If I Were A Carp
Final Fantasy Lyrics


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Heave ho, farewell to the quay! Merry sailors, sailors we!
The horizon is our proscenium! Our dead will come to know the sea
Our cook is a wanted man, 1000 thalers for each hand
Our captain lost his good sense, driven by a Lazarus' words

Have you not been told of Lazarus? He felt the icy grip
Brought back by a morphine drip, he told the captain this:
Tragedy, tragedy! Death has you fooled!
No throne of bone, no terranean pool!
No scythe, no cowl, no skeleton
His greatest trophy is this myth
Every sailor, salmon, every carp will follow rivers to the source




Only the dead will know the course, and furthermore
Do you really want to know of the afterworld?

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Final Fantasy's song "If I Were A Carp" appear to be from the perspective of sailors bidding farewell to their homeland and facing the uncertainty of the open sea. The initial lines express a celebratory mood among the crew, with "Merry sailors, sailors we!" and a reference to the horizon as their "proscenium" or stage.


However, the song takes a darker turn with the mention of the crew's cook being a "wanted man" and the captain losing "his good sense" due to someone named Lazarus. The character of Lazarus is then introduced as having been brought back from death through a "morphine drip." He warns the captain that death is not what it seems, with "no throne of bone, no terranean pool" or traditional symbols of death, as these are merely myths. According to Lazarus, death's greatest trophy is that it remains an enigma, with all living creatures ultimately following rivers back to their source, but only the dead truly knowing where they lead.


The lyrics suggest a contemplation of mortality and the afterlife, questioning whether humans truly want to know what lies beyond death. The use of nautical imagery and language, along with the character of Lazarus, gives the song a mystical and slightly surreal quality.


Line by Line Meaning

Heave ho, farewell to the quay! Merry sailors, sailors we!
Let's set sail and say goodbye to land! We're happy and adventurous!


The horizon is our proscenium! Our dead will come to know the sea
The ocean is like a stage, and even our deceased comrades will have a deep connection to it.


Our cook is a wanted man, 1000 thalers for each hand
Our cook is so skilled that there are people out there who want to pay a lot for his hands.


Our captain lost his good sense, driven by a Lazarus' words
Our captain has gone mad because of something that Lazarus said to him.


Tragedy, tragedy! Death has you fooled!
People don't really understand death, and it's a sad situation.


No throne of bone, no terranean pool!
Death doesn't involve any physical throne or underground pool, despite what people might believe.


No scythe, no cowl, no skeleton
Death isn't represented by a scythe, cowl, or skeleton, despite these common symbols.


His greatest trophy is this myth
Death is at its most powerful when people believe in its mythical history and its misleading symbols.


Every sailor, salmon, every carp will follow rivers to the source
Everyone has a natural tendency to follow their path and make their own way in life.


Only the dead will know the course, and furthermore
Only those who have passed on will really understand where life is heading.


Do you really want to know of the afterworld?
It's a rhetorical question, questioning if people really want to understand the afterlife.




Lyrics © OBO APRA/AMCOS

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Comments from YouTube:

Aaron James

love this song!

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