Gira lived with his parents in a relatively affluent suburb of Los Angeles, California, though they divorced when he was a young teenager. After staying with his alcoholic mother for much of his youth, he was sent to live with his father in Indiana and then Paris. He ran away from home and hitch-hiked across Europe, and was finally arrested for selling drugs in Israel. Although he was only a teenager at the time, he was placed in an adult prison. His father found Gira with the aid of Interpol and sent him back to the United States. Back in Los Angeles, he played in a band called Little Cripples and enrolled in art school and imagined that he would someday be a visual artist (Gira sketched obsessively); however, he soon became disillusioned with the elitism and academia surrounding the art world and dropped out. He was also in a band called Curtain, later called Strict Ids (source: Brendan Mullen's book "Live at the Masque"). However, Gira's interest in art is known to have affected his music; Inner Female is a study of Francis Bacon. It could also be said that Gira's visceral, surreal writing style is comparative to Bacon's paintings.
In 1979 Gira moved to New York City in order to start a band; he was influenced by No Wave and noise artists like Suicide and Glenn Branca. He played with the band Circus Mort before forming Swans. Before achieving success with his music, Gira was forced to work many tedious, backbreaking jobs in construction and demolition. He also began a short-lived art magazine, No.
Initially, Swans' focus was raw rhythm and abrasive textures, usually eschewing melody for visceral power. They became known for their abrasive experimental and post-industrial sound. The band's lineup and sound evolved over time, most markedly with the inclusion of Gira's eventual girlfriend, Jarboe, who added her ethereal voice and synthesizers to the group in 1985. Gira and Swans spent the next twelve years releasing studio, live, and side-project albums. Gira's frustration with the various record labels they recorded for grew over time.
After dissolving Swans in 1997 Gira released a solo album under his own name and began a new musical direction with The Angels of Light, which are a quieter, more acoustic-based group than Swans. Nonetheless, The Angels of Light retain much of the intensity of Gira's former project. While The Angels of Light are a rather traditional "song-based" group, Gira also spent time experimenting with soundscapes, found sound, and loops with the The Body Lovers project. He has also released several albums under his own name including Drainland (1995), The Somniloquist (2000, a spoken word album), and What We Did (2001), a collaboration with Windsor For the Derby's frontman Dan Matz.
Gira founded his own record label, Young God Records, which has released albums from such artists as Devendra Banhart, Mi and L'au, and Akron/Family as well as the Swans, The Angels of Light and The Body Lovers back catalogues.
Akron/Family served as Gira's backing band during the recording of and touring for The Angels of Light's 2005 album, The Angels of Light Sing 'Other People'.
Oxygen
Michael Gira Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I cannot breathe again
Oxygen, come in
Burn my lungs, be my friend
Come in
Well it's hard to get air when your neck is a fist
And it's hard to walk a stair when your leg will not lift
It's hard to control your own mind when there's nowhere left to hide
From the fact you can't breathe through a hole that is closed
From the panic now growing like an oily black smoke
Oxygen, please come in
I can see the blue sky
Just up ahead
But it's sticky and thick
And its true color
It is red
Hey there, dark man, now I drink from your bowl
Hey there, mister skull, I'm not scared of your call
Gonna go outside, I'll go out in the snow
Gonna rip off my skin, gonna burn up my clothes
Gonna read my own bones, I'll dance and I'll spin
I'll cut a clean hole through solid air, and I'll steal all the oxygen
And my father will guide me up a rope to the sky
With my mother beside me, my last breath will expire
Oxygen, oxygen
Amen, amen, I cannot breathe again
Bye old friend
Good-bye
I give up
Now I finally decide
I am free of your grip
I refuse to even try
I refuse to even try
I am free of your grip
I will not open these lips
The song "Oxygen" by Michael Gira is a haunting and introspective track that explores themes of suffocation, despair, and the search for freedom. The lyrics describe a struggle to breathe amidst the weight of the world and the singer's own demons. They plead for oxygen to come and burn their lungs, to be their friend and grant them release. The verses are filled with vivid images that convey the singer's sense of helplessness, from the closed hole in their throat to the panic growing within them like oily black smoke. The chorus becomes a desperate prayer as the singer begs for a reprieve from their suffering, even as they acknowledge the changing hue of the sky and their own impending demise.
