anticipation of what is found at the end of a journey taken alone.
A Caustic Caress: The Midas Touch Gone Sour
The verses ‘hold your gaze, there’s coke in the Midas touch, a joke in the way that we rust, and breathe again’ are sharp with irony and disillusionment. Here the Midas touch, rather than a blessing of wealth, becomes a curse of excess and corrosion, a metaphor for relationships or ambitions that tarnish and deteriorate over time.
Coke, a substance that corrodes and consumes, transforms the golden gift into a harrowing loss. In these lines, Howard captures the double-edged sword of striving and attachment, the silent decay that accompanies what once shone so bright.
Embracing the Deluge: The Fear in Discovery
The premonition of a forthcoming storm, where one ‘will find loss and fear what you found,’ teases the idea that the quest for truth or the pursuit of a goal is fraught with the potential for devastation. The lyric ‘when the weather comes, it tears down’ forewarns the listener of the inevitable storms we must face in life.
Howard illustrates that with understanding and gain often comes a haunting loss—a reality that can erode the spirit as persistently as any physical tempest. The inevitability of loss becomes a cyclical theme in life’s journey, an emotional downpour to be weathered.
The Ephemeral Echoes: Oats in the Water, Birds on the Ground
The imagery ‘there’ll be oats in the water, there’ll be birds on the ground’ paints a serene yet melancholic picture. As oats scatter on the water’s surface, they signify the transient nature of our deeds and words—seeds sown that we may never see grow.
The grounded birds, often symbolic of freedom and the human spirit, suggest an ailment or grounding of dreams. Howard evokes a scene of halted flight, of nature’s unpredictable claim on our aspirations, carving a poignant metaphor for the cost of passages untraveled and words left unspoken.
Unspoken Sorrow: The Grief In The Unasked Questions
A piercing image is delivered in the lines ‘there’ll be things you never asked her, oh, how they tear at you now,’ resonating with the pain of hindsight. The gut-wrenching realization of missed opportunities for connection, for clarification, for closure, haunts the listener.
These formidable lines speak to the universal human experience of regret for the conversations we delay or the truths we avoid, until time renders our silence permanent. The emotional burden of words withheld becomes a ravaging force, as powerful as the most merciless tide.
