In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
Verse 1
3rd bass deals with the first place
of where your mind is
the kind of stuff that you want to smoke blunts with
take pictures, like allen funt would.
snapshots get the crack hot
good to get it, but don't sweat it
cause if you pursue she'll chalk the cue
and boom, stroke the 8 ball
stick and run and were having fun
prickin my cactus like I'm shooting my gun
quickly til it explodes and I unload
the cactus
Verse 2
I stand for lust of quenchin,
G sit on cactus and rotate
enough time to clock a digit
ass so large it won't quit
so I step to kick to
the oval office in my intro
throwin low bass to the third line
a girl on mines a prop
so I found loops to hold
and then a boomin butt to go
to go lo solo readily
it's the cactus behind door 3
Verse 3
The smart villain, chillin like Gilligan
out on an island
fishin with my string and bamboo
caught somethin in a see thru nighty
might be a little tasty A 300 pound white girl
no on to see this, boom I dropped my fluid like a chemist
shes contained and I'm a lame brain
but doing the wild thing
kicked the fat thing off of my swing
larger than Jim Backus it's the cactus
Verse 4
No boots your money spent
last call for toxicants
one move to reach a throttle
eyesight is through a goggle
I trips to the hype type
good looking in the dark light
it's appetizing to conversate
to a fossil pushing 58
all bags and her butt sags
in the desert no price tag
a household tool and a stank ho
the cactus turned Hammers mother out
3rd bass deals with the first place
of where your mind is
the kind of stuff that you want to smoke blunts with
take pictures, like allen funt would.
snapshots get the crack hot
good to get it, but don't sweat it
cause if you pursue she'll chalk the cue
and boom, stroke the 8 ball
stick and run and were having fun
prickin my cactus like I'm shooting my gun
quickly til it explodes and I unload
the cactus
Verse 2
I stand for lust of quenchin,
G sit on cactus and rotate
enough time to clock a digit
ass so large it won't quit
so I step to kick to
the oval office in my intro
throwin low bass to the third line
a girl on mines a prop
so I found loops to hold
and then a boomin butt to go
to go lo solo readily
it's the cactus behind door 3
Verse 3
The smart villain, chillin like Gilligan
out on an island
fishin with my string and bamboo
caught somethin in a see thru nighty
might be a little tasty A 300 pound white girl
no on to see this, boom I dropped my fluid like a chemist
shes contained and I'm a lame brain
but doing the wild thing
kicked the fat thing off of my swing
larger than Jim Backus it's the cactus
Verse 4
No boots your money spent
last call for toxicants
one move to reach a throttle
eyesight is through a goggle
I trips to the hype type
good looking in the dark light
it's appetizing to conversate
to a fossil pushing 58
all bags and her butt sags
in the desert no price tag
a household tool and a stank ho
the cactus turned Hammers mother out
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings
The Cactus Lyrics as written by Peter J. Nash Michael Berrin
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Standing On The Edge Of Summer
Thursday
Thursday
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
"Fast car" is kind of a continuation of Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run." It has all the clawing your way to a better life, but in this case the protagonist never makes it with her love; in fact she is dragged back down by him.
There is still an amazing amount of hope and will in the lyrics; and the lyrics themselve rank and easy five. If only music was stronger it would be one of those great radio songs that you hear once a week 20 years after it was released. The imagery is almost tear-jerking ("City lights lay out before us", "Speeds so fast felt like I was drunk"), and the idea of starting from nothing and just driving and working and denigrating yourself for a chance at being just above poverty, then losing in the end is just painful and inspiring at the same time.
Mental Istid
Ebba Grön
Ebba Grön
This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
When We Were Young
Blink-182
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
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.