Low Ebb
I heard a calling
From miles beyond the grave
What was it saying
I could not make out a word
Shiver in the cold light
And in your troubled mind
Darkness has enveloped your heart
And stole the lustre from your eyes
Still you hold on
As the light is fading out
Feels like your life is ebb, ebbing away
Feels like your life is ebb, ebbing away
It feels like the last stand of summer
It feels like the end of the day
Nothing to get up for tomorrow baby
Everything is caught in decay
Shiver in the cold light
And in your troubled mind
Darkness has enveloped your heart
And stole the lustre from your eyes
Still you hold on
As the light is fading out
Feels like your life is ebb, ebbing away
Feels like your life is ebb, ebbing away Ebbing away
Thinking staring out of the window
There’s one thing she can never know
You can never tell her
How close you are to letting go
Still you hold on
As the light is fading out
Feels like your life is ebb, ebbing away
Feels like your life is ebb, ebbing away
Feels like your life is ebb, ebbing away
Although there’s still pulsing in your veins
Feels like your life is ebb, ebbing away
Feels like your life is ebb, ebbing away
Ebbing away
Ebbing away
Song Notes
The song entered the bands set list on the Nu-Clear Sounds tour in 1998-99, but quickly exited. Tim Wheeler said of the song:
That’s me wallowing again. I was feeling really depressed and decided to work it out in a song. It’s about kind of feeling lost. It’s about the way everything comes to a standstill when you get off the road after a long tour.
Rick and Charlotte during the Tim Burgess Twitter listening party for Nu-Clear Sounds in April 2020:
Rick: I seem to remember this one being written in the studio, I think Tim might have thought this would be a B-side but me and Mark loved it. It always feels like a mixture of hope and despair lyrically. Definitely resonates with the pressure Tim was under; he was suffering writer’s block pretty badly but trying to keep it hidden from the rest of us.
Charlotte: Always loved “Low Ebb” and in hindsight it’s such a huge departure from the manic energy of “Girl From Mars” and “Kung Fu”, etc. “Feels like your life is ebb ebbing away” was probably not the anthemic chorus people wanted. But I love the sad heaviness of it.