Blood Promise
Swans Lyrics


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When silence falls
And light remains
And time is born
Beneath the sun
I'll hide your name.
Inside a word
And paint your eyes
With false perception
And I feel your mind
In everything
And every breath
Destroys a sound.
And I will follow
A false sensation.
And I'll always believe.
Your blood promise
And every breath.
I stole from you
And I never will see
Your perfect body
And you never have spoken
An unclear word




And I'll never betray
Your blood promise

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Swans's song "Blood Promise" convey a sense of secrecy, betrayal, and longing. The opening line "When silence falls" sets a contemplative tone, as if the singer is reflecting on a past memory or hidden truth. The line "And time is born beneath the sun" suggests the passage of time, and how it can obscure the truth or memory of a promise made.


The next lines reveal a desire to keep the person's name hidden, to paint a perception of them that may not be entirely true. The sense of longing is evident in the line "And I feel your mind in everything," suggesting that the singer is still deeply connected to this person.


The word "false" is repeated twice, giving the impression that the singer is struggling with acknowledging the truth of the situation. The line "Your blood promise and every breath. I stole from you" reveals a profound betrayal of trust, and the singer's recognition of it. The final lines "And you never have spoken an unclear word, and I'll never betray your blood promise" suggest a resigned acceptance of the situation, and a desire to not make things worse.


Overall, the lyrics hint at a deeply personal and private story, full of emotional complexity and the weight of broken promises.


Line by Line Meaning

When silence falls
As the absence of sound takes over the background noise,


And light remains
As the last flicker of hope refuses to go out,


And time is born
Amidst the backdrop of a new beginning,


Beneath the sun
Offered warmth and comfort by nature's greatest gift,


I'll hide your name.
I will hold onto your memory, choosing to cherish it rather than revealing it to the world,


Inside a word
I will encapsulate everything that you were in a single, powerful term,


And paint your eyes
I will take your vivid blue eyes and create an alternative image that only I can see,


With false perception
Incorporating my own reality with an image of you, muddying the true image with my own thoughts and beliefs,


And I feel your mind
I sense your incredible mind, having been drawn to its awe-inspiring power since first laying eyes on you,


In everything
Everything I see or do reminds me of you, cementing you into my being,


And every breath
Every exhale destroys a sound, clearing the white space for your memory in my mind,


Destroys a sound.


And I will follow
I will heed your every whim, bound to your spirit and follow whatever path you set me on,


A false sensation.
Chasing my desire for you, despite knowing that it is something that will never be realized,


And I'll always believe.
I will choose to believe in the fantasy I've created in my head, ignoring the harsh realities of the world,


Your blood promise
The contract created by the bond of our shared blood, joining us together forever,


And every breath.


I stole from you
I took bits and pieces of you to create my own personal puzzle,


And I never will see
I refuse to let go of the image I've created in my head, blind to any other perspective of you,


Your perfect body
The image of your physical form that I have created and hold onto so tightly,


And you never have spoken
Your silence only fuels my fantasy more, attaching romanticized beliefs to the simplest of gestures and actions,


An unclear word
Your silence allows me to fill in any holes or gaps with my own interpretations, rounding out the image of you in my head,


And I'll never betray
I will always be loyal to the image of you I've created in my head, a never-ending fantasy that I refuse to let go of,


Your blood promise




Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS

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Most interesting comments from YouTube:

FreakingJames

sigh well ok then
Just by records like "The Seer" alone you have:
-Sonic Youth's guitar repetition;
-Glenn Branca's wall of strummed guitar tones and crescendo explosions and even same percussion explosions (definetely the artist they ripped off the most);
-Blues-Jazz Mish-Mashes of The Doors (a style they rely on the most on the shorter tracks of the glowing man);
-Same Pauline Oliveros and Nico approach to accordion & pipe drones which clashed together with Charlemagne's-like Minimalistic Piano loops (an artista Michael Gira himself is well aware of and has mentioned once);
-Floyd-esque Conceptual Strategies of revisiting already stablished thematics in different tones;
-Dead Can Dance-ish or maybe even Cocteau Twins or Lycia inspired use of bells and strings (ironically placed on a song called "Avatar", which is the same title of a Dead Can Dance song)
-Some very unlikely but not too far off approach of spoken word and vocal passages were Gira's performances don't sound too far off from something you'd see Edward Ka-Spel doing it

