This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
One, two, three ...
- intro -
Go away, you're eating big faces
Bend down and eat your shoelaces
Next move you've gotta decide what's right
Kill your momma, kill your daddy
I'm the beast man so understand me
Understand me
Hey, the way goes small there, and the way goes high
Jumped out of your old fish mask today
When you told me I was out of sap
I almost died right in your lap, today
When you told me I was out of sap
I almost died right in your lap, today
- intro -
Go away, you're eating big faces
Bend down and eat your shoelaces
Next move you've gotta decide what's right
Kill your momma, kill your daddy
I'm the beast man so understand me
Understand me
Hey, the way goes small there, and the way goes high
Jumped out of your old fish mask today
When you told me I was out of sap
I almost died right in your lap, today
When you told me I was out of sap
I almost died right in your lap, today
Lyrics submitted by UseYourIllusion
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It's "I'm the Peaceman", Not "I'm the Beastman"... Geeze people if you don't know the lyrics to his songs than don't bother posting them...
"It's "I'm the Peaceman", Not "I'm the Beastman"... Geeze people if you don't know the lyrics to his songs than don't bother posting them... "
You DO know no official lyrics for this song have been released, right? I's impossible to know for sure what the lyrics are.
Perhaps my favourite JF song. So much like the JF we hear nowadays. a soul breaking free.
its really weird i dont even think its johns mind speaking more like a demon
this song blows my mind the "kill your mama, kill your daddy too" part is awesoe
absolutely epic...what are people's ideas of what it means?
What this thing might mean to me is maybe he has grudges against his parents.
"Kill your mama, kill your daddy" reminds me of Buddhism. In the 9th Century Lin-chi stated, "...if you meet your parents, kill your parents. If you meet your relatives, kill your relatives." It wasn't meant to be taken literally:
"He was challenging them to get past their daydreams of enlightenment and their dependence on custom, ceremony and traditional piety so that they could see the Dharma directly for themselves." (Ryuei Michael McCormick: Clinging to the Buddha)
The following line, "I'm the peace man so understand me," fits the Buddhist interpretation as well.
The last four lines screams 'addiction' to me in the most heart-wrenching of ways. I imagine the 'sap' to be the chosen substance of addiction. I interpret it as this person being so emotionally attached to this substance that when he was out of it, he "almost died right on your lap."
Perhaps the dying is symbolic for something...hmmm?
Anyway...that's just one interpretation.
this song was written before frusciante was on any drugs.<br /> <br /> <br /> "jumped out of your old fish mask today"... maybe some kind of reference to captain beefheart "troutmask"
dark song
I agree this is a very dark song, it was also written when he was 17 years old.