The Heligoats are an indie/rock band out of Bellingham Washington.

… Read Full Bio ↴The Heligoats are an indie/rock band out of Bellingham Washington.

Webpage: www.theheligoats.bandcamp.com
Label: Greyday Records www.greydayproductions.com

From NPR:
The Heligoats — a strange name for a guy strumming a guitar, but oddly befitting someone who stuffs his songs with so many sideways ideas and observations. Given the yarns he spins here, it's easy to imagine Otepka envisioning a herd of goats with propellers and setting the concept to music.

From Daytrotter:
Chris Otepka, the lead singer for the Bellingham-based indie rock band The Heligoats, a project that he's been working on for over 10 years now, has a very quirky and a very imaginative head on his shoulders and he tends to think about and write about the workings of these bodies - more specifically, it seems, his own, the one that he knows most intimately - in very, well, intimate ways. He thinks of them differently than most people do. He seems to hear these bodies talking to themselves, not hearing voices in his head per se - though that might happen frequently as well - but more so hearing these bodies communicate as if they were municipalities, with neighborhoods and precincts and factions in conflict with one another at all times. For any peace, they may look to the outside.

From Greyday:
We all know that "long-awaited" is overused in band bios, but ask any hardcore Heligoats or Troubled Hubble fans and they will tell you that they've worn out the edges of their seats waiting for the newest release from Chris Otepka, the man behind The Heligoats.

The Heligoats was Otepka's first songwriting outlet. He wrote his first pieces in 1998 before eventually forming Chicago-based Troubled Hubble, a successful touring band that took up much of his musical energy from 1999-2005. During lulls in Troubled Hubble's career, Otepka would still write songs for The Heligoats, some of which ended up as TH songs, but most of which can be found on his various Heligoats recordings: Heated Arguments, Mountains, Sapling Sessions, etc. After Troubled Hubble played their last show, Otepka began working on The End of All-Purpose.

Mercury
The Heligoats Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Don't be discouraged, dead fish on the beach
They were probably just swimming in mercury

And it's too bad about this planet
And summer flings
And summer vacations
And mercury

So curl me up in your coils

Spin me inside of your heat
Hold me until my blood boils like mercury

Overall Meaning

The Heligoats's song Mercury is an introspective and melancholic track that reflects on the toxicity of love and the state of the environment. The lyrics "Don't be discouraged, dead fish on the beach / They were probably just swimming in mercury" suggest that the dead fish may have died due to the toxic levels of mercury in the water.

The song also touches upon the state of the planet, with the lyrics "And it's too bad about this planet / And summer flings / And summer vacations / And mercury." The use of mercury in the song may be a metaphor for the pollution that human activity causes, which is affecting our planet and ultimately the people on it.

The chorus of the song reflects on the intense nature of love, with the lines "So curl me up in your coils / Spin me inside of your heat / Hold me until my blood boils like mercury." Here, mercury is used to describe the intensity of love and how it can make one's emotions boil and overheat.

Overall, The Heligoats's song Mercury is a poignant reflection on the state of the world and love, and how both can be toxic.

Line by Line Meaning

Don't be discouraged, dead fish on the beach
Do not feel disheartened by the sight of dead fish on the beach

They were probably just swimming in mercury
The dead fish might have been exposed to mercury that probably killed them

And it's too bad about this planet
It is unfortunate how things are progressing on Earth

And summer flings
Romantic relationships that lasts only for the summer season

And summer vacations
Taking a break from work or routine life during summer

And mercury
Mercury, the planet which is now considered not hospitable for life.

So curl me up in your coils
Wrap me around and hold me tight

Spin me inside of your heat
Make me feel the warmth of your love

Hold me until blood boils like mercury
Hold me until I feel passionate and intense like mercury boiling

Contributed by Charlie T. Suggest a correction in the comments below.