Marginally associated with the no wave scene at first, their original sound was slow and extremely heavy, with live performances that were often so brutal and physical that in a number of instances certain audience members were made ill, police were called and venues were shut down. This early physical sound is possibly best heard on the live album Public Castration Is A Good idea.
Their initial style shifted a little by the time Swans released seminal twin albums Greed and Holy Money. The music had sped up, at times being even more punishing than their earlier output. Drum machines and samples were slightly more prominent. Michael Gira was joined vocally by Jarboe which gave the band a broader sonic range. Tracks featuring Jarboe were often quieter, even pretty, acting as counterpoint to the more harrowing themes on the albums. Over time, this style would come to dominate Swans' output, although they somehow seem to have been able to make a strummed acoustic guitar seem as brutal as their earlier amped-up assaults. The lush instrumentation of their albums from the late 1980s and the 1990's anticipated the birth of post-rock.
Swans eventually broke up in 1997; Gira went on to release some solo work, later forming the band The Angels Of Light, who continue many of the themes and styles found in (later) Swans. Jarboe releases solo work and frequently works with other bands and artists; recently she released an album with Neurosis, a group clearly heavily influenced by Swans.
The influence of Swans upon the music world is profound. Across their 15 years of existence, the various styles they explored gave birth to grindcore (Napalm Death, Nasum) modern "cinematic" post-rock (Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Mono), and atmospheric sludge metal (Isis, Neurosis).
In January 2010, Michael Gira reactivated Swans and released a new album, My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky on September 2010, and the band simultaneously embarked on a world tour scheduled to last eighteen months. The band had been chosen by Portishead to perform at the ATP I'll Be Your Mirror festivals that they curated in July 2011 at London's Alexandra Palace and in September 2011 in Asbury Park, New Jersey.
On August 28, 2012, Swans released The Seer, a double-album running almost 2 hours in length. Frontman Michael Gira described the album as taking "30 years to make. It's the culmination of every previous Swans album as well as any other music I've ever made, been involved in or imagined. But it's unfinished, like the songs themselves. It's one frame in a reel. The frames blur, blend and will eventually fade." Describing the songwriting process, Gira said, "The songs began on an acoustic guitar, then were fleshed out with (invaluable) help from my friends, then were further tortured and seduced in the studio, and now they await further cannibalism and force-feeding as we prepare to perform some of them live, at which point they'll mutate further, endlessly, or perhaps be discarded for a while."
On May 12, 2014, Swans released their thirteenth LP, To Be Kind. Produced by Michael Gira and recorded by John Congleton. It received positive reception from critics which made the group continue to make more albums that have also have received positive reviews.
It was announced on July 22, 2015, that the band was releasing their fourteenth studio album, titled The Glowing Man. The album was released on June 17, 2016.
After The Glowing Man released, the band took a hiatus lasting nearly a year in 2017 and ending in 2018. The band released their fifteenth studio LP Leaving Meaning the next year. The same year, a documentary about Swans was released titled “Where Does A Body End?”.
In March 2021, Michael Gira released a tracklist of an upcoming Swans album, titled The Beggar. It was released on June 23, 2023.
Can't Find My Way Home
Swans Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Somebody must change
You are the reason I've been waiting so long
Somebody holds the key
Well, I'm near the end and I just ain't got the time
And I'm wasted and I can't find my way home
Somebody must change
You are the reason I've been waiting all these years
Somebody holds the key
But I'm near the end and I just ain't got the time
Oh, and I'm wasted and I can't find my way home
But I can't find my way home
But I can't find my way home
But I can't find my way home
But I can't find my way home
Still I can't find my way home
And I ain't done nothing wrong
But I can't find my way home
The lyrics of Swans' song Can't Find My Way Home are a sad reflection of the singer's emotional and spiritual state. The repeated plea for someone to come down off their throne and leave their body alone suggests that the person they are addressing is unwilling to engage with the singer on an authentic level. The line "Somebody must change" echoes a sense of helplessness felt by the singer who seems to be dependent on another person to make meaningful changes in their life.
The next verse speaks to the singer's own sense of time running out. This sense of urgency is coupled with a feeling of being "wasted," which could refer to a drug or alcohol abuse problem, or more metaphorically to a sense of purposelessness that plagues the singer. They feel lost and unable to find a way home, which could mean finding their way back to themselves or finding a sense of belonging in the world.
The repetition of the final lines, "But I can't find my way home / And I ain't done nothing wrong," reinforces the idea that the singer feels trapped and misunderstood. They don't know how to fix things, but they also don't feel like they deserve to be in this situation. The song as a whole is a poignant reflection on the human need for connection and purpose, and the pain that arises when we feel disconnected and aimless.
Line by Line Meaning
Come down off your throne and leave your body alone
Step down from your position of power and stop excluding yourself from physical experiences
Somebody must change
Some kind of transformation is required to improve the situation
You are the reason I've been waiting so long
You are the cause of my prolonged anticipation and uncertainty
Somebody holds the key
There is someone or something that has the solution or the answer
Well, I'm near the end and I just ain't got the time
I am approaching the end of my life and I don't have much time left
And I'm wasted and I can't find my way home
I have used up my life and energy and I feel lost and unable to return to where I belong
Come down on your own and leave your body alone
Stop seeking validation from others and disconnect from your physical self
You are the reason I've been waiting all these years
You have caused me to wait for a long time and prevented me from moving forward
But I'm near the end and I just ain't got the time
I am running out of time to achieve what I want in life
Oh, and I'm wasted and I can't find my way home
I have lost my way in life and feel disillusioned
But I can't find my way home
I am lost and unable to find my way back to where I belong
And I ain't done nothing wrong
I haven't committed any mistakes or wrongdoings
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: Steve Winwood
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Whyt3wyrm
[Verse 1]
Come down off your throne and leave your body alone
Somebody must change
You are the reason I've been waiting so long
Somebody holds the key
[Chorus]
But I'm near the end and I just ain't got the time
And I'm wasted and I can't find my way home
[Verse 2]
Come down on your own and leave your body alone
Somebody must change
You are the reason I've been waiting all these years
Somebody holds the key
[Chorus]
But I'm near the end and I just ain't got the time
And I'm wasted and I can't find my way home
[Outro]
But I can't find my way home
But I can't find my way home
But I can't find my way home
But I can't find my way home
Still I can't find my way home
And I ain't done nothing wrong
But I can't find my way home
MrBiju999
this is one of those rare cases where the cover surpasses the original by a long shot
Disposable cynic
Just your opinion.Great cover though
Pason Jayne
@Disposable cynic who sang the original?
Disposable cynic
@Pason Jayne Blind Faith with Steve Winwood as lead vocalist.
damyan ganchev
Couldn't agree more with you 💘
Curtis Carlson
Swans brought soul and life to me in times of need.
iainh
This blew me away when I first heard it, and it's doing the same again now. A stunning cover.
Penny Lope
Beautiful. Haven't heard this in years. Thank you
John Wilson
The Swans are one of the desert island groups. Absolute perfection 👌
Mike Fraser
Absolutely achingly beautiful; tears always well up when I play this song. Things regretted, things said and done...