Quicksand Fans

Just thought I'd start this thread after reading something in the paper today. I have a love of language and how it works, and the use of quicksand as a metaphor is a cool one.

The passage is from Bristol Palin's memoir where she described losing her virginity to Levi Johnston:
"I thought I was heading into an evening of harmless high school fun," she writes. (sort of..) "But really, I was headed into the deep quicksand of sexual sin...."

Maybe it is just me, but ending up in the "deep quicksand of sexual sin" (taken out of context, of course) sounds pretty good to me!

Anyway, any thoughts or examples anyone want to add?

Country songs use it as a metaphor for debt.

"I'm in financial quicksand
sinkin' deep in debt
the more I try to fight it
the deeper in I get. . ."

-B. B. Watson, "Light at the end of the tunnel" ("I hope it ain't no train!")

and another:

"Saint Peter won't you look down for an minute
and see this workin' man about to drown
there's quicksand all around, and man, I'm in it-
please help me up, Lord, 'cause I'm goin' down. . ."

-Travis Tritt, "Lord have mercy on the workin' man."

There seem to be a lot of songs around called Quicksand, but none of them are actually about quicksand!

A song by Jim Reeves called "Billy Bayou" has:

Billy, Billy Bayou watch where you go
You're walking on quicksand, walk slow
Billy, Billy Bayou watch what you say
A pretty girl 'll get you one of these days.

There was a country song by Dave and Sugar back in 1977 that always caught my ear. Although, yes, they're singing about being knee-deep in love and getting deeper, there's the impression that there's sinking involved. When you look at the lyrics, it initially sounds like they may be only wading into deeper water; however, there is one line the gal is sings that notes, "I'm standing here with more than just sand on my feet." I always imagined her slowly sinking into quicksand or mud.


I'm Knee Deep in Loving You by Dave and Sugar (Copyright 1977)

Well I'm knee deep in loving you done got deeper than I wanted to
It'll probably drown me before I'm through
But I done got knee deep in loving you

And Lord I'd wade your water just enough to cool me down
Wet my feet and find the way to some dryer ground
But I keep on a gettin' deeper and there's just one rain ago
Too late I find I'm caught up in your undertow
Cause I'm knee deep...

Everybody's saying you're not the staying kind
Ain't it like a natural fool to think you will this time
It's too late for changing this feeling down in me
I'm standing here with more than just sand on my feet
Cause I'm knee deep...
Well I'm knee deep...
Well I'm knee deep...

Then there's Deep Purple's "Hush"

"She's got loving like quicksand
Only took one touch of my hand
Blow my mind and I'm in so deep
Can't eat, I can't sleep, yeah
I can't sleep, yeah..."

Still pissed off at myself for having lost my live track of "Highway Star"... sigh.,..

It isn't a country group, but Meat Loaf, in their "Bat Out Of Hell" album, has 2 songs with sinking metaphors:

In "All Revved Up With No Place To Go", they have:

We could be standing at the top of the world
Instead of sinking further down in the mud

In "For Cryin' Out Loud", they have:

And now the chilly California wind
Is blowin' down our bodies again
And we're sinkin'
Deeper and deeper in the chilly California sand

"Love is like quicksand, the deeper you fall the harder it is to get out" .....or its been said as..."Love is like Quicksand..the deeper you sink into it the harder it is to get out."

The Replacements (2000) I just watched it again not to long ago and a quote from there said by (Keanu Reeves) character Shane falco...

"You're playing and you think everything is going fine. Then one thing goes wrong. And then another. And another. You try to fight back, but the harder you fight, the deeper you sink. Until you can't move... you can't breathe... because you're in over your head. Like quicksand."

There is a song by LA ROUX titled 'Quicksand' that I used to have the lyrics on a webpage ...lyrics are

Oooh Oooh Oooh Oooh
Oooh Oooh Oooh Oooh

I'm the obsessor
Holding your hand
It seems you have forgotten
About your man
Alone in the darkness
My bed's a different land
Your touch intensifies
And I'm in the Quicksand
I'm in the Quicksand
I'm in the Quicksand

You're the upsetter
Stroking my hand
What's my position?
I don't understand
Am I your possession?
Am I in demand?
Oh when you turn to me
I'm in the Quicksand
I'm in the Quicksand
I'm in the Quicksand

You, you moved into my mind again Oooh
You, you're walking around rent free Oooh
Oh, I could let you stay
But I'm walking on broken ground again
Oh, oh, when will I learn?
All you do is push me back in the dirt

Ooooh Oooooh Ooooh ooooh
Oooh Ooooh Ooooh ooooh
I'm in the Quicksand
Oooh oooh ooooh ooooh ooooh ooooh
Oooh Ooooh


I'm in the Quicksand