Daddy's Home Lyric Analysis

Somewhere beyond the sea

Something slumbers underneath

When she wakes up from her dreams

We'll be reborn from the deep

Eleanor is the something. She was to be the first Utopian, the one who would fix everything.

Hold your noses cuz we're going for another long dive

Delta was a diver.

Some call me Father, others call me Johnny Topside

The people called him Johnny, Eleanor called him Father

Long forgotten, I was swept up by the wrong tide

While diving, he ended up in Rapture. Swept up by the wrong tide. Everyone forgot about him, except Eleanor.

Thought my bed was made but I just woke up on the wrong side

He thought he was dead, but he's back. Now, Rapture is in the wrong hands. He's in enemy territory. Or, he's on the wrong side of the glass, away from Eleanor.

Jump starting up my heart, I've hit my second wind

He was revived by the Vita-Chamber.

Back from the dead, Subject Delta checking in

Revving up the engine that has blended our genetics

The drill revs up?

Have you felt the natural selection that's already setting in

Fire at my fingertips, I won't be told to chill

The Inferno and Winter Blast plasmids.

Stacking plasmids like an addict, total overkill

I'm the one who's gonna call the shots, time to roll the film

The shots are bullets, the film is the camera

Oughtta have a splicer, fill you in because they know the drill

The splicers know about his drill, because he's used it on them many times.

Step between me and my daughter and you'll get bounced

Some of the Daddies are Bouncers.

Then any ADAM that you had is getting ripped out

Who's your daddy now? Who's your daddy now?

I'll run a rivet through your neck unless you'd rather drown

The rivet gun - everyone in Rapture drowns at the end of Bioshock 2, presumably.

I cannot bear these utilitarians they are very selfish

Ever since Ryan ended up dying life has been twice as hellish

Life under Ryan was awful, but Lamb is worse, at least for Delta and Eleanor.

You wanna throw down? Cuz I am an Alpha you shouldn't mess around kid

He was the first Alpha Series.

Now that daddy's back in the house Big Sister's getting grounded

The Big Sisters usually come from above and can crawl on walls. He grounds them, as a father, and literally brings them to the ground.

Here's some history, gun was to my head, I held it

At the start of the game, Lamb commands him to hold the gun to himself.

Hindered with her hypnotism - hit me, had me helpless

Hideous, horrific what I hide behind my helmet

How about you tell your overzealous personnel, "split"

When I look at Lamb I see a wolf dressing up as a sheep

A lamb is a baby sheep. The splicers see her as a goddess, when she's just insane.

But Eleanor never abandoned me even with our dysfunctional "family"

Regardless of the fact that becoming a Little Sister helped Lamb justify the experiments against her, and that Delta isn't even her real father and is just important to her because of the artificial link they share, she never gave up on him.

Far from a slave, I'm a man you see

A man chooses, a slave obeys

Haven't been shackled, my hands are free

Maybe a reference to the shackles on Jack's wrists

Deep underwater, but I got my daughter, that's all that I need to live and breathe

As long as Eleanor is alive, he'll live. She revived him, and if she dies, he turns comatose.

You aren't alone anymore

Darling daughter, daddy's home

Stronger than your Mama knows

Lamb constantly assumes her attacks will finish Delta. Also, Eleanor is incredibly physically strong - Lamb trained her mentally, and her strength is probably an unintentional and overlooked symptom of her ADAM semi-immunity.

Come to papa, daddy's home

From the depths of Persephone, I am remembering everything

The last part of the game takes place in Persephone.

How I've been tortured and twisted, stripped of my memories and identity

They took everything from him, even the name the people of Raptures called him. From Johnny Topside to simply "Subject Delta".

After what happened in Rapture during the time that Jack spent

Never befriend somebody just because they got an accent

Advice to Jack...

I'm skeptical of this suspicious southern charm

If you try to pull my strings, Sinclair, you'll set off some alarms

Lamb alludes to Sinclair having bad intentions. Set off alarms is a nod to the alarm and bot system.

Can I trust everyone or never trust anyone?

I'm getting hesitant, what if the voices in my head are wrong?

Eleanor and Sinclair.

Got their own agendas, even Doctor Tenenbaum

Find the sisters? My decision, if I wanna rescue 'em

Tenenbaum probably expects Delta to save them all.

I got EVE but I need ADAM, be a dear and get me some

Wanna watch me cut your cult in half? Then Lamb you let them come

Delta isn't afraid of Lamb's cult.

Leave it to dad to put the team on his back

Delta carries the Sisters on his back.

So you understand, both of my hands are full, but I keep her intact

Delta has a plasmid hand and a weapon hand, unlike in Bioshock 1 where you switched between using plasmids and weapons with one hand. Also, his "hands are full", as in he's overwhelmed, but his first priority is still keeping the Sisters alive - ESPECIALLY Eleanor. He's nothing without her.

You know I wish there were nicer types of splicers we could attract

But luckily with a mechanical mind, I find this easy to hack

He can hack the bots and cameras and turrets.

Cuz I'm a tin-man, Frankenstein, knight in shining armor

Things he's been called. The splicers and Lamb called him a tin Daddy, a Frankenstein, and Eleanor says she always saw him in shining armor. But he doesn't care - all he cares about is the question...

But to my own daughter am I Daddy, or a Monster?

One too many times I've lost her

Once I was her guardian but now I'm counting on her

Eleanor revived him in the first place, and again after she got smothered. Eleanor also helps him fight at the end.

Daddy, I've been on my own

Can you see how much I've grown?

Taught me everything I know

Eleanor learns from the player's actions during the game.

So when will you be coming home?

I can't make it on my own

Mama's watching where I go

Eleanor wants to escape to the surface, but Lamb won't let her.

I can fix you if you broke

I have to bring my daddy home

I'm the heavyweight champ, you won't even last a round

Too long you brutes abused the juice, now you get smacked around

The splicers all abuse ADAM, and now they're getting a taste of their own (literal) medicine from an ADAM powered Delta.

Delta's held the belt so many years here in Rapture now

Heavyweight champ - belt.

Baddest motherfucker in the building, who's your daddy now?

I'll ask you nicely, would you kindly put your weapon down?

Would you kindly?

And cut the cameras cuz I'd rather not be ratted out

Lamb is watching.

I'm on the path to power, I would've made Atlas proud

Hit you with the one two punch, zap and whack you out

Atlas instructed Jack to "hit 'em with the one-two-punch!" by using his Electric plasmid and hitting the Splicers to take them out quickly. It's a good way to immobilize someone, then hit them with a drill dash for a quick kill.

Grab my massive Gatling, light you like a firecracker, pow

Ransack your outta fashion trousers, stash the cash and grab your rounds

After killing splicers, you can loot their bodies.

Ain't no passive Daddy now, I'm seeing red

Big Daddies are passive until you attack them or their Little Sisters. When passive, their "bubbles" are yellow. When they're aggro'd, they turn red.

Mother's turning up the heat, we're really gonna need to vent

The Little Sisters use vents to get around.

Follow me, Little Sis

Time to leave this abyss

I don't think we'll be missed

I'll show you where the surface is

See the reflection of myself in how she's acting out

Eleanor acts based on how Delta acted during the game.

I'll watch my daughter become stronger than her daddy now

Daddy, I've been on my own (you aren't alone)

Can you see how much I've grown? (anymore)

Taught me everything I know (darling daughter)

So when will you be coming home? (Daddy's home)

I can't make it on my own (stronger than)

Mama's watching where I go (your mama knows)

I can fix you if you broke (come to papa)

I have to bring my daddy home (daddy's home)

Who's your daddy now?

Who's your daddy now?

We're a family now