“Solway Firth” is the second single from Slipknot’s sixth album, We Are Not Your Kind. The title is likely a reference to the “Solway Firth Spaceman” which is an image of a little girl and a “spaceman” standing in the background. The photographer swears that the spaceman wasn’t there before.
Hence...
[Intro]
Today, up on this hill, I'm counting all the killers
They sway as they swarm, a look of gluttons in their eyes
They mutter as the body loses warmth
They pick your bones like locks inside a tomb
And take great care to not take care of you
Here’s an unexplainable one
Here's an unexplainable one
[Verse 1]
While I was learning to live, we all were living a lie
I guess you got what you wanted
So I will settle for a slaughterhouse soaked in blood and betrayal
It's always somebody else, somebody else was me
You want the real smile?
Or the one I used to practice not to feel like a failure?
[Chorus]
I don’t need you to do it for me
I don't need you to understand
I don't need you to hide it from me
I just wanna feel like any other man
I won't show you the whole story
I won't show you the aftermath
I won't show you my allegory
Don't look away, here's an unexplainable one
[Post-Chorus]
Here’s an unexplainable one
Here’s an unexplainable one
[Verse 2]
I'm not ahead of my time, I just drew the first breath
If I’m alive tomorrow
I will alleviate the pressure by cutting you out of me
I found my bottom line dead on the front lines
I know I'll never go home
So set fire to your ships and past regrets and be free
[Chorus]
I don't need you to do it for me
I don't need you to understand
I don’t need you to hide it from me
I just wanna feel like any other man
I won't show you my whole story
I won't show you the aftermath
I won't show you my allegory
Don't look away, here's an unexplainable one
[Post-Chorus]
What have you done?
What have you done?
Yeah
[Outro]
Oh, while I was learning to live, you taught me how to die
I guess I got what I wanted
Another needle in the back through purified scarification
It wasn't somebody else, you fucking did it to me
You want a real smile?
I haven't smiled in years
Solway Firth was written by Michael Pfaff & Sid Wilson & Jim Root & Craig Jones & Shawn Crahan & Mick Thomson & Corey Taylor & Alessandro Venturella & Jay Weinberg.
Solway Firth was produced by Slipknot & Greg Fidelman.
Slipknot released Solway Firth on Mon Jul 22 2019.
The music video features footage from the 2019 Amazon Original series The Boys.
Jim Root:
I love this song, because it has all these different elements. It’s got the ambient, airy guitars, and it’s got moody drums, but it also has a thrash metal riff. I feel really lucky because I’m able to bring these other influences through that aren’t really metal at all. It’s important to...
Corey Taylor:
Obviously I’m a self-professed Anglophile (laughs), and I’d been watching some shows and movies that had this English, almost folk, music to it; the way the annunciation changes depending on the singer – there’s a hint of Irish in there, and there’s just that nuance that you really do...