As the song progresses, the mood becomes more defiant. The singer turns their attention to the dark man and the mister skull, challenging them with their own newfound strength. They vow to go outside, rip off their skin, and read their own bones. The imagery here is both gruesome and liberating, suggesting a desire to shed one's old self in order to embrace the new. The song ends with a final declaration of freedom, as the singer refuses to even try to hold on to the past.
Overall, "Oxygen" is a complex and powerful song that deals with the struggle to survive in the face of overwhelming obstacles. Through its uncanny lyrics and haunting melody, it conveys a sense of both desperation and hope, and invites the listener to ponder the mysteries of life and death.
Line by Line Meaning
Oxygen, amen
The singer is invoking oxygen as a form of prayer or cry for help.
I cannot breathe again
The singer is experiencing difficulty breathing.
Oxygen, come in
The singer is pleading for oxygen to enter their body and help them breathe.
Burn my lungs, be my friend
The singer is willing to endure the pain of burning lungs if it means they can breathe.
Come in
The singer is again pleading for oxygen to enter their body and help them breathe.
Well it's hard to get air when your neck is a fist
The singer is describing their difficulty breathing due to constriction in their neck.
And it's hard to walk a stair when your leg will not lift
The singer is describing their physical weakness and inability to perform even simple tasks.
It's hard to stay alive stuffed with cold clay inside
The singer is describing their feeling of being dead or lifeless inside and struggling to survive.
It's hard to control your own mind when there's nowhere left to hide
The singer is struggling with mental health issues and feels like they have nowhere to turn for help.
From the fact you can't breathe through a hole that is closed
The singer is referencing a physical obstruction in their airway that is preventing them from breathing properly.
From the panic now growing like an oily black smoke
The singer is describing their growing sense of panic and anxiety.
Oxygen, please come in
The singer is again pleading for oxygen to enter their body and help them breathe.
I can see the blue sky
The singer is referencing a possible feeling of hope or relief as they look upward.
Just up ahead
The singer feels like a solution to their problem is within sight.
But it's sticky and thick
The singer is describing the air around them as thick and difficult to breathe.
And its true color
The singer is referencing the fact that the air around them is not the clear, life-giving substance they need to survive.
It is red
The singer is using the color red to symbolize their desperation and potentially dangerous situation.
Hey there, dark man, now I drink from your bowl
The singer is referencing death as a dark man and resigning themselves to this fate.
Hey there, mister skull, I'm not scared of your call
The singer is indicating that even though they are confronting death, they are prepared and unafraid.
Gonna go outside, I'll go out in the snow
The singer is describing a physical escape from their current situation.
Gonna rip off my skin, gonna burn up my clothes
The singer is willing to make extreme sacrifices in order to survive and get the air they need.
Gonna read my own bones, I'll dance and I'll spin
The singer is describing a possible ritual or action they will take to help them overcome their breathing difficulties.
I'll cut a clean hole through solid air, and I'll steal all the oxygen
The singer is willing to take desperate measures, even if they may cause harm to others, to get the oxygen they need to survive.
And my father will guide me up a rope to the sky
The singer is referencing their father as a guide to the afterlife or a higher power.
With my mother beside me, my last breath will expire
The singer has accepted their fate and is at peace with dying.
Bye old friend
The singer is saying goodbye to a person or object they have relied on but can no longer keep.
Good-bye
The singer is saying a final goodbye or farewell.
I give up
The singer has surrendered and is no longer fighting for their survival.
Now I finally decide
The singer has made a decision, likely to stop trying to survive or take extreme measures to do so.
I am free of your grip
The singer is freeing themselves from the grip of death or their illness.
I refuse to even try
The singer has given up hope and will not make any further attempts to survive.
I will not open these lips
The singer has chosen to remain silent and not speak anymore.
Contributed by Madison D. Suggest a correction in the comments below.