Dave Matthews Band: Big Eyed Fish Meaning

Big Eyed Fish Lyrics

Look at this big - eyed fish swimming in the sea oh

How it dreams to be a bird swoop and diving through the breeze


So one day caught a big old wave up on to the beach

Now he’s dead you see beneath the sea is where a fish should
be...

1. 1TOP RATED

   #1 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Jun 28th 2008 !⃝

   This song is not meant to be about suicide at all, it simply states using many metaphorical examples that everyone is their own person, we are who we were born to be. And to try to be someone your not is to fail yourself as an individual. A fish who wishes to be a bird, etc.

2. 2TOP RATED

   #2 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Jun 14th 2006 !⃝

   I believe this song is about being happy with your life. Too many people in this world tirelessly search for something better in life,however, in reality its all right in front of you. A monkey climbs out of his tree into the city, where he ends up lost and confused. A fish dreams to be a bird, yet he meets his death in trying to be something else. Ultimately, its useless to search for something better in life. Be happy where you are now.
3. anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Aug 2nd 2018 !⃝

   It’s about Kurt Cobain.
4. anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Jun 3rd 2014 !⃝

   This song is about suicide and how it is the stupidest thing to do because life is wonderful.

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
5. anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Jul 10th 2009 !⃝

   The moral of this song is you are as your meant to be. it has undertones of evolution in that the fish wanted out of the water just as darwin says all life comes from the sea. but the fish was overly ambitious and, without legs, died on the beach. after that happened for millions of years the fish evolved limbs and lungs. the final transition between monkey and man happens with a leap from his tree. but after his descent Dave says he is as GOOD as dead, but not dead like the fish and the man. the verses are dark and morbid but the chorus is so hopeful, and written in faith that the hereafter will not only happen, but will be better than this life.
6. anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Jun 28th 2009 !⃝

   This song is in no way about happy things nor is it trying to be reassuring. Big Eyed Fish is about not being happy where you are and the man obviously commits suicide. First off, the fish is trying to be something he is not and sees no other way out but to die, and by going into the wave and out of the water, he should know he is going to die. Somewhere we belong is not always somewhere we want to be. Second, the man kills himself by hanging or suffocation because he sees no other way out of his life. There is no way that you can just hold your breath and die, he did it deliberately. Also, the interpretation that he held his breath because he thought that would be a better life for him is just ridiculous and stupid. Third, the monkey symbolizes a person that decided that living on the street would be better than whatever life they had before. Much like the fish, the monkey chose something that they knew they could not survive in because they saw no other way out. Lastly, the chorus most clearly defines the meaning of this song. "Under the weight of life things seem brighter on the other side" is about your LIFE, not how your life is going, and the OTHER SIDE is about heaven/hell (hell because of suicide). When it says there is "no way out of here" it means that you see your life as a living hell, and then if you kill yourself then you are going to go to hell.
7. anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Mar 3rd 2009 !⃝

   This song is about life, and being happy with where you are.the whole message is notice the little things that are around you, while you sit and dream of bigger things. but be happy with where you are. the big eyed fish wasnt happy, he wanted to be a bird. then next thing you know hes dead. society was happy with the man, it shows he has friends. he wants somthing better by holding his breath. now hes dead. the monkey is the prime example.he wants big city life. now hes pretty much dead stuck in a world lesser than living in the trees so peacefully.
8. anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Oct 7th 2008 !⃝

   The song is simply defined. by letting life weigh upon you you will continue to look for escape. by enjoying life you realize that in life is where you should be.
9. element4lifex8

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Apr 16th 2007 !⃝

   The overall meaning of the song relates to the idea that "The grass is always greener on the other side." But according to the song, the grass is not greener on the other side.
   
   I like green.
10. anonymous

    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5

    click a star to vote

    Jan 23rd 2007 !⃝

    It's definitely about suicide. Happiness. Heh.
11. anonymous

    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5

    click a star to vote

    Jun 22nd 2006 !⃝

    Don't try and be something that you're not.
12. anonymous

    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5

    click a star to vote

    May 2nd 2006 !⃝

    This song is about the thought of suicide in life. He uses different examples to show how people get fed up with life and feel they have no way out. He uses a fish as an example, a man, and a monkey. The fish kills himself by going onto dry land, the man sufficates himself and the monkey drinks himself to death.

Latest Articles

• 
  Anime to watch for the soundtracks… and other reasons you’re undateable
• 
  Dolly, we need you
• 
  The Stranger Things Effect: How new media is drawing Gen Z and Alpha's attention to aging media
• 
  The most underrated soundtrack of the early 2000s
• 
  Buy the Soundtrack, Skip the Movie: Brainscan (1994)
• 
  Let’s Go to the Hop - Ignore That Door’s Four Bunnies and a Beatbox