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Oct 30th 2019!⃝I am a Substance Abuse Counselor in a school and while in classroom I use this song as a reference to a personal struggle of someone addicted to drugs. I don't know whether the song is really about heroin but it could be. Either way I consider up for interpretation. Disagree or not. I won't be offended but it's good for a lesson with high school students.
Badfish – by Sublime with Brad Nowell
When you grab a hold of me
You tell me that I'll never be set free
• Probably talking about his girl embracing him
But I'm a parasite
Creep and crawl I step into the night
• Considers himself a lowly, leechy, person on the hunt for heroin or to steal money for it
Two pints of booze
Tell me are you a badfish, too?
• A badfish is someone who exposes someone to heroin for the first time
Ain't got no money to spend
I hope the night will never end
• Spent all of his money on drugs and doesn’t want the high to end
Lord knows I’m weak
Won’t somebody get me off of this reef?
• He knows he needs help with his addiction and wishes someone will help him
Baby, you're a big blue whale
Grab the reef when all duck diving fails
• Is he referring to his girl or the heroin with a “big blue whale?” (rare and powerful creature) Maybe he’s trying to navigate his life and get clean at the same time but when the going gets tough he succumbs and uses once more
I swim but I wish I never learned
Water’s too polluted with germs
• He regrets ever starting to use heroin and recognizes how toxic and poisonous it is to his body, mind, and soul
I dive deep when it’s ten feet overhead
Grab the reef underneath my bed
• Another reference to being weak and addicted
Ain't got no quarrels with god
Ain't got no time to grow old
• Maybe he isn’t putting blame on a higher power for his weakness. Maybe he is starting to embrace his perceived truth that he is on his way to fast grave.
Lord knows I’m weak
Won’t somebody get me off of this reef?
Admitting again that he is weak and is in need of help
