The song lyrics were written by the band Van Halen, as they were asked to write a song for the 1979 movie "Over the Edge" starring Matt Dillon. The movie (and the lyrics, although more obliquely) are about bored, rebellious youth with nothing better to do than get into trouble. If you see the movie, these lyrics will make more sense. It's a great movie if you grew up in the 70s/80s you'll definitely remember some of these characters from your own life. Fun fact, after writing the song, Van Halen decided not to let the movie use it.
Brew the coffee in a bucket
Double straight man and banjo
If you don’t got the snake oil
Buster, you don’t got a show
Who puts the doh-re-me
In our pockets
Keeps the party going on?
It’s the man
Who sells the potions
I’m just one who plays the songs
Now they generally buys
The bigger size
They usually rub it in
I drank it once, it tasted
Like grease and paraffin
It’s mostly alcohol, okay
You can’t deny it’s strong
We was going through the motions
‘til the doctor came along
There stands the bottle
Ladies and gentlemen
All these bottles
Don’t have to tell you, friends
These days miracles
Don’t come falling from the sky
Raise your glasses to the doctor
To a stand up guy
When the monkeyshine is flying
And he’s promising the cure
He says the french
For your lovesick blues
La maladie d’amour
He gets the chumps all laughing
But he gets a few to buy
Here’s to beefsteak
When you’re hungry
And whiskey when you’re dry
Now the band’ll blow their moolah
Like sailors gone ashore
Now we’re going to west helena
To gamble, drink and whore
Let’s you and me
All make whoopee
Here’s mud in your eye
Here’s to all the gals you ever want
And heaven when you die
There stands the bottle
Ladies and gentlemen
All these bottles
Don’t have to tell you, friends
These days miracles
Don’t come falling from the sky
Raise your glasses to the doctor
To a stand up guy
There’s a big cheese with a cigar
Been sizing up the show
He wants to get the doctor
Pitching on the radio
I will make a switch to guitar
But the rules all still apply
They want to trust somebody
Yeah, they want a stand up guy
There stands the bottle
Here’s to absent friends
All these bottles
Dead soldiers in the end
These days miracles
Don’t come falling from the sky
Raise your glasses to the doctor
To a stand up guy
To the doctor
A stand up guy
Double straight man and banjo
If you don’t got the snake oil
Buster, you don’t got a show
Who puts the doh-re-me
In our pockets
Keeps the party going on?
It’s the man
Who sells the potions
I’m just one who plays the songs
Now they generally buys
The bigger size
They usually rub it in
I drank it once, it tasted
Like grease and paraffin
It’s mostly alcohol, okay
You can’t deny it’s strong
We was going through the motions
‘til the doctor came along
There stands the bottle
Ladies and gentlemen
All these bottles
Don’t have to tell you, friends
These days miracles
Don’t come falling from the sky
Raise your glasses to the doctor
To a stand up guy
When the monkeyshine is flying
And he’s promising the cure
He says the french
For your lovesick blues
La maladie d’amour
He gets the chumps all laughing
But he gets a few to buy
Here’s to beefsteak
When you’re hungry
And whiskey when you’re dry
Now the band’ll blow their moolah
Like sailors gone ashore
Now we’re going to west helena
To gamble, drink and whore
Let’s you and me
All make whoopee
Here’s mud in your eye
Here’s to all the gals you ever want
And heaven when you die
There stands the bottle
Ladies and gentlemen
All these bottles
Don’t have to tell you, friends
These days miracles
Don’t come falling from the sky
Raise your glasses to the doctor
To a stand up guy
There’s a big cheese with a cigar
Been sizing up the show
He wants to get the doctor
Pitching on the radio
I will make a switch to guitar
But the rules all still apply
They want to trust somebody
Yeah, they want a stand up guy
There stands the bottle
Here’s to absent friends
All these bottles
Dead soldiers in the end
These days miracles
Don’t come falling from the sky
Raise your glasses to the doctor
To a stand up guy
To the doctor
A stand up guy
Lyrics submitted by redmax
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This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
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I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
Gentle Hour
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Yo La Tengo
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,
No Surprises
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Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
I'm not really sure.. but most of this song reminds me of the travelling doctors from back in the old west. They would sell snake oil and other "indian" remedies that would generally be used to cure all kinds of things. In reality the stuff was alcohol or something else.. and it really had no value in curing sickness.. He was more of a showman than anything. He would come into town, sell his wares, and hightail it out of there.
this song was actually written about stephen hawking
I'm with celtsguy on this one. Snake oil salesmen was the first thing I thought when I heard the song. I honestly can't find any allusion to Stephen Hawking in the lyrics (except of course that he is, metaphorically speaking, a stand-up guy and a doctor). But I'd really like to hear your reasoning and any evidence, fuckandlarry.
I was very surprised to read the above theories, because surely it's obvious what this song is about - the "doctor" is selling an aphrodisiac! There are plenty of hints, starting with the title of the song, which has a double meaning. Here are a few more giveaways:<br /> <br /> Who puts the doh-re-me in our pockets, keeps the party going on?<br /> <br /> They usually rub it in<br /> <br /> We was going through the motions ‘til the doctor came along<br /> <br /> These days miracles don’t come falling from the sky ("these days" meaning "now that we've reached a certain age")<br /> <br /> He says the French for your lovesick blues, la maladie d’amour<br /> <br /> He gets the chumps all laughing<br /> <br /> Now we’re going to West Helena to gamble, drink and whore<br /> <br /> Let’s you and me all make whoopee<br /> <br /> Here’s to all the gals you ever want<br /> <br /> I accept that some of these are rather indirect, but in their totality, they add up to the only explanation.<br /> <br /> Either that or else I have a one-track mind.<br />
I was very surprised to read the above theories, because surely it's obvious what this song is about - the "doctor" is selling an aphrodisiac! There are plenty of hints, starting with the title of the song, which has a double meaning. Here are a few more giveaways:
Who puts the doh-re-me in our pockets, keeps the party going on?
They usually rub it in
We was going through the motions ‘til the doctor came along
These days miracles don’t come falling from the sky ("these days" meaning "now that we've reached a certain age")
He says the French for your lovesick blues, la maladie d’amour
He gets the chumps all laughing
Now we’re going to West Helena to gamble, drink and whore
Let’s you and me all make whoopee
Here’s to all the gals you ever want
I accept that some of these are rather indirect, but in their totality, they add up to the only explanation.
Either that or else I have a one-track mind.
I'd say you're pretty one-tracked - but interesting perspective.<br /> <br /> It's not (just) an aphrodisiac, but an all-round cure for all maladies.<br /> <br /> The "doh-re-me" is slang for money (doug). Rubbing it in need'nt be rubbing it on the you-know-what, but rubbing it on any affected area, like an arthritic knee, psoriasis-stricken skin or bald head.<br /> <br /> That they were "going through the motions" is hardly a double entendre, but rather a description of the crew not knowing how to "put on a show" - a sales pitch. The "doctor" knows how to do this.<br /> <br /> Malady d'amour is a "disease of love", i.e. a veneral disease (VD). The rest is simply about the crew going to West Helena to use their freshly earned money - not that they have to go somewhere to use the "remidy". If so, why would the be drinking and gambling?<br /> <br /> <br /> Anyway, my 2 cent.
@songanalyst I think you nailed it :)
@songanalyst
yes it definitely seems to be about a traveling snake oil salesmen. I do wonder however what the exact role of the narrator is.. "I'm just one who plays the songs", were they performing rituals? Or were they also offering entertainment? According to wikipedia " to increase sales, an accomplice in the crowd (a shill) would often "attest" the value of the product in an effort to provoke buying enthusiasm" Might that be the narrators role?
The line "here's to absent friends" might indicate that the narrator thinks no one can be trusted, which could serve as a justification for him to keep on deceiving other people as well?
This is a song about the death of the Old West, in the tradition of the movies Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, or more famously, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
The protaganist, "the Doctor" is a snake oil salesman. The narrator is his straight man and banjo player.
The narrator tells us that his troupe was generally mediocre or worse: "we was going through the motions ‘til the doctor came along". But there's no show without a good snake oil salesman (who puts the do-re-mi [dough$] in our pockets...?")
The narrator tells us how the Doctor sells the mostly-alcohol snake oil - by engaging the crowd with jokes ("he gets the chumps all laughing"), false promises ("when the monkeyshine is flying"), sounding smart (speaking French, "la maladie d'amour"), etc.
The song transitions to a whorehouse in West Helena (probably Montana, though perhaps Arkansas) where the Travelling Show's band, flush with dough, is drinking: "Now the band will blow their moolah, like sailor's gone ashore...." There follows a series of toasts: (1) here's to beefsteak when you're hungry... (2) here's mud in your eye (3) here's to all the gals you ever want...
Why then do I say that this song is a metaphor for the death of the Old West? Well, the "big cheese with a cigar ... wants to get the doctor pitching on the radio." Since commercial radio wasn't popular until the mid-1920s, there were few Old West places left - Montana being one. The narrator, realizing that their days are numbered, offers the song's final and most haunting toast "Here's to absent friends" (if ever a friend of yours has died, especially a friend you consider a Stand Up Guy, you know what I mean), again, a metaphor for the passing of a way of life.
The song is a political metaphor just like "Don't crash the ambulance". The doctor is the political leader brought in to advance the political ideology, the "Snake Oil Salesman". This relates directly to the war on Terror and the two principal figures, Osama and George Bush. The first reference is to Osama is the line about "Here's to all the gals you ever want and heaven when you die" referring to the virgins in heaven for martyrs. Another line is directed toward Bush and the loss of life during the war on Terror - "Here's to absent friends All these bottles Dead soldiers in the end"<br />
Like gamblers and boxers, stand up guys are a favourite of MK. The move to radio reminds me of a move to tv and to his nemesis - Gerry Springer.
This song is not about anyone in particular but a genre of people that he finds interesting.
I see this as a reluctant tribute to the skill of a master salesman. The Dr. isn't a doctor, and he isn't a stand up guy either. But he's convinced some of the people in the audience that he is. The band members raising their glasses to him is saying, "Hey, you gotta hand it to the guy. He's a total phony, but he gets people to open their wallets, and you know how we struggle with that."
I generally don't comment but I think most of the theories about the meaning of this song are way off. This song is a tribute to the common bartender. A rare salute to the men and women who stand behind the bar and keep the party going while the band plays their sets. To the doctor! Nicely done Mark!