Get all 18 How to Swim releases available on Bandcamp and save 25%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Bars 'n' Loners, Straight White Men, Melt, Filthy Collision: Curiosities from the 'How to Swim' Vault, Vol. 1, HTS '15, The How to Swim Christmas Album, Dill Pickle EP, Niagarama, and 10 more.
1. |
Niagara
02:33
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Falling in a barrel
There are slings and there are arrows
There is water far beneath me
And I wonder if I’ve really
Made the right decision
I should have never sold the practice
My mother told me it was reckless
To be falling in a barrel
Is no way to get ahead
It’s no way to get ahead
It was a way to make a living
Respect and admiration
From all corners of society
Is not something I am getting
In a barrel above water
Falling in a barrel
There are slings and there are arrows
There is water far beneath me
And I wonder if I’ve really
Made the right decision
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2. |
Small Parts Moving
03:50
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Just cos it hums he was sure he could take it
He could hear something moving, moving inside
Small parts slightly heaving and wheezing
Bolted twice and tied at the side
Just cos it beats he was sure he could help them
He could hear something breathing, breathing inside
I’m not a doctor but I think I can heal it
My arms and knuckles are a web of contention
If you were broken like a leper convention
I’ll give you sweeties
But I won’t kiss it better
My big girl’s gonna knock you out
She’s a real tough cookie
My big girl’s gonna knock you down
She’s a real good looker
Just cos it runs he was sure it was viscous
Darker than he remembered it to be
It’s not the way it seemed to him in the movies
If you were broken like a leper convention
I’ll give you sweeties
But I won’t kiss it better
My big girl’s gonna knock you out
She’s a real tough cookie
My big girl’s gonna knock you down
She’s a real good looker
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3. |
Bacterium
03:31
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Start to divide
Welcome the genomathon
Double-strand your RNA
To avoid oblivion
How do you feel about decline?
Are you able to live on your own?
Imagine a world where your hopes and dreams
Are unrealised
I watched her grow
I watched her grow into a woman
And then when she was grown
I watched her walk away
Try to cut a hole in all of this
But I turn the weapon on myself
Everybody sees when we divide
Everybody sees when we divide
Everybody sees when we divide
Start to align
Chromosome dreams of a lineage
Bypass your guilt and malaise
And embrace replication
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4. |
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I’m too old
I’m too old
(REPEAT FOR AGES...)
When I rule the world everything will be better
I’ve not had my tea
I have not had my dinner
I’m too old, I’m too old
For a crush, for a crush
I’m too old for a crush to be endearing
So I try to hint at a meaning
I’m too old, I’m too old
I’m too old, I’m too old
In the morning everything will taste much better
Because the night before is a bitch
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5. |
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And it’s not about the way that we’ve changed
I still look 19 when I’ve had a shave
You wave your hands as the trucks go past
Gonna finish the race
I’m gonna finish in last
And it’s not about the places you’ve been
The things that you’ve done
Or the people you’ve seen
You shake your fists as the trucks go past
But I’ll take my chances
I’ll take my chances
It doesn’t even have to be you
It doesn’t even have to be you
And it’s not about the things that we said
Our memories fade as it gets close to the end
We shake our fists as the days go past
We missed our chances
We missed our chances
It doesn’t even have to be you
It doesn’t even have to be you
Please don’t break me
Don’t forsake me
I’ve got love to give
So don’t forget about me
When you’re down
And you’re out
I wanna fall in love again
It doesn’t even have to be you
It doesn’t even have to be you
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6. |
I Need A War
05:26
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I know that life is short and cruel
And yet I waste my time
I need a war to wake me up
I need a stick to break my back
I need a war to wake me up
I need a stick to break my back
I need a child that won’t get better
I need a girl who won’t say yes
I need a job that tires my muscles
I need a bed that shifts my bones
I need a lover treats me badly
I need a tumour to rip me up
I need a hole I gotta get out of
I need a river I gotta cross
I need a struggle I gotta overcome
I need a prison I gotta escape
Now my body is weak
And my mind is tired
My relationships: Dull
My creations: Unexceptional
I could get some work done
In the jail, the hospital
Or the lunatic asylum
They won’t let me sleep till three
There’ll be a guard
Or some kind of orderly
I could get some work done
In the jail, the hospital
Or the lunatic asylum
I could get some work done
I could get some work done
In the lunatic asylum
I know that life is short and cruel
I know there’s nothing
And nowhere afterwards
I know it could end at any point
Yet still I waste my time
It’s all a waste of time
People get ready
We’re all struggling to keep up
People get ready
We’ve got to leave a little bit behind
I’ll be the better man
You be the bigger man
I’ll be the bigger man
You be the better man
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7. |
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8. |
Long Division
06:23
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And you can only get so dirty
You can only get so thin
Before the good all trickles out of you
And something bad burrows its way in
Well I'm a young man
I don't need your sympathy
I'm a young man
That's no reason for suspicion of me
Back when we started
There were cells dividing
I was so disappointed in you
We were amazed
At how you put in the hours
I was so disappointed
And maybe it will break and maybe it won't
And maybe it will get better again
And maybe it will break and maybe it won't
And maybe it will get better
And we don't tire of getting dirty
We don't tire of getting thin
There's something moving
In the undergrowth
Something trying to make its way in
Well I'm a young man
I don't need your sympathy
I'm a young man
That's no reason for suspicion
And maybe it will break and maybe it won't
And maybe it will get better again
And maybe it will break and maybe it won't
And maybe it will get better
We're gonna break your boyfriend's legs
And everything will be alright
We're gonna break your boyfriend's legs
And you and me can go out tonight
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9. |
Bark
03:21
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Did I make you feel wanted?
Did I make you feel loved?
Did I make you feel important?
Did I make you feel a part
Of whatever the fuck it was I was doing?
All I am is a bark with little bite
You've gotta get up pretty early in the morning
To be more down than me
Sometimes it's hard to be a loser
When all you wanna do is win
Sometimes it's hard when you discover that
This city is ugly right down to its centre
I know that I'm meant to but I can't defend it
All I am is a bark with little bite
You've gotta get up pretty early in the morning
To be more down than me
Struggle with these thoughts
Inside of my head
I could have promised you the world
But I chose nothing instead
We made ugly little children
That I could not love
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10. |
Animals
05:13
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Four years older and three stone heavier
Think I’m gonna try to find some
Maybe I’m lucky and I’ll find somebody
Who can tolerate what I have become
The ones I’m attracted to get no older
My big vein’s blood just gets colder
Is there some kind of sign when you discover that
You’ve passed your prime?
You’re no older than I remember you
My memory’s not what it was
The days get longer and the years get shorter
That’s how the numbers build up
I’ve got no chance with contemporary females
I can’t remember the simplest details
Why does sleeping with someone new
Feel like I’m cheating on you?
Gets a little better with the passing of time
The hills and the mountains get eroded to fine sand
The rivers and the lochs and the lakes and the springs
Turn themselves into gaseous things
The babies and the children
And the teens and the grown-ups
The kids gotta grow up to replace the grown-ups
And this all happens without my involvement
Did I miss my time?
Have I passed my prime?
Oh, and the big yellow sun’s
Gonna move through crimson and blue
Before exploding
And becoming a rock or a big black hole
And no, I don’t wanna see your baby pictures
Or hear about the stag do
I don’t care what you’re redecorating
Or the cute things that your pets do
I’ve got my health, they like to remind me
The healthier people lined up behind me
Ready to push me out of the line
Now that I’ve passed my prime
And we will not be forgiven
As we forget the past
The animals that we are
Cannot possibly recall at all
The animals that we are
Can’t recall at all
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11. |
All That We Wait For
05:19
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You wish you could know love
You wish you could break yourself in him
Break yourself on someone else
You don’t have to lie
You don’t have to wait for him tonight
Somewhere, someone.
Love, it’s not all it was
Don’t think it’s your fault; it’s not
It’s a complication
You don’t have to beg
You don’t have to smash his windows in
Oh, he won’t love you like I would
He’ll hold you back, I think.
Now you’re close to the waist of it all
Is this where you thought you’d be?
It’s all adding up
Is this where you hoped you’d be?
Overthink it again
The music it reinforces the way you long for him
And so it begins
You don’t have to wait for him tonight
Oh, he won’t love you like I did
He’ll hold you back, I think.
And there is a pain we all know
Is this where you thought you’d be?
It’s all adding up
Is this where you hoped you’d be?
Oh, “I love you” is all that we wait for
Wait for me
“I love you” is all that we wait for
Wait for me.
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How to Swim Glasgow, UK
How to Swim are a pop group from Glasgow! They rock!
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