Buried in Water
Dead Man's Bones Lyrics


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Like a lamb to its slaughter
Buried in water

Down
Under the ground
There's a town there
I've been down there
In the middle of the lake
I hold your hand, for goodness' sake

When the women and the kids are asleep
The walls there
And the skin of the sheep
So lock all the windows and doors
The Devil's coming for you and yours

Love was all that it could give
But it died so other towns could live
They don't bury bodies from the drowned
But they drowned our little town

Like a lamb to his slaughter
Buried in water
Buried in water

Buried in water

When the leaves
Go floating away
In the pale moonlight of day
Iury anchors in our ghosts
And we can let our heartbeats go

Love was all that it could give
But it died so other towns could live
They don't bury bodies from the drowned
But they drowned our little town

Love was all that it could give
But it died so other towns could live
They don't bury bodies from the drowned
But they drowned our little town

We're like the lambs to its slaughter
Buried in water




Buried in water
Buried in water

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Dead Man's Bones’ song “Buried in Water” describe a haunting and eerie scene of a drowned town where love was given but ultimately died so that other towns could survive. The song starts with the image of a lamb led to its slaughter, which may symbolize a sense of innocence or the submission of the town to its fate. The phrase “buried in water” creates a sense of finality and hopelessness, as if the town was completely consumed by the water and lost to the world.


The following lines introduce the singer’s experience of the town, which is located underground, in the middle of a lake. The use of the first person pronoun suggests that the singer may have a personal connection to the town or the people who lived there. The line “I hold your hand, for goodness' sake” reinforces this idea, implying a romantic relationship between the singer and another person who may have lived in the town. The second stanza builds on the tension and fear of the unknown, with the singer warning of the Devil coming for the people in the town.


The final stanza repeats the phrase “buried in water” and introduces the image of leaves floating away in the moonlight. The line “Iury anchors in our ghosts” is ambiguous but may suggest the idea of the town and the people who lived there unable to move on from their fate, haunted by memories or the spirits of those who lost their lives. The repetition of the phrase “Love was all that it could give/But it died so other towns could live” adds a sense of tragedy and sacrifice to the song, leaving the listener with a sense of melancholy and loss.


Line by Line Meaning

Like a lamb to its slaughter
Helpless and unsuspecting beings led to their inevitable doom


Buried in water
The drowning of an entire town, leaving only its memory


Down
Going beneath the surface where darkness lies


Under the ground
The unsettling space of the unknown, buried deep within the earth


There's a town there
A once-thriving community, now submerged in water and forgotten


I've been down there
The haunting memories still linger within the singer's mind


In the middle of the lake
A symbolic representation of the isolation and inaccessibility of the drowned town


I hold your hand, for goodness' sake
The fear of losing someone in the treacherous waters surrounds them


When the women and the kids are asleep
The time when the darkness and danger descend upon the unsuspecting


The walls there
The eerie and ominous presence of the drowned town's surroundings


And the skin of the sheep
The seemingly normal and commonplace conceal a dark truth beneath the surface


So lock all the windows and doors
The ominous warning of impending danger and evil lurking in the darkness


The Devil's coming for you and yours
The fear and threat of being consumed by the darkness and evil of the drowned town


Love was all that it could give
The love and life that the drowned town once had, now lost forever


But it died so other towns could live
The sacrifice of one town to save others, the choice of who to save and who to sacrifice


They don't bury bodies from the drowned
The eerie fact that the drowned town lies below the water's surface without a proper burial


But they drowned our little town
The tragedy that befell the small community, swallowed up by the water's depths


When the leaves
The passage of time and the changing of seasons


Go floating away
The fleeting moments of life quickly passing by


In the pale moonlight of day
The eerie and unsettling presence of darkness in the midst of light


Iury anchors in our ghosts
The haunting memories of the drowned town forever ingrained in the singer's mind


And we can let our heartbeats go
The release of fear and apprehension, allowing the heart to rest in the peace of the drowned town's memory


We're like the lambs to its slaughter
Helpless and unsuspecting beings led to their inevitable doom, just as the drowned town and its citizens


Buried in water
The tragic fate that befell the small community, forever lost beneath the water's surface


Buried in water
The haunting and unsettling quality of the drowned town and its memory


Buried in water
The stark reality of sacrifice and loss, forever etched into the singer's mind




Lyrics © MOTHERSHIP MUSIC PUBLISHING
Written by: RYAN GOSLING, ZACH SHIELDS

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
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