The video consists of variations between a white background and a CGI water-y background, both of which feature David Byrne dancing with various close ups and strange angles, including him lying on the ground, or sliding, giving the impression of a backstroke.
When you first watch the video it appears as though it's just nonsense, but the lyrics actually coincide with the dancing. Brian Eno describes the lyrics as the "call and response" style of preaching commonly associated with American evangelists on the theme of "moving through life with little awareness or questioning". The repetition of lines such as "and you may find yourself..." is an example of a line they took straight off an evangelical radio broadcast. "Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down" is another Evangelistic, existential, and accepting lyric, which associates with the idea that those who give themselves to the church are supposedly giving their life away, and preventing themselves from growing as people.
These lyrics which associate those who subscribe to religion and social expectations ("a beautiful house/and a beautiful wife") with an empty and wasted life, coincide with the marionette style dancing. Byrne jerks and flings his arms around, not quite in time with the music. This suggests that those he talks about are manipulated and used, much like a puppet. The snippets of tribal dancing and rituals further accentuate the idea that he's referring to a mass accepted ideology such as religion.
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