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Water Wings - Single

by War Jacket

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1.
Water Wings 04:52
lyrics
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Though the water wings may keep you up and your lungs may fill you up with air Your spirit’s growing darker by the hour and your clothes are getting heavier by the day but they will find you they will find you when the day comes back Though the water wings may keep you up and the river may carry you to the shore your running out of your hope and your spirit’s getting a little heavier by the day but they will find you they will find you when the day comes back it feels like I’m going to fall it feels like a cannon ball it’s getting dark and cold and it feels like a cannon ball

about

I had never heard of the phrase “water wings” until I watched the British cartoon “Kipper” with my 2-year-old. When I was growing up, we called the little inflatable arm cuffs “float-ies”, but as with most things word related: the british win.

“Water wings” seemed like a wonderfully descriptive phrase to base a song around, so I started writing.

My first visual was someone on a sea shore, looking out on the water.

They are worried.

The lyrics start:

Though the water wings may keep you up
and your lungs may fill you up with air
Your spirit’s growing darker by the hour
and your clothes are getting heavier by the day

They hope:

but they will find you
they will find you
when the day comes back

The character’s worry runs deeper as more instrumentation sets in:

Though the water wings may keep you up
and the river may carry you to the shore
your running out of your hope
and your spirit’s getting a little heavier by the day

Then another hope:

but they will find you
they will find you
when the day comes back

With the drum and cello drop, the story speeds across the sea, until we find the one who is sinking:

it feels like I’m going to fall
it feels like a cannon ball
it’s getting dark and cold
and it feels like a cannon ball

We know very little about the relationship between the two characters, but by having a children’s word like “water wings” associated with the one in the water there is a sense of innocence conveyed. An innocence about to be lost.

Check out “The Sparrow” from “The Spring Hollow Sessions” for the twin to this song.

credits

released April 2, 2013

Caleb Chancey - Vocals, Baritone Uke
Lori Cheng - Cello
Joel Madison Blount - Electric Guitar
Elaine Davis - Vocals
Jonathan Wise - Violin
Jamie Harper - Baritone Sax
Michael Battito - Drums

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War Jacket Birmingham, Alabama

War Jacket is a ambient folk quartet from Birmingham, Alabama.

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