Blue October - Into the Ocean

Artist: Blue October
Song: Into the Ocean
Album: Foiled

I'm just a normal boy
That sank when I fell overboard
My ship would leave the country
But I'd rather swim ashore

Without a life vest I'd be stuck again
Wish I was much more masculine
Maybe then I could learn to swim
Like 'fourteen miles away'

Now floating up and down
I spin, colliding into sound
Like whales beneath me diving down
I'm sinking to the bottom of my
Everything that freaks me out
The lighthouse beam has just run out
I'm cold as cold as cold can be
be

I want to swim away but don't know how
Sometimes it feels just like I'm falling in the ocean
Let the waves up take me down
Let the hurricane set in motion... yeah
Let the rain of what I feel right now...come down
Let the rain come down

Where is the coastguard
I keep looking each direction
For a spotlight, give me something
I need something for protection
Maybe flotsam junk will do just fine
the jetsam sunk, I'm left behind
I'm treading for my life believe me
(How can I keep up this breathing)

Not knowing how to think
I scream aloud, begin to sink
My legs and arms are broken down
With envy for the solid ground
I'm reaching for the life within me
How can one man stop his ending
I thought of just your face
Relaxed, and floated into space

I want to swim away but don't know how
Sometimes it feels just like I'm falling in the ocean
Let the waves up take me down
Let the hurricane set in motion... yeah
Let the rain of what I feel right now...come down
Let the rain come down
Let the rain come down

Now waking to the sun
I calculate what I had done
Like jumping from the bow (yeah)
Just to prove that I knew how (yeah)
It's midnight's late reminder of
The loss of her, the one I love
My will to quickly end it all
Set front row in my need to fall
Into the ocean, end it all
Into the ocean, end it all
Into the ocean, end it all
into the ocean...end it all

[Zayra]
Into the ocean (goodbye) end it all (goodbye)
Into the ocean (goodbye) end it all (goodbye)
Into the ocean (goodbye) end it all (goodbye)

I want to swim away but don't know how
Sometimes it feels just like I'm falling in the ocean
Let the waves up take me down
Let the hurricane set in motion (yeah)
Let the rain of what I feel right now...come down
Let the rain come downLet the rain come down

Into the ocean (goodbye) end it all (goodbye)
(In to space)
Into the ocean (goodbye) end it all (goodbye)
Into the ocean (goodbye) end it all (goodbye)
Into the ocean (goodbye) end it all (goodbye)
Into the ocean (goodbye) end it all (goodbye)
Into the ocean (goodbye) end it all (goodbye)
(I thought of just your face)

In this song the narrator is in the ocean and seemingly drowning. Prima facie it would seem to be a metaphor for any sort of "drowning", whether it be struggling in life or relationships. A little more examination reveals that "drowning in life" is exactly what is happening. The narrator has recently lost (either to death or other circumstance) someone he loved and is not taking it very well at all. I would even come close to saying that the narrator is in fact suicidal.

Rather than go verse by verse I think we can skip around in this examination. The song starts off with the drowning imagery and continues consistently, with a few vague lines, for the remainder of the song. The clues as to the deeper story of the song come near the end with "Like jumping from the bow" and "The loss of her, the one I love." If I had to summarize the song in one sentence it would be this: The narrator has lost someone he loved and is now "drowning" in the aftermath. The "jumping from the bow" could imply either that he is suicidal or, more likely, that he had some role in whatever is causing him to drown. Although " My will to quickly end it all" would be a much stronger suggestion for his suicidal tendencies.

The ocean imagery does not need much explanation: he is treading water, trying to stay afloat, the lighthouse has gone out, etc etc. There are a smattering of lines that elude easy interpretation. The second verse is particularly elusive, what connection does masculinity have to being able to swim? Obviously swimming is a metaphor for surviving and (maybe) succeeding with his lady, so perhaps he is saying that by being more masculine he would somehow do better with the person he loves/loved. Google searches failed to reveal even a hint of meaning for the last line of the verse, "like fourteen miles away." I thought it might be a movie or book but that does not seem to be the case.

The wikipedia entry for the song describes the opening drowning sequence as a dream of suicide, revealed by the verse in which he "wakes to the sun." This interpretation seems to be pretty dead on. In this dream he is so depressed by the loss of his love that he throws himself into the ocean, and eventually drowns ("How can one man stop his ending?"). His last thoughts are of her face, and then he floats away. Without knowing that the narrator is indeed describing a dream the waking up part can be hard to explain without resorting to vague metaphors. The key verse is "midnights late reminder of, the loss of her the one I love." A midnight reminder is, of course, a dream.

The dream interpretation even more solidifies what I was saying earlier: this song is about somebody who, either depressed from life or the loss of a loved one, is seriously contemplating suicide. This makes even more sense as, apparently, lead singer Justin Furstenfeld has battled depression throughout his life.

The video is decent as far as music videos go and has a few helpfull scenes. Most telling comes at about 2:50 into the video when seductive young ladies take turns whispering "into the ocean end it all" in his ear. This is most likely done to demonstrate the "sirens call" of suicide, how it can be an appealing thought in troubling times.

One person on songmeanings.net mentioned that, in a VH1 special, this song was described as being about a mentally disabled man who thought about killing himself. One poster said that in the song the man decided to kill himself and regretted it there, floating in the ocean. Another poster said that the man ultimately decided that he had a lot to live for, and did not kill himself. Whatever the exact story the meaning remains clear: this song is about suicide.

The ending of the song is about the narrators choice to, ultimately, not kill himself. He reflects how in his dream, where he did kill himself, he saw his lovers face, and was comforted. This is his recognition that he does have a lot to live for. The song then ends on a positive, hopeful note.