William Chong

This song by Damien Rice singing “Cold Water” caught my attention today for two reasons: music and spirituality (favourite topics of mine).

Firstly, you have to hand it to Rice for pulling off a unique blend of acoustic singer-songwriter and lamentations-style folk music. The passionate modernity his band puts into the performance definitely comes close to drawing out some sort of religious experience (particularly in this longer version where the band whips into glossolalia: it’s furious, almost Pentecostal). With an artist-driven song like this (i.e. radio-friendliness not considered), you’ll either listen entranced by the music, or shake your head in bewilderment/confusion.

On spirituality. When Rice is grievously singing “Lord can you hear me now? Or am I lost?”, he offers a glimpse into an oft-hinted-at, seldom-mentioned truth: that human beings all want answers to spiritual questions. The “O God wherefore art thou” theme is repeated by vocalist Lisa Hannigan, followed by a bridge where Rice sings this seeming reply from God:

“oooo, I love you
Don’t you know I love you
And I always have
Hallelujah
Will you come with me?”

Obviously each person will ascribe their varying opinions on the real meaning behind Rice’s lyrics, but I personally found there was a fair bit of insight in there by a non-Christian artist. For Rice, the answer to “Are you there God? It’s me, Damien” is essentially “I am a loving God, come with me” – a theme certainly echoed in Scripture (e.g. Isaiah 55:3).

It’s also the way Rice sings this section in a Leonard Cohenesque, basso profundo register (not sure what God’s voice sounds like, but I know he can sing – Zephaniah 3:17) that’s made me think about this song all day.

So what do you think “Cold Water” is about?