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.
Mother/Father
Swans Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Hey hey,
Now mother father
Hey hey
Now my bloody mind
Hey hey
Now killer father
Hey hey
There s a place in space where violence and love collide inside
And solid is wide
And heat is cold
And birth is death
And creation and time are made from destruction
From fucking destruction
Fucking destruction
Fucking destruction
Fucking destruction
Hey hey
Now mother father:
Now ride! now ride!
Swans’ song Mother is a heavily layered and disorienting piece of music. Many people find it difficult to interpret, but upon a closer look, it is full of vivid imagery and symbolism.
The repeated phrases “mother father,” “bloody mind,” and “killer father” seem to be a commentary on the destructive power of the patriarchy, as well as the damaging cycle of abuse that can be passed down from generation to generation. The line “there’s a place in space where violence and love collide inside” suggests that these two extremes are inextricably linked, and that we are all capable of both great love and great violence. The lyrics “solid is wide, and heat is cold, and birth is death” seem to suggest that there is a paradoxical quality to existence itself: things often appear to be the opposite of what they are.
The lines “creation and time are made from destruction, from fucking destruction,” are particularly striking, as they suggest that something new and beautiful can emerge from even the most painful and devastating experiences. It’s a reminder that, no matter how difficult things get, there is always the possibility for growth and change. The repeated use of the phrase “fucking destruction” is also significant, as it suggests a certain rawness and intensity that cannot be ignored.
Line by Line Meaning
Mother/Father
Starting the song with the title of the song
Hey hey,
Casual greeting to the parents
Now mother father
Directly addressing the parents
Hey hey
Friendly greeting
Now my bloody mind
Referring to the thoughts that haunt the singer
Hey hey
Casual greeting
Now killer father
Acknowledging the role of the father in causing pain as well
Hey hey
Casual greeting
Now mother mind
Acknowledging the role of the mother in shaping the singer's thoughts
There s a place in space where violence and love collide inside
Referring to the complex emotions and sensations inside someone's mind
And solid is wide
Referring to how strong emotions can take up physical space
And heat is cold
Referring to how emotions can be conflicting and hard to understand
And birth is death
Referring to how creation and destruction are two sides of the same coin
And creation and time are made from destruction
Acknowledging the role of destruction in the creation and progression of life
From fucking destruction
Emphasizing the intensity and forcefulness of destruction
Fucking destruction
Repeating the idea of destruction for emphasis
Fucking destruction
Repeating the idea of destruction for emphasis
Fucking destruction
Repeating the idea of destruction for emphasis
Hey hey
Casual greeting
Now mother father:
Directly addressing the parents again
Now ride! now ride!
Encouraging the parents to take action or move forward
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@SansRedGoddess
Swans - Mother_Father Lyrics:
[Refrain]
Hey hey, hey hey
Hey hey, hey hey
Hey hey, hey hey
Hey hey, hey hey
[Verse 1]
Hey hey, now mother father
Hey hey, now bloody mind
Hey hey, now killer father
Hey hey, now mother mind
[Refrain]
Hey hey, hey hey
Hey hey, hey hey
Hey hey, hey hey
Hey hey, hey hey
[Verse 2]
There's a place in space
Where violence and love
Collide inside
And solid is wide
And heat is cold
And birth is death
And creation and time
Are made from destruction
[Refrain]
From fucking destruction (Hey hey, hey hey)
Fucking destruction (Hey hey, hey hey)
Fucking destruction (Hey hey, hey hey)
Fucking destruction (Hey hey, hey hey)
[Outro]
Now ride, ride (Hey hey, hey hey)
Ride, ride (Hey hey, hey hey)
Ride, ride
Ride, ride
Ride, ride
Ride, ride
Ride, ride
@arnoburtner380
The Gira/Jarboe match is unmatched
@zozobra
Jarboe can kill you with her voice. Just perfect.
@zweiihanderr
absolutely the best jarboe song
@saraivatoledo1842
She closed one of her post Swans shows , when Paz Lenchantin was in her band , with this and dedicated it to Michael ... imagine that as a closer ... so long ago I can´t even be sure whether it was 2005 or earlier even ... dunno , just know I was there and it was one of the most brutal shows I´ve ever attended .
Saw her other times , never that impressive ... even petty stuff such as her stage presence ...
@simorovo
This and her rendition of I Crawled and live Hypogirl are her best performances ever probably
@1nv4in
AGREED especially blackmail too (both from children of god and holy money ep one)
@apactbetweenstrangers9616
One of the first swans songs I heard as a teenager, still to this day means more than anything to me and I think listening to again for the first time in at least a year has made me wanna cover or at least pay tribute to this song at some point. Thank your Jarboe and you Michael for making some of the most personally significant and mind opening music that I have ever heard over the years.
@samnunn2905
Definitely my favourite Jarboe track
@Scroolewse
She gives me chills man
@jblanchard5387
This song is fucking intense! Probably my favorite Swans song