Tumble to me is a song about addiction and recovery. It found me at a very dark time in my life. “To the rhythm of life, I was walking on by” resonates with me because I was strolling through life carefree, when suddenly, my addiction came and smacked me in the face. I had always been a social user, never with an addiction problem when it came to cocaine. So, it was news to me when suddenly I couldn’t stop, no matter how hard I tried, my use only escalated.
This verse goes on to say, “I don’t want to get up quite yet”, which to me is representative of how an addict must hit rock bottom and want sobriety for themselves to get clean. I personally first knew I needed to get clean back in November, after my first Goose show! However, I had not hit rock bottom and therefore was not completely ready to live a sober life. This showed to be true with multiple relapses in the beginning of my journey to sobriety.
The next verse reads, “Down on the ground you sometimes find what you wouldn’t have found if you kept on walking by”. To me, it feels although they may be talking all the things you learn along the way about yourself through your struggle to get clean. For me personally, I learned how strong and resilient I am. Each time I slipped up I surprised myself by my willingness to get back on course and never stop fighting.
The next verse mentions “Maybe if I don’t try so hard, I’ll understand why I fell so far”. I interpret this line to mean when you finally just stop and surrender everything else will fall into place. For me this meant surrendering to my higher power. Once I was able to let go and have faith in what will be, everything began to be a lot more manageable, especially my ability to stay sober. My advice to any friend in my position would be to find something bigger than yourself to give you motivation and comfort in times of need.
The final verse that leads into the chorus states “Maybe there’s no bad luck, you gotta go down if you want to get up. It’ll all come around someday.” This goes back to the same idea we referenced earlier on about how an addict needs to hit rock bottom before they can get back up and fight.
All these moving statements lead into the chorus, “But for now, what to do. If you take a tumble, if you take a spill… there’s a lesson to learn and a cup to refill. And if you stumble, if your balance you lose. A road lies ahead so tie up your shoes.” The message to me is to never stop trying. No matter how many times you may get “tripped up”, you must always get back up and keep fighting! I relapsed back in February for a few short days. I quickly got myself back on the right track and have been fighting to stay clean ever since.
Overall, this song tells me to never lose hope. That no matter how dark the night is, the dawn will always come.
