I'm taking back the knowledge
I'm taking back the gentleness
I'm taking back the ritual
I'm giving in to sweetness

Oh preacher man
Shoot me with your poison arrow
But I dance on Vaseline
I'm trippin' out
Workin' on a revolution
Gon' let the music in

I'm taking back the children
I'm taking back the ceremony
I'm taking back my offerings
I'm taking back what you mean to me

You're dangerous!
Shoot me with your poison arrow
But I dance on Vaseline
I'm slippin' out
Workin' on a revolution
Go'n let the music in

And war is all around us
The Gods are dead and buried underground
Your hollow Gods are burried underground
I was a silly putty
Your big ideas are useless to me now

My baby saw the future
She doesn't want to live there any more
It's lousy science fiction
Gets on your skin and seeps into your bones

You're dangerous!
Shoot me with your poison arrow
But I dance on Vaseline
I'm slippin' out
Workin' on a revolution
Go'n let the music in

Started in Oklahoma
You always think it happens somewhere else
This madness is attractive
Until the day it happens to yourself

& Power might seem sexy
But check her in the cool grey light of dawn
A legislative body
And all at once your lust for her is gone

& I'm trippin out
Workin on a revolution
Gon' let the day begin

We'll turn it out
Monkey time for evolution
Gon' let the music in


Lyrics submitted by [inactive account]

Dance on Vaseline Lyrics as written by David Byrne

Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.

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Dance On Vaseline song meanings
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7 Comments

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  • +2
    My Interpretation

    Simply, this song it’s a Divorce:

    “...the legislative body, and all at once your lust for her is gone...”

    “Oh preacher man shoot me with your poison arrow” (aka for better or for worst)

    “I’m taking back the...” “...the children...” (aka everything)

    “This madness it’s attractive, until the day it happens to yourself” (that’s how and why one will get this song)

    P.S.: “Brevity is the soul of wit” -W. Shakespeare

    Don_Caguix01on September 04, 2018   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    The lyrics to the song describe the perspective of the snake from the Garden of Eden as he regrets passing along "knowledge" to humanity because of what they have done with it. He blames the "preacher man" for making him a target of derision, a "silly putty" to shape into an object of blame. The snake is saying that the world is a scary, violent place because of what humanity has done with knowledge. The Oklahoma reference is probably about the bombing by Tim McVeigh, which happend just a couple of years before the song was written. At the same time, the snake is mocking those who target him, he gets away because he can "dance on vaseline". He's "slipping out" and working to change the world again, this time by giving music. In the "light of dawn" of this new world the lust for power and domination will be exposed for what it is (a "legislative body") and people will no longer crave it. When he "lets the music in" people will evolve past power and violence.

    Ascoltion May 04, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    It's about the separation of church and state.

    Once you start making laws that allow the church to step into the business of government(prayer in schools, ten commandments at state houses, etc.etc.etc.), then you open a dystopian world where not only religion rules government, but government also rules religion...

    ...it's a slippery slope, a dance on Vaseline.

    It started in Oklahoma, it's lousy science fiction, it's dangerous, and while that power might seem sexy at the time, in the sober light of dawn it's something else entirely....

    ...so, it's time for a the monkeys to revolt.

    It's a dig on church vs. state, science vs. religion, and the fact that no one else seems to get that really boggles my brain, it's pretty obvious.

    glitch1083on August 01, 2021   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation

    I always interpreted the song as a reflection on the Oklahoma City bombing, and how people can be talked into any kind of cruelty if they can rationalize it as part of some "greater good".

    BlueDoomon April 15, 2022   Link
  • -1
    General Comment

    Does anyone know what this is about? Please explain to us all.

    led zep lindholmon September 08, 2005   Link
  • -1
    General Comment

    it's about not letting people who try to compromise you as a person affect you and it's also kind of an attempt to convince people who do that kind of stuff that it's stupid.

    KTBon July 12, 2006   Link
  • -1
    General Comment

    this song is about realizing the awesome beauty of the world and realizing that religion, politics and all of the issues in modern society are rediculous and that the only rational thing to admire and answer to in the world is the natural world itself - 'Your big ideas are useless to me now' (talking about the widely believed ideas in modern day and that they are so far from being human that they are in fact useless because we are all human) - 'im taking back the ritual' (talking about the beginning of human kind when the ancient tribes adorned the sun and world as a beautiful life giving environment). he talks about 'tripping out'. this is an explicit reference to an experience on mushrooms and/or acid where these revelations are extremely prevalent.

    cooljgb75on September 03, 2007   Link

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