Sarah Fimm - Be Like Water

Decided to follow up the techno with some melancholy trip-hip.  

Looking at the Youtube comments, most people mistake the chorus/title for being a straight forward new-age mantra about being zen-like, mellow and flexible. I made this mistake on my first listen, but the lyrics are actually about someone who can't be like water - they still get angry, do drugs, masturbate, get too emotional, desire things, act fiery. The person they are in love with wants them to be a calmer 'water' person after a previous relationship burnt them, but they cannot live up to that placid ideal.

All the 'don't's of the song are the expectations the singer cannot live up to because they live in Saṃsāra, the realm of hunger and desire, that keeps them trapped in dukkha (suffering). The vast majority of humans live in Saṃsāra. The lyrics could be a torch song to a Buddhist monk.

Four Noble Truths of Buddhism

You tell me....
Don’t chase ghosts, don’t get too close,
Don’t get caught, don’t get spent,
Don’t get bought, don’t sell out, don’t get bent
Don’t fuck your best friend
But...
If everything is just the way it should be, why am I why am I still hungry?

You tell me to....
Be like water

You tell me....
Don’t be shy, don’t shut your eyes
Don’t get high, expand your mind.
Don’t keep in touch, don’t touch yourself, don’t ever want to be somebody else.
When everything is bad as it can be, never be, never be angry

You tell me to....
"Be like water"
that
Must be the answer you want

But...
I’m not your slave, I’m not the one who burnt you out, fucked you up and put you on, broke you down
Ask someone else to be that someone, I can’t be that someone who can be like water
But still...
Why can’t I be the answer you want?