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  1. Tracks
  2. Swans
  3. The Seer
  4. The Seer

TRACK

Swans

The Seer

Release date: 28th August 2012

From The Seer
Spotify
More on Swans

About This Track

Nearly thirty-two minutes of instrumental build precedes the refrain that anchors 'The Seer', Swans' title track. When the voice arrives, it arrives as repetition: "I see it all" tolled across the duration like an incantation or a warning. The track sits at the centre of a double album that Michael Gira described as the culmination of three decades of work, and the song itself carries that weight, moving through instrumental passages that stretch and reform beneath the accumulating weight of its central phrase. The outro fractures into something more fragmented. Declarations of love give way to images of coal and sun, signs and vehicles, language that resists easy paraphrase. What emerges is less a conventional song than a durational experience, one that tests patience and attention in equal measure. The repetition becomes its own form of meaning, the voice a tool for endurance rather than expression.

"The Seer" is a track by Swans, from the album The Seer, released 28th August 2012. Full lyrics are available below.

About the Artist

Swans

Swans

Lyrics

The Seer

[Instrumental: 0:00 - 7:48]

[Refrain]

I see it all, I see it all, I see it all, I see it all

I see it all, I see it all, I see it all, I see it all

I see it all, I see it all, I see it all, I see it all

I see it all, I see it all, I see it all, I see it all

I see it all, I see it all, I see it all, I see it all

I see it all, I see it all, I see it all, I see it all

I see it all, I see it all, I see it all, I see it all

I see it all, I see it all, I see it all, I see it all

I see it all, I see it all, I see it all, I see it all

I see it all, I see it all, I see it all, I see it all

I see it all, I see it all, I see it all, I see it all

I see it all, I see it all, I see it all, I see it all

I see it all, I see it all, I see it all, I see it all

I see it all, I see it all, I see it all, I see it all

I see it all, I see it all, I see it all, I see it all

I see it all, I see it all, I see it all, I see it all

I see it all, I see it all, I see it all, I see it all

I see it all, I see it all, I see it all, I see it all

I see it all, I see it all

[Instrumental: 9:36 - 28:13]

[Outro]

I love you too much

I love you too much

I love you too much

I love you too much

Son, son

The common mind

The coal in my mouth

The coal in my mind

The coal in my mouth

The coal in my mind

The coal in my mind

The coal in my mind

The coal in my mind

The coal in my mind

The coal in my mind

The coal in my mind

The coal in my mind

The coal in my mind

The sun in my mouth

The sun in my mouth

The sun in my mouth

The cock and a wow[?]

The cock a guitar[?]

You totaled it all

It's a sign

It's a sign

It's a sign

It's a sign

The cock in the car

Your cocoa in car[?]

The gun in the car

It's a sign

It's a sign

It's a sign

To silently wow

To shock and wow

To shock and wow

The cock in my mouth

To cock in my car[?]

What we are

What we are

What we are

What we are

To silently moow[?]

To silently moow[?]

To silently moow[?]

To silently moow[?]

Got in my car[?]

Milently moow[?]

Silently moow[?]

Silently moow[?]

Rock in my car[?]

That goes in my car

Goes straight in my mouth

Goes straight in my mouth

Lyrics provided by LRCLIB

View full lyrics page →

Track details

From The Seer

2012
Listen
Album
The Seer
The Seer
Swans
Release year
2012
  1. —93 Ave. B Blues
  2. —Lunacy
  3. —A Piece of the Sky
  4. —The Seer Returns
  5. —Mother of the World
  6. —The Apostate
  7. —Avatar
  8. —The Seer
  9. —The Daughter Brings the Water
  10. —The Wolf
  11. —Song for a Warrior

More from Swans

Albums & EPs

Birthing
Birthing
2025
Oxygen
2014
Soundtracks for the Blind
Soundtracks for the Blind
2001
White Light from the Mouth of Infinity
White Light from the Mouth of Infinity
1991
Greed
Greed
1986
Cop
Cop
1984

Explore

More tracks by Swans

  1. A Little God in My Hands (Live) (2025)
  2. Amnesia (leaving meaning.)
  3. AwayBirthing
  4. Away (Live)Live Rope
  5. BirthingBirthing
  6. Birthing (Live)Live Rope
  7. Cathedrals of Heaven
  8. Cathedrals of Heaven (Live)Live Rope
  9. Don't Go
  10. EbbingThe Beggar

Showing 10 of 50

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This Heat

Credits

Production & Engineering

Writer
Michael Gira
Lyricist
Michael Gira
Producer
Michael Gira
Engineer
Bryce Goggin, Kevin McMahon
Drums
Phil Puleo, Thor Harris, William Rieflin
Acoustic Guitar
Michael Gira, William Rieflin
Additional Vocals
Christopher Pravdica, Kristof Hahn, Phil Puleo, William Rieflin
Assistant Engineer
Adam Sachs, Boris Wilsdorf, Marco Paschke
Bagpipes
Ian Graham
Bass Guitar
Christopher Pravdica, William Rieflin
Bells
Thor Harris
Cello
Bob Rutman
Clarinet
Thor Harris
Contrabassoon
Stefan Rocke
Electric Guitar
Kristof Hahn, Michael Gira, William Rieflin
Hammered Dulcimer
Phil Puleo, Thor Harris
Handclaps
Christopher Pravdica
Harmonica
Michael Gira
Horns
Bruce Lamont
Lap Steel Guitar
Kristof Hahn
Lead Vocals
Michael Gira
Mastering Engineer
Doug Henderson
Mixing Engineer
Kevin McMahon
Percussion
Phil Puleo, Thor Harris, William Rieflin
Piano
Thor Harris, William Rieflin
Pre-Mastering Engineer
Jamal Ruhe
Sound Effects
Michael Gira
Synthesizer
William Rieflin
Vibraphone
Thor Harris
Violin
Thor Harris
READ MORE ABOUT SWANSREAD MORE ABOUT SWANS
READ MORE ABOUT SWANSREAD MORE ABOUT SWANS

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