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.
Nobody
Swans Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I Mean Nothing To Myself.
I'm Nothing, I'm Nobody.
I Hate My Body, I'm Stuck In Myself.
I'm Nothing, I'm Nobody.
I Don't Move, I'm Stuck In Myself.
I Hate My Body, I'm Stuck In Myself.
I'm Nothing, I'm Nobody.
Glory!glory!glory!
Glory!glory!glory!
The lyrics to Swans' "Nobody" are an intense and raw exploration of self-loathing and negative body image. The repetition of "I'm nothing, I'm nobody" and "I hate my body, I'm stuck in myself" suggest a deep-seated sense of worthlessness and a feeling of being trapped in one's own body. The use of the word "glory" at the end of each verse adds a haunting juxtaposition, almost as if the singer is trying to find some semblance of hope or optimism in their desperate state.
The repetition of these phrases throughout the song have a relentless quality, as if the singer can't escape their own negative self-talk. The line "I don't move, I'm stuck in myself" suggests a feeling of paralysis or being stuck in a state of self-loathing, unable to break free. The use of the word "hate" is particularly strong, indicating a deep level of self-disgust and possibly even self-harm.
Overall, the lyrics to "Nobody" are a powerful and unflinching depiction of the impact that negative self-talk and body image issues can have on an individual's mental health.
Line by Line Meaning
I Mean Nothing To Myself.
I have no self-worth.
I Mean Nothing To Myself.
I have no value to myself.
I'm Nothing, I'm Nobody.
I feel insignificant and unimportant.
I Hate My Body, I'm Stuck In Myself.
I have negative feelings towards my physical self and feel trapped within it.
I'm Nothing, I'm Nobody.
I feel insignificant and unimportant.
I Don't Move, I'm Stuck In Myself.
I feel emotionally and physically immobile.
I Hate My Body, I'm Stuck In Myself.
I have negative feelings towards my physical self and feel trapped within it.
I'm Nothing, I'm Nobody.
I feel insignificant and unimportant.
I'm Nothing, I'm Nobody.
I feel insignificant and unimportant.
Glory!glory!glory!
Sarcastic exclamation emphasizing my lack of worth and value.
Glory!glory!glory!
Sarcastic exclamation emphasizing my lack of worth and value.
Lyrics © THE ROYALTY NETWORK INC., Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: RAMON OLIVEIRA-MUSTAFA, PETER GONZALEZ, RAMOS ISMAEL TORRES, EDGAR WILMER SEMPER-VARGAS, XAVIER SEMPER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind