Smother by Daughter Lyrics Meaning – Unraveling the Intimacy of Unrequited Love
Lyrics
On a foolish, fragile spine
I want all that is not mine
I want him but we’re not right
In the darkness, I will meet my creators
And they will all agree, that I’m a suffocator
I should go now quietly
For my bones have found a place to lie down and sleep
Where all my layers can become reeds
All my limbs can become trees
All my children can become me
What a mess I leave
To follow
To follow
To follow
To follow
In the darkness, I will meet my creators
And they will all agree that I’m a suffocator, suffocator, suffocator
Oh love
I’m sorry if I smothered you
I’m sorry if I smothered you
I sometimes wish I’d stayed inside
My mother
Never to come out
Daughter, the Indie Folk band known for their nuanced lyrics and ethereal soundscapes, has a penchant for diving deep into the human condition, often with a melancholic twist. Their song ‘Smother’ is no exception. With its haunting melody and introspective lyrics, it lays bare the complex emotions tied to desire and possession, love and loss, identity and rebirth.
Here, we peel away at the layers of ‘Smother,’ teasing out the poignant message buried within each verse, each line, and each word, to uncover the broader narrative of self-discovery and the existential cost of unrequited love—a theme that resonates universally.
Yearning for the Unattainable – A Deep Dive Into Desire
The opulent imagery of wanting ‘all that is not mine’ suggests a deeply rooted yearning for what’s beyond reach—a theme prevalent throughout ‘Smother’. This desire extends beyond mere material aspiration; it is emblematic of an emotional and perhaps spiritual longing for completion.
The self-confessional statement ‘I want him but we’re not right’ serves to accentuate the internal conflict the narrator endures—the struggle between yearning for closeness and acknowledging fundamental incompatibility. The raw honesty of this acknowledgment speaks volumes of unfulfilled love, where the heart’s wishes stand in stark contrast to reality.
Meeting the Makers – The Metaphor of Existential Reflection
The recurring ebb of the phrase ‘In the darkness, I will meet my creators’ acts as a deeply haunting reflection on the origins of the self. It’s as if the narrator is anticipating a moment of reckoning where they must confront the very essences of their being.
Being deemed a ‘suffocator’ by these creators implies an introspective realization. It’s an internal accusation that the narrator’s affections may be asphyxiating, stifling the very object of admiration they yearn to be close to. This duality of creation and destruction entwined in relationships is integral to the discourse of love within the song.
The Elegy of Self-sacrifice – Embracing Oblivion
The notion of finding peace in disappearance, as voiced in ‘I should go now quietly,’ reveals the contemplation of vanishing as a form of resolution to the havoc wrought upon by the narrator’s emotions. The fusion of bones to reeds, limbs to trees, and children to self, reflects a return to the earth—a transmutation that speaks of both an end and a transformation.
This self-sacrifice is etched with a sense of resolution for the chaos personalised as ‘what a mess I leave’. It paints a picture of a person so entrenched in their tumultuous journey of love that they perceive their existence as a disarray worth scattering to the winds.
The Chilling Refrain – An Echo of Obsession
The moody repetition of ‘To follow’ serves as an eerie mantra, signifying a spiraling descent into obsessive adoration. It symbolizes the relentless pursuit after an elusive ideal—an ideal that invariably leads back into the depths of one’s own soul-searching.
It amplifies the idea that the ‘Smother’ the narrator speaks of isn’t just a smothering of others, but also a self-consuming smother—a suffocation by internal hands, governed by an unquenched desire that echoes through the darkness.
The Vulnerability of Apology – Distilling the Song’s Hidden Meaning
The plaintive appeal ‘Oh love / I’m sorry if I smothered you’ unveils the song’s hidden meaning; it is a poignant display of vulnerability and regret. Within these lines lies the revealing admission that overbearing love can be asphyxiating, and the genuineness of this apology is a cathartic acknowledgment.
This culminates in the agonizing wish to have ‘stayed inside / my mother’—the ultimate desire for nonexistence to protect the object of one’s excessive affection. These memorable lines crystallize the competing urges to be close to another and the self-awareness of one’s destructive potential in love.