On albuns like "To be Kind" You have all of the mentions above plus:
-on the song "Oxygen" you have a blatant rip off from one of Glenn Branca's pieces "Lesson No.2" along with Michael Gira doing vocal performances blended with reverbs which sounds a lot similar to the way Throbbing Gristle does it on the song "What A Day"
- This Heat-ish delivery of exotic percussions, tibetan and indian-like chantings and rhythms along with distorted electronic distortions;
-Acid Mothers Temple's squizo phrenic, eerie, twisted and distorted ghostly choirs on "Kirsten Supine"
-Painfully same way of addressing Buddhistic and mystical symbolism as "Natural Snow Buildings"
Even on Albums like "Soundtracks For The Blind" which is arguably their most original piece of work you have the very dark and dense electronic drones and electronic distortion and tape manipulation reminiscent of Early Cluster, Klaus Schulze and Early Tangerine Dream (maybe even some early Popol Vuh as well) and even the same exact dark tones of a Lustmord track
.
Swans doesn't blend all of these in a way that sounds like a blatant copy (at least in their early records anyway, Everything up to The Seer just relies a lot from other artist's influences) but for you to say their sound isn't like anything else is simply incorrect, the thing that makes swans interesting in the first place is how they're pratically a "retrospective" or a celebration of all of the "outsider music" elements (obscure and avant-garde/experimental I mean) that have been brought to the table up untill that point



Marco Chies

When silence falls
And light remains
And time is born
Beneath the Sun
I'll hide your name
Inside a word
And paint your eyes
With false perception
And I feel your mind
In everything
And every breath
Destroys a sound
And I never will follow
A false sensation
And I'll always believe
Your blood promise

[Refrain]
Na na na
Na na
Na na na
Na na
Na na na
Na na
Na na na
Na na

[Verse 2]
And every breath
I stole from you
And I never will see
Your broken body
And you never have spoken
An unclear word
And I'll never betray
Your blood promise



tropicwave1

Blood Promise
Swans
Produced by Michael Gira
Album: The Great Annihilator

[Live Only]
We are poor little lambs who have lost our way
Baa, baa, baa

[Verse 1]
When silence falls
And light remains
And time is born
Beneath the Sun
I'll hide your name
Inside a word
And paint your eyes
With false perception
And I feel your mind
In everything
And every breath
Destroys a sound
And I never will follow
A false sensation
And I'll always believe
Your blood promise

[Refrain]
Na na na
Na na
Na na na
Na na
Na na na
Na na
Na na na
Na na

[Verse 2]
And every breath
I stole from you
And I never will see
Your broken body
And you never have spoken
An unclear word
And I'll never betray
Your blood promise

[Refrain]
Na na na na
Na na na
Na na na na
Na na na
Na na na na
Na na na
Na na na na
Na na na

[Live Only]

[Instrumental]
Don't stop!

Well, we are done
And we'd like to thank you for being here-
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA


Written by: Michael Gira
Copyright (c) – Young God Publishing
Release Date: 1994



RevenantRoad Records

When I first started my university courses, back in 2010 and 2011, I used to travel for two hours eveyday to get to the campus.
I lived far away, or the school was far away, one of the two.
Needless to say, I would take my Ipod with me.
I was going through a serious Swans kick back then, just newly discovering their genius music.
Soon enough, those excursions in the name of education and me being on time to class (which I never was anyway) became hardcore listening sessions devoted to this record and "Soundtracks for the Blind" I was playing them to death, sometimes going into a deep trance that was hard to come of.
It was hard to pretend I wanted to listen to anything anybody had to say after experiencing such stellar works of art.
Suddenly the mundane commuting and public transportation seemed fun and almost something that I was looking forward to, even more so than going to class.
Since I was always late, once I got to campus I would take major strolls around and keep listening to more.
I became obsessed.
It was almost too good.
I couldn't help it.
I was enthralled.
I always listened to some more on the way back and on bathroom breaks.
I ended up ditching that class only to come back at the end of the course and pass it on one test.
Swans became my favorite band.
And I was about to really see what it was all about.



All comments from YouTube:

Κ ο μ ν η ν ό ς

This version of the song is underrated. The one on "Swans Are Dead" is a cool post-rock piece, but I just love how this sounds. The moody neofolk instrumentation and somber lyrics meld together to create an incredible atmosphere.

Szarzyniec Szczurzyński

My favourite version, I love to sing along.

T. N.

100% agree. The Swans Are Dead version is insane, but this one is just perfection for me. Love how dreamy and almost religious this one is, as opposed to the harrowing and dark live version. I wish they'd done more stuff along the lines of this or "Song for Dead Time".

Castillo

@T. N. "Song for dead time" is an absolute masterpiece

aziraphale1334

The live version on "S W A N S Are Dead" is so different from this album version that it can't really be considered the same song. The lyrics are the same, true, but other than that fact the two versions are difficult to compare.

Eduardo Valenzuela

@T. N. What about "In my garden" or "Blackmail"?

1 More Replies...

James Guillory, The Irascible Humanslayer

Why doesn't this have more love? This is one of the greatest songs of all time, and literally nothing sounds like this.

markkil

Brendan Perry of Dead Can Dance is always sounding like this. check him out if you like this (especially DCD's early to mid eighties stuff)

FreakingJames

When it comes to swans I think calling anything in their discography a sound that "doesn't sound like anything else" is a hard statement to support it. So many elements of their music are reminiscent of other artists

James Guillory, The Irascible Humanslayer

I listen to Dead Can Dance and Brendan Perry. None of their shit sounds anything like this.

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