Annotations for Spiral Static

Lyric: And I’ll feel broken inside, you’ll feel
Annotation:
The birth may be going wrong, the mother may be dying because of it, thus leaving the speaker alone and broken inside. However, the perspective of speech may have shifted and now it is the mother speaking and echoing what the father has been saying.

Lyric: Still she gives you everything you need
 Is it enough?
Annotation:
Despite how close to birthing the child the mother is, she is still being given all she needs by the doctors. However, the perspective may have shifted here, so now the person being given all the need is the speaker, who only wants a child.

Lyric: A storm growing strong
 And it’s coming my way
Annotation:
The storm is the child about to be born, and the growing stronger is the ever-growing closeness to giving birth, and thus it is coming the way of the speaker.

Lyric: Sigh, static moans
Annotation:
The word static can mean angry behaviour or talk, and thus it could here reference the anger and panic in the voice of the woman who is giving birth. However, and more likely, it could mean the moans of the woman are blending into each other and are sounding like noise to those who are listening to them – like static.

Lyric: As it grows in your mind
 Feel broken inside, you’ll feel
Annotation:
The idea of giving birth is constantly knawing at the mind of the mother, ever-growing in size and in power until it breaks her inside.

Lyric: You’re running out of time
Annotation:
The mother or child’s life may be at risk during birth, and thus, if the birth doesn’t occur soon, then the mother or child may die. It may, instead, be that the time until birth is running out, and thus the time of freedom and painlessness is running out.

Lyric: He needs to give you
 Everything you need
 Is it enough?
Annotation:
He, presumably the doctor overseeing the birth, is giving the patient drugs to help, and catering to what she needs to be comfortable, i.e pillows, water, chocolate, morphine…

Lyric: Who’s ever known
 How much to moan and groan
 And quiver inside?
Annotation:
The song is about giving birth. No one really knows how much giving birth is going to hurt, and thus how much they’re going to “moan and groan”.

