Stella Was a Diver and She Was Always Down
Interpol Lyrics

The song "Stella Was a Diver and She Was Always Down" by Interpol is a surrealistic and cryptic composition. The lyrics describe a woman named Stella, who appears to be conscious of being watched by people on the street. The line, "The building fronts are just fronts to hide the people watching her" suggests that Stella is aware of the façade people put on to shield themselves from our prying eyes. The line "She once fell through the street down the manhole in that bad way" describes an incident where Stella fell through the street and, metaphorically, fell into the underground world of the city. The "underground drip" compares the city's seedy, dark underbelly to Stella's past as a scuba diver. The chorus, "She was all right 'cause the sea was so airtight she broke away," is deliberately enigmatic. It is possible that Stella feels more comfortable and uninhibited in the underwater world than she does in the city.

As the song progresses, it becomes clear that Stella is not actually a living, breathing human being but rather a sex toy. The line, "Well, she was my catatonic sex toy, love-joy diver," lessens the initial mystery surrounding the character of Stella. The idea of sexual objectification and the commodification of women are expressed through this lyric. The final verse intensifies the poignancy of the song, with the lines "There's something that's invisible/There's some things you can't hide/Try to detect you when I'm sleeping/In a wave, you say goodbye." These lines suggest that even though Stella is no longer physically present, her presence remains in the mind of the singer.

Interpol named the song after a friend of the band was hit by a car and died while on her way to meet a friend who was coincidentally at one of the group's earliest shows. There's a bar in Dublin, also named Stella, and which is depicted in James Joyce's "Ulysses", but it's not known if the band was aware of this when they titled the song. The band initially considered not including the song on their debut album, as they felt it was too similar in theme to their earlier single "PDA". The song's chord structure is unusually complex; it doesn't use standard major or minor chords but instead utilizes inversions and chord progressions that are self-referential. The song was released as the third single from Interpol's debut album "Turn on the Bright Lights" and is one of their most beloved tracks. "Stella Was a Diver and She Was Always Down" was named after a woman who had died in a car accident on her way to an early Interpol gig. In the early 2000s, the song was widely used as a creative soundbed for commercials and TV programs. The music video for "Stella Was a Diver and She Was Always Down" was directed by Carlos and Jason Sanchez and was shot in an abandoned warehouse in Interpol's home city of New York. Interpol played "Stella Was a Diver and She Was Always Down" live during their 2019 tour, in support of their acclaimed 2018 album "Marauder".

Chords: The chords for this song are G, Bb, C, G, and F.