Way down
I've been way down -1
Underneath this skin -2
Waiting to hear my name again
1: I have been way down on earth, and I realize this when I am reaching the skies
2: Underneath this skin: in human flesh, I've been locked inside this human body, under the walls of my own skin
I'm sorry
Nothing can hold me -3
I adore you still
If I hear them calling-4
And nothing can hold me
3: nothing can hold me here any longer, I'm dying, you cannot save me
4: I love you, but I hear the angels, and I don't want to be saved. I'm leaving. I'm dying.
Way down
(Do you really want me?) -5
All the way down
(Do you really want me?)
I will hear your voice
(Do you really want me?)
But I'll no longer understand -6
(No one's really loved me) -7
5: Do you really want me to stay?
6: I hear you calling, but I'm too lost in this feeling that I cannot make out anything you're saying. I'm growing farther away in my head. I cannot understand your language any longer.
7: It's quite ambiguous, since it can be about, "humans cannot love the way I imagine love is to be like" and "no one really understands me, no one can love me"
I'm sorry
Nothing can hold me
I adore you still
But I hear them calling
I was looking to the sky
When I knew I'd be swimming home -8
And I cannot betray my kind -9
They are here - it's my time -10
8: I'm finally going where I belong. I don't belong on earth. (Which has a hidden meaning, since Amy Lee is something that doesn't belong to this world, something so powerful that she belongs with god, as an angel. She feels this way, and maybe just obliviously puts in into her songs)
9: They need me, all the other angels need me. I have to go.
10: I have to move on. They're here for me. My time is up on the earth.
I'm sorry
Nothing can hold me
(Do you really want me?)
I adore you still
But I hear them calling - (calling)
And nothing can hold me
Over all I believe this song describes deeply how it is just the moment before you die, and as Amy said in her interviews, she is very interested with the concept of life after death and this feeling that people wonder about. This song could link to that. This song has it's very sad effect, although the tune to it seems quite blissful and ambient, it has this eerie melancholy behind it.
So, this was my interpretation of Swimming Home. This is only an idea, so if there are other ideas or you find to disagree with this then feel free to. If you have any other ideas to add feel free to review.