We salute at the threshold of the North Sea

in my mind

And a nod to the boredom that drove me here

to face the tide and swim

(Whoaaaa) I swim (Whoaaa) oh swim (Whoaaa)


Dip the toe in the ocean. Oh how it hardens and it numbs.

And the rest of me is a version of man

built to collapse into crumbs

And if I hadn't come down

To the coast to disappear

I may have died in a land-slide

Of the rocks, the hopes and fears.


So swim until you can't see land.

Swim until you can't see land.

Swim until you can't see land

Are you a man or are you a bag of sand?

Swim until you can't see land

Swim until you can't see land

Swim until you can't see land

Are you a man or are you a bag of sand?


Up to my knees now, do I wait? Do I dive?

The sea has seen my like before though it's my first

And perhaps last time.

Let's call me a baptist, call this the drowning of the past

She's there on the shoreline

Throwing stones at my back


So swim until you can't see land

Swim until you can't see land

Swim until you can't see land

Are you a man or are you a bag of sand?

Swim until you can't see land

Swim until you can't see land

Swim until you can't see land

Are you a man or are you a bag of sand?


Now the water's taller than me

And the land is a marker line

All I am is a body adrift in water, salt and sky


So swim until you can't see land

Swim until you can't see land

Swim until you can't see land

Are you a man or are you a bag of sand?

Swim until you can't see land

Swim until you can't see land

Swim until you can't see land

Are you a man or are you a bag of sand?