lyrics big fish little fish swimming in the water
Down by the Water The song's lyrics tell the story of a woman committing filicide. The woman drowns her daughter "down by the water" and "won't see her again." The final coda features Harvey whispering the lines: "little fish, big fish swimming in the water / come back here, man, gimme my daughter." The refrain was based on Lead Belly's rendition of the traditional American folk song "Salty Dog Blues." In 2005, Harvey used the song's lyrics in a Spin interview as an example to demonstrate that her songs were not autobiographical: "Some critics have taken my writing so literally to the point that they'll listen to 'Down by the Water' and believe I have actually given birth to a child and drowned her."[2]
The Old Man and the Sea A group of fishermen gather the next day around the boat where the fish's skeleton is still attached. One of the fishermen measures it to be 18 feet (5.5 m) from nose to tail. Pedrico is given the head of the fish, and the other fishermen tell Manolin to tell the old man how sorry they are. Tourists at the nearby café mistakenly take it for a shark. The boy, worried about the old man, cries upon finding him safe asleep and at his injured hands. Manolin brings him newspapers and coffee. When the old man wakes, they promise to fish together once again. Upon his return to sleep, Santiago dreams of his youth—of lions on an African beach.