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I'm having a hard time with some lyrics that I've been writing. The verb "to soak" got me stuck, because I'm not sure if I'm using it correctly.

At first, I wanted to say:

"Girl, by tomorrow we will be apart/ Until the morning, let us soak as feelings pour."

However, I'm not sure if it's right. When I say "let's soak as feelings pour", I want it to mean "let's get soaked". I've seen a couple examples in the internet where "soak" is being used instead of "get soaked", as in "I wanna soak in your sea" (excerpt of a song by "Cactus"). So, can anyone help me with this? I'm really stuck.

Another little thing, I have these other two options. I don't like how they sound with the melody, but they work: "'til then, wanna soak in you as feelings pour." "'til then, let us soak in love as feelings pour.""

Is it correct? Or ar there any problems with the way it's written?

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    I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it is asking for advice on writing song lyrics. Both of those are off-topic on this site.
    – Cascabel_StandWithUkraine_
    Commented Aug 28, 2019 at 18:31
  • It's not off-topic if I don't know, as I'm not a native speaker, how to use the verb "to soak" correctly. I don't know if "soak" requires "in" to work when I want to use "soak" instead of "get soaked". But thanks anyway. Not very kind of you, but thanks.
    – Filippe
    Commented Aug 28, 2019 at 18:44
  • @filippe - You may find ell.stackexchange.com to be better suited to your questions. It is an active site more focused on people learning English. Many such question end up closed on this site.
    – Justin
    Commented Aug 28, 2019 at 18:55
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    It's a non-standard usage and would be marked wrong in an essay, but song lyrics and standard English are different entities. 'Get soaked' is an idiom, and idioms often don't behave predictably. "We weighed anchor." ... *"How quickly did you weigh it?" (The asterisk is used to mark non-standard English, here wrong, but doubtless something merry would be made of by comedians.)
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Aug 28, 2019 at 18:57

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There's no grammatical problem with your sentences. But all three of the options have different meanings/connotations. Others may disagree with my interpretations though.

Definitions from Merriam-Webster for soak (intransitive):

1 : to lie immersed in liquid (such as water) : become saturated by or as if by immersion
2a : to enter or pass through something by or as if by pores or interstices : permeate
b : to penetrate or affect the mind or feelings —usually used with in or into
3 : to drink alcoholic beverages intemperately

source: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/soak

The "let us soak" version somewhat implies getting that they are getting very wet from crying (definition 1). It also has the interpretation of getting drunk (definition 3), especially when coupled with "feelings pour."

The "soak in you" version has a much stronger sexual connotation (definition 2b, mostly). I looked up the Cactus song you referred to and it is definitely very sexual. Not sure if that's what you are going for here or not.

"Soak in love" seems like a simple metaphorical meaning of love permeating them (definition 1), but not in a sexual way.

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  • Hmmm, interesting. That clarifies a little. I was wondering if "let us soak" was a confusing construction as I'm not saying "what is being soaked", but if there really isn't any grammatical problems, things are much clearer for me.
    – Filippe
    Commented Aug 28, 2019 at 18:49
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    @Cascabel - What is a shotgun answer? Do you mean answering about the multiple different parts? I found this meta question, but it sounds like that is about posting multiple answers in quick succession. Or are you talking about the "fastest gun in the west" problem? My answer was posted 30 minutes after the question -- is that too soon? I couldn't find anything about either in the Help Center
    – Justin
    Commented Aug 29, 2019 at 12:25
  • What I meant is that the OP has a fuzzy question in which they are not very sure of what they are looking for, and the answers are broad rather than laser-focused. It's my own made up term.
    – Cascabel_StandWithUkraine_
    Commented Aug 29, 2019 at 16:38

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