The Lumineers - Salt And The Sea Lyrics Meaning

This song is about addiction, but I interpret the speaker to be the care-giver, and the "You" to be the afflicted. Wesley and the band talked a lot after the album came out about what a toll it is on the family and friends taking care of someone with addiction, and I think this is how the album ends, similar to the video, where the son (after fighting with his dad) returns in the end to take care of him as that behavior runs in his family from previous history. This is ultimately "Salt and the Sea" - inseparable and accompanying.

"Could it be I was the one
That you held so deep in the night?
On the back staircase
You fell to your knees with tears in your eyes"

This is pretty literal, that I was the one holding you when you were at a low point due to your addiction.

"All that you suffered, all the disease
You couldn’t hide it, hide it from me"

You're suffering from this disease of addiction, but while you may try to hide it from others, I see it.

"All alone, scared in your room
Would you swear there’s nobody home?
On the bed, laying awake
As you prayed he’d leave you alone"

Do you really think you're all alone in this? That no one else is home to take care of you? You're on the bed praying the addiction won't consume you again and you give in.

"I’ll let the darkness swallow me whole
I need to find you, need you to know"

I'm in this with you. I'm willing to go in the darkness with you, to find you, and to pull you out. You need to know you're not alone. We'll fight together.

"I’ll be your friend in the daylight again
There we will be, like an old enemy
Like the salt and the sea"

When the high passes, when things are good - we'll get along, and I'll be your friend...but when the addiction takes over again, I'll be your enemy again and fight you from giving in. I'm not leaving you - like the Salt and the Sea.

"And they wrote all these prescriptions
They wrote me off like a heel
Yeah, the doctors with their medicine
Left me to rock in my filth"

Others have summarized this well about Opiods, and no doctors fixing the issue or addressing the aftermath.

"From the destruction, out of the flame
You need a villain, give me a name"

The heroin (taken from a flame) will cause destruction, and if you need someone to fight your addiction, I'll be the villain, let me play that role.

"I’ll be your friend in the daylight again
There we will be, like an old enemy
I’ll be your friend in the daylight again
There we will be, like an old enemy
Like the salt and the sea
Like the salt and the sea"

When the high passes, when things are good - we'll get along, and I'll be your friend...but when the addiction takes over again, I'll be your enemy again and fight you from giving in. I'm not leaving you - like the Salt and the Sea